Wisconsin Club for Growth's Eric O’Keefe
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm scored a big win in federal appeals court last week, which apparently has created a new wave of desperation in the allies of Gov. Scott Walker.
As detailed in this week’s cover story, the John Doe prosecutors were vindicated by three federal appellate judges who ruled that the investigation into Walker’s allies—specifically, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and its director, Eric O’Keefe—wasn’t a partisan witch-hunt and didn’t violate the group’s civil rights. The legal wrangling over the John Doe is now back in state court, where it should have been all along.
Cost to the taxpayers for the Club and O’Keefe’s frivolous claim in federal court? At least $350,000 to pay for the prosecutors’ attorneys, but that could rise to $534,500, the cap on the legal fees for the attorneys representing Chisholm and the others named in the suit.
So, after this stinging embarrassment, O’Keefe decided to divert attention from the incriminating emails unearthed in the probe, Walker’s jobs failure and $1.8 billion budget deficit, and polls showing that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke is posing a serious threat to Walker. On Friday, O’Keefe sent a letter to Chisholm demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed to look into possible misconduct committed by the DA. The “facts” O’Keefe relies on in his unhinged letter come from accusations made by a former DA’s office employee who allegedly had once phoned in a drunken death threat to Chisholm.
Why should taxpayers underwrite yet another political stunt cooked up by O’Keefe? Isn’t the Wisconsin Club for Growth all about shrinking government spending and taxes?
Not in the least. When it comes to elections, we believe Wisconsin Club for Growth will spare no cost and show no respect for the law as long as their favored candidate wins at the polls. Their scorched-earth approach to politics should be repudiated, not enabled, by taxpayers.
