In baseball, three strikes you’re out. In the Wisconsin Supreme Court, not so much. We learned Sunday that Prosser was caught meddling with evidence in a drunk driving case that is before the high court.
Judges are supposed to decide cases based on facts presented, not information gathered independently. Wisconsin’s ethics code for judges says that in general judges can’t get into discussions with witnesses outside the courtroom. Wisconsin Gazette
This is the same Justice Prosser (pictured below over his concuring opinion regarding open records infringement)who was appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1998 and won the Spring 2011 Election over JoAnne Kloppenburg when Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nicholas, “found” 16,000 uncounted votes the day after the election. The same Justice Prosser who physically attacked Justice Bradley in chambers. The same Justice Prosser who wrote the majority “short shrift” decision regarding the curtailment of collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
During a closed-door debate between the justices on February 10, 2010, Prosser called Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson “a total bitch” and threatened to “destroy her”. ]Wiki
One wonders if the GOP lead legislature is making true his threat with the referendum on today’s ballot to change the manner a Chief Justice is assigned. Currently it is by seniority, the referendum asks that the
assignment be made by a vote of the court which would surely displace Abrahamson on a conservative majority court. In short – VOTE NO.
I really don’t like writing about Prosser, even though I’ve written a bunch mostly about “votes out of the blue” incident in the 2011 Spring Election. Prosser did not win fairly or conclusively. Read “Waukesha KOOL Aid” But that is grist for another mill.
We have a man who has displayed inappropriate, unprofessional, and even violent behavior that would have gotten him fired from a job at the local convenience store, yet he remains in his position on the high court in Wisconsin! At what cost?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviewed emails following the Prosser “bitch” and “attack” incidents and concluded the Wisconsin High Court was dysfunctional. Pretend you are not in middle school and read the antics:
The 2010 conflict on the court was also criticized as having a potential for lowering court productivity and distracting the focus of the justices. Prosser admitted he overreacted, but justified his statements, saying he had been goaded, bullied and abused by two other justices for a long time,[37] and that the fights were caused by liberal members of the court “ganging up” on him and attempting to create a “foul atmosphere”. He also said the March 2011 revelations of the year-old altercation were an attempt to hurt his bid for re-election.[37][39] When interviewed in March 2011, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley acknowledged Prosser had had outbursts over the years, but said there had not been one of significant magnitude since February 2010. She also commented that, “he is a good man – but you cannot accurately say he has a steady, even temperament.”[37]Wiki
This is the high court of judicial discernment relating to each other like nine-year-olds in the coat room. Just another indication of the collapse of democracy in Wisconsin. The hope is that today’s election will be the trigger for the new direction Wisconsin needs as much as California needs water.
If your common sense suggests that Scott Walker had full knowledge of the secret email network; the network that lead to the indictment of his closest aids and just 30 feet away from his Milwaukee County Executive office – then Tuesday April 7 – IS a Presidential Election. It is a Fighting “Bob” call to action.
If you believe that corporations are not people, and money is not speech – mark the Supreme Court election on April 7 on your calendar. Yes, all of what has come to be called the “John Doe Investigation” and the last breath of hope to bring Scott Walker to justice, may be at stake on April 7. The outcome of the April 7 election could well mark Wisconsin as a “red state” giving the GOP full sway over Executive, Legislative, and after the April 7 election – Judicial branches of Wisconsin government – thus fulfilling the whispered request of billionaire Diane Hendricks to Scott Walker, “Any chance we’ll ever get to be a completely a red state… and a right to work. What can we to do to help you?”
The request could be fulfilled. Republicans will celebrate depending on the outcome of the April 7 election if they gain “red state” sway over all three branches of government.
Rock County Judge James Daley, the challenger for the Republicans.
The business lobby group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has announced it will back Daley. Previously, WMC and Wisconsin Club for Growth together provided an estimated $8.3 million for “issue ads” helping elect conservative justices Annette Ziegler (below), Michael Gableman (below), David Prosser (below) and Patience Roggensack (below) — well more than the $3.2 million spent by these candidates’ own campaigns.Lueders column
These are the faces of the four Wisconsin Supreme Court Judges that denied collective bargaining rights injunction June 14, 2011. Wait. Isn’t it interesting how the same four justices who voted against the collective bargaining injunction are the very justices that were supported by WMC and Club for Growth? (Hold on to that thought).
They are from left to right David Prosser appointed 1998 current term expires 2021
Pateince Roggensack Her current term expires July 31, 2023.
Justice Michael J. Gableman His current term expires July 31, 2018.
Annette Kingsland Ziegler Her current term expires July 31, 2017.
As you may recall the law to curtail collective bargaining was under an injunction with the argument that the law was passed without legal public notice. The four majority Judges above said that Judge Sumi’s (who had issued the injunction) order meddled in legislative procedure and was not relevant to the constitution.
“As the court has explained when legislation was challenged based on allegations that the legislature did not follow the relevant procedural statutes, “this court will not determine whether internal operating rules or procedural statutes have been complied with by the legislature in the course of its enactments.”
Dissenting Opinion
Two dissenters in favor of the collective bargaining injunction are on the ballot April 7. One directly as a candidate and the other by a referendum that would alter the manner in which a Chief Justice is appointed.
The Chief Justice (above right) was joined by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley (above left) and Justice N. Patrick Crooks in dissent in part from the order. It is exactly because the issues in the present case are of such constitutional and public policy importance that I do not join the order.
Justice Shirley Abrahamson accuses the majority of 4 of giving case ‘short shrift’
In hastily reaching judgment, Justice Patience D. Roggensack, Justice Annette K. Ziegler, and Justice Michael J. Gableman author an order, joined by Justice David T. Prosser, lacking a reasoned, transparent analysis and incorporating numerous errors of law and fact. This kind of order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority’s ultimate decision.See Prosser and Activist Judges
Some weeks later on June 5, 2011 we learned the deliberation over the written opinions did not come without incident… like a physical attack.
Justice Bradley Speaks out
Madison Wisconsin — Justice Ann Walsh Bradley came forth with a statement late Saturday saying that fellow Justice David Prosser choked her and refuting claims that she attacked him first.
“The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a choke-hold,” she said. “Those are the facts and you can try to spin those facts and try to make it sound like I ran up to him and threw my neck into his hands, but that’s only spin.
“Matters of abusive behavior in the workplace aren’t resolved by competing press releases,” she said.
“I’m confident the appropriate authorities will conduct a thorough investigation of this incident involving abusive behavior in the workplace.” Read the full article in Poliscoop
The call was out to demand the resignation of Prosser, but no. The matter was investigated secretly and internally and nary a mention was made in the ensuing weeks, but in case you thought the April 7 election was without drama or consequence, if nothing else it is an opportunity to support a victim of judicial assault – Literally. But we are not done yet. Let’s look at what is at stake with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson. She is the subject of the referendum.
GOP “recalling” Abrahamson as Chief Justice
The GOP controls the legislature, and that legislature has passed laws to shore up control over the State Supreme Court by amending the State Constitution to remove Abrahamson as Chief. Of course, it makes no sense that the GOP legistlators would suddenly be so concerned over the administrative structure of the court, unless to exact political revenge on author of the dissenting opinion on the collective bargaining issue – thus snuffing out the last wisp of “liberal control” in the whole of state government. NO no NO.
Referendum on Election of Chief Justice.
Question 1: “Election of chief justice. Shall section 4 (2) of article VII of the constitution be amended to direct that a chief justice of the supreme court shall be elected for a two-year term by a majority of the justices then serving on the court?”
Explanation
The Wisconsin constitution currently provides that the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is its longest-serving member. The proposed constitutional amendment would instead select the chief justice through an election by a majority of the justices then serving on the Court.Government Accountability Board
In case the supporting of choked Justice Bradely, preserving the authority of a defender of union rights, and holding on to the last scrap of administrative power in state government is not enough motive to take the time to vote on Tuesday, April 7. How about the last chance to see presidential hopeful Scott Walker indicted. Motivated now?
Yes. The initial briefs regarding the illegal campaign activity of Club for Growth during the Senate and Walker recall elections are already delivered to the Supreme Court. Were you able to “hold the thought” from above?
Isn’t it interesting how the same four justices who voted against the collective bargaining injunction are the very justices that were supported by WMC and Club for Growth?
Yes. Four of the sitting justices (pictured above) are “sitting” where they are as a result of millions of campaign dollars from … guess who? “Club for Growth” The only reason Bradley’s opponent, Rock County Judge Daley, does not list Club for Growth as a contributor is – they are named in a current case now before the court! Daley’s money came from WMC which I am sure has NO connection with Club for Growth – like Scott Walker has NO connection with the Koch Bros. or ALEC or (fill in the name of any conservative billionaire here)_____________________ .
As it now stands, four of the justices reviewing the “Club for Growth” case were elected with funds from the Club for Growth, do you want to make it five? Do you want to see Abrahamson stripped of power? Want to see Bradley choked by WMC money? Want to see the last chance of connection of John Doe to Scott Walker disappear? Then do not vote on April 7..
Oh, and we do not know if you will need a voter ID or not. Welcome to Fitzwalkerstan!
Update
NO PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR APRIL 7 ELECTION
From the Government Accountability Web Site
Following Monday’s decision from the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an appeal of Wisconsin’s voter ID cases, the Government Accountability Board has consulted with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and determined that photo ID will not be required for the April 7 Spring Election. Photo ID will be required for subsequent elections, including any special elections in 2015.
Did Walker really win the recall election? We will never know.
The video is from Thom Hartman posted June 12; shortly after the June 5, 2012 recall election. It is cued up to a point of interest in that Wisconsin Wave is identified:
The grassroots organization which includes The Wisconsin Wave has formed to verify the accuracy and integrity of the election results.
Thom goes on to discuss the citizen observers who were in place in Racine. The obvious implication is that WAVE had a major hand in the observation – not true. In fact, WAVE came onto the scene in the final moments of the election integrity game saying, “Coach, give me the ball!”. The promise was to organize and finance an investigation of the recall election ballots statewide and score a touch down. Wave fumbled and lost the game. We will never know if Scott Walker was the real winner of the recall election.
WAVE splashed in like a Tsunami to commandeer the election integrity movement and then proceeded to collect money with the promise of auditing the Barrett/Walker recall election – after 14 months, WAVE has yet to report on any of the vote recounts administered. WAVE has never accounted for the money raised from citizens “to help with the recall audit” through the ever present DONATE
DONATE
DONATE
This is the message that accompanied every post, article, and picture in the weeks following the June 5 recall election:
Click here to stay in touch with us about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, and please consider helping us cover the costs associated with this grassroots effort by making a tax-deductable donation here.
…Wave partnered with groups like the Election Defense Alliance to organize election monitoring activities before, during, and after the recall elections this August. In total we mobilized several hundred volunteers and monitored polls in over 25 wards throughout the eight senate districts where recall elections took place. WAVE – No More Stolen Elections
Meanwhile activists NOT working under WAVE produced results
Many election integrity activists had been communicating since the Prosser/Kloppenberg Supreme Court election (April 5, 2011). When they discovered that WAVE was requiring volunteers to sign a confidentiality agreement to participate in the recount, they struck out on their own.
Mary Magnuson, an electoral reform activist, submitted an open records request to the Madison city clerk on June 14 asking to inspect “any and all ballots,” including optical scanned ballots and absentee ballots, that were cast in Wards 16, 19, 39, 40 and 100 in the recall election against Gov. Scott Walker. She also asked to inspect the tapes used in the scanners and any inspectors’ reports prepared by poll workers.
Read: Barb With was volunteering as an observer at the Surpeme Court election Waukesha recount when she made a glaring discovery. The poll tape that was being counted and matched for votes cast in the April 5 election for Supreme Court Justice was dated March 30, 2011.
Dennis Kern, Marianne Moonhouse, and John Washburn discovered that the cartridges, holding the digital ballot count, were not held and secured in many County Clerk offices. By Wisconsin statute, all election materials are to be kept secure for public viewing for 10 days, but many counties sent them back, out of the State, to the Minnesota vendor Command Central. The team set up an email network to monitor messages of County Clerks, and Marrianne logged the info received into spreadsheets. (John Washburn is also the author of “the Fraud it” page above: “A description of the programing levels of your vote from any machine to certification”.)
Command Central Penalizes Crawford County $12,400 July 14, 2012
In Crawford County, when the cartridges were returned it was discovered it would cost $12,400 to view the information. According to Command Central, once the digital information on the cartridges was read they would need to be destroyed. Replacement costs would be $12,000 for which Crawford County tax payers would be liable.
Email from Crawford County Clerk Giesler:
I am sorry that you feel that your open records request has been denied. I do disagree with this statement in that I have tried very diligently to satisfy your request. Because you feel that you have been denied, the voting machine cartridges cannot be returned and will remain in my vault. The taxpayers of Crawford County must now incur costs of $12,400 so that all new cartridges can be burned for the August primary election. I will be providing the Crawford County Independent with the costs for the cartridges as they have requested this information.
The FOIA asking review of election materials was rescinded.
Wisconsin WAVE has yet to report
The only report of any recall findings from Wisconsin Wave recounts (they refer to the counts as “an investigation”) were summarized in a email to members and volunteers some weeks after the election. No official report to the public or press has ever been released by Wisconsin Wave.
What we have found so far includes:
Inconsistent and tamper-prone methods of securing ballot bags
Widespread use of unverifiable touch screen machines in a state where these devices are officially designated as handicap accessible equipment only
And most disturbingly, a number of counties where our hand-counts of paper optiscan ballots often differed from election night totals.
To complete this vital campaign we need your support right now!
Sincerely,
Adam Porton
National Director [The “Donate” button above has been disabled for good reason]
The email goes on to say:
“Finishing up counts in other high priority counties where discrepancies have been found. The bigger our data set, the more complete our picture of these problems will be.
Compiling what percentage of Wisconsin voters used unverifiable touch-screen voting machines. Unbelievably, this information is not compiled by the state election authority, and so normally is not available to the public (or anyone for that matter).
Whatever happened to the money?
Wisconsin Wave is not listed on the Wisconsin Department of Revenue list as a non-profit organization under its own name. Wave is publicly associated with “The Liberty Tree Foundation” which appears to serve as an umbrella for Wave collections. “Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Inc.” is listed and the form 990 of income and expenditures for “Liberty Tree” is public record and can be found at by inputting the “Liberty Tree” in a search engine at: Guidestar.org
The form 990 shows the contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts received as $138,791 from July 1, 2011 thru June 30, 2012. The recall election was on June 5, so contributions to that effort would be reflected in the period from before the election thru June 30.
The total revenue (line 9) is reported at $150,369.
In Part III
The only entry describing the organization’s program accomplishments is “Civil rights, social advocacy and action programs, provide support to pro democracy campaigns in the form of policy research, publications, legal assistance, consultive services, and the convening of pro-democracy organizers. Total expenditure: $166,792 (No further breakdown describes any reference to election integrity of election investigation)
In part IV, one salary is reported to Benjamin Manski of $25,205 plus $5,593 in benefits.
Further on at Schedule “0” the larger expenditures are for “travel” $10,639 and “web” at $17,390.
Ben Manski and Adam Porton did not return calls placed to clarify the form 990 information.
Two basic questions must be answered by WAVE/Liberty Tree Foundation
How much money was collected by WAVE/Liberty Tree to investigate the June 5, 2012 recall election and, since no public report of any findings discovered through the audit/investigation was produced, how were the collected funds used?
A new election season is approaching and election integrity activists are in disarray due to the lack of transparency, incompetence, and irresponsibility in public reporting left in wake of the WAVE’s recall investigation. Grass roots organizations, hoping to develop new strategies to insure integrity in the 2014 election cycle, remain disoriented and confused by the past promises and actions taken on by WAVE. Experienced people and groups, who have been working to expose the real problems with machine voting since 2011 with a documented history of progress, are left struggling in the wake of the WAVE’s problematic entrance on the scene. WAVE needs to come forward to account for its funding and findings, or the suffer the consequences when the 2014 election cycle passes without organized strategies to protect the vote.
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Please visit my “other blog” for news of my new play “House of Monkeys” – a musical romp through the love, life, and work of Moliere!
What is it about “no” that Attorney General Van Hollen doesn’t understand?
On one camera in one studio we have humble Tommy Thompson telling reporters that he is not going to release his taxes. No, he was not really telling them, he was daring them to ever ask that question again. He had made up his mind like a 5-year-old who will not share his candy stash, and blasted inquiring reporters with the rasping order of a bartender yelling “Last call!”.
Meanwhile on another camera in another studio we have Van Hollen, Tommy’s co-campaign chairman, asking the question about why the State Supreme Court cannot double up on the two lower court injunctions of the voter ID law, and pass it, like quick, before – yes before – the Presidential Election.
Oh Please just answer the question by playing the tape of his boss’s voice. “The question is, is the Court going to reverse the Voter Id Injunction? The answer is no. No,” they say. “The answer is N-O. What part don’t you understand?”
The questions surrounding the voter ID law remain as partisan and strident as they were when the law was passed in the days of the Republican controlled Senate. Nothing has changed. The argument is whether voter fraud has been proven to be the kind of problem that warrants the risk of disenfranchising voters, many of whom are people of color and the elderly. But, to make a plea to suddenly push the law down people’s throats with only weeks to adjust, increases the threat of disenfranchisement by leaps, since those without ID would have so little time to react. NO, Van Holen. What is it you don’t understand?
But that ain’t all. “You don’t ask for mercy when you’re still on the stand”.- Leanard Cohen
It seems Van Hollen’s slippery, situation is the stuff songs are made of.
We go from Leonard Cohen right into Jimmy Buffett’s “Wasting away…” Song? Sing it with me. ∫∫
“Wasted away again in Kathynicklolausville.
Searching for my lost kicker of votes.”
Van Hollen was elected to his current position as a result of the same Kathy Nicholaus reproductive math that gave Prosser the Supreme Court election! Yep. Van Holen is in office because the fuzzy vote count in Waukesha.
The “found vote” in the Waukesha Court election brought back all those memories of the close vote that made Van Hollen Attorney General rather like a nightmare.
Defending Wisconsin Asks JB Van Hollen to Resign
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 12:07 Paul I. Tascoupe
The Waukesha County Clerk reports that there were 156,804 ballots cast in that election. You can see that by going here: Offical Results
All seems kosher until you look at the Government Accountability Board Canvass Summary in which over 174,000 votes were cast in that race. You can see this by going here and clicking attorney general: Canvas Summary .
And I peeked ahead again…
Attorney General Waukesha
Total Votes 174,049
Faulk 55,609
Van Hollen 118,343
Scattering 97
Therefore it is clear more votes were cast in this race than ballots cast. Wis Dems
Oh, time for another verse…perfect…Sing it Jimmy… ∫∫∫∫
“Some people claim
there’s a woman to blame….”
So Attorney General Van Holen what is it you do not understand about
N-O!
Tammy Baldwin’s ad addressing Thompson’s “No Tax Returns Statement”
This was the most read post on the “Free Wisconsin” blog last year.
It was posted Saturday, June 18, 2011 and was read by 2,898 people. The issue of mis-dated poll tape was not addressed by Tim Verhoff, whose opinion was the sole basis for the determination that Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nicholaus was innocent of any wrong doing in the Spring Supreme Court Election. She remains in her position today.
A slip of paper is the “deep throat” of the Supreme Court Election Fraud
It is peculiar how the smallest, most innocent, observation can become the “straw that breaks the camel’s back”.
Barb With was volunteering as an observer at the Waukesha recount when she made a glaring discovery. The poll tape that was being counted and matched for votes cast in the April 5 election for Supreme Court Justice was dated March 30, 2011. When she brought the suspicious date to the attention of election officials, they could not come up with any reason for the mis-dated poll tape.
Weeks later Barb appeared before the Assembly Committee for Election and Campaign Reform. This is a portion of her testimony:
An observer of the Waukesha County recount noticed such a small, innocent piece of paper that was spit out of a voting machine in Pewaukee. It was a poll tape from a voting machine on which is recorded your vote. But what caught her eye was the date at the top of the tape: 03-30-2011 or March 30. That was six days before the Supreme Court election of April 5!
I recall the face book messages in the group Election Integrity as she communicated the finding to the group. “Get a picture!”, and she did.
Probably a test?
Ok. You must admit this is well…..suspicious. Her first inquiries about what it was, what it was doing there, and how it came to be in the official recount material, was met with the response, “It was probably a test.” I guess this goes along with the “human error” defense of all that is Waukesha, but look the time stamp on the tape Mary spotted was: 01:40 a.m.!
I know there are dedicated election officials out there, but who would run a test of a voting machine in those wee hours of the morning? Can you imagine the scenario? A person leans over to his/her mate and says: “Honey, I can’t sleep. I’m going down to the Court house and do a quick test of the voting machines”.
No such machine in Pewaukee
The other explanation for the poll tape was something like, “There were no electronic votes cast in Pewaukee,” Response? “Oh. Ok. My mistake. I must not be seeing a poll tape from a voting machine that clearly says, “Pewaukee”. “I must change my medication.” Come on. If there are no such machines in Pewaukee, how did such a poll tape record materialize?
Trying to bury the photos
The people in the Election Integrity group have posted and shared the photos with friends, newspapers, and media and have found something fishy. The links and posts have been deleted from postings or reported to the face book admin as being “inappropriate”. Is someone pulling a “Scott Walker stealing all the papers from his College election” action? There seems to be an attempt to keep the photos out of view and the story hushed.
When this story was first shared on face book – 3:15 p.m. May 26 it was blocked.
The message below appeared on a Bloggers Link:
We are on to something……..????
Another Unanswered Question
To date, no one has come up with a plausible explanation for the poll tape that appeared during the recount process in Waukesha, not even the Government Accounting Board GAB (That is BAG backwards!) See GAB Behind the Curtain post.
So why hasn’t the GAB demonstrated some concern in the highly irregular March Poll tapes findings?
It turns out that any questions about the integrity of the Wisconsin electronic voting system strikes deep into the heart and history of GAB Director Kevin Kennedy.
Jim Mueller has been looking at the integrity of Wisconsin elections for many years, and had this to say about GAB’s Kevin Kennedy.
“The fear is that these companies throw money around is such a way that we do not know that people who are in positions of trust have been compromised. Since the Accenture deal occurred, I haven’t felt good about Kennedy’s performance”
The Accenture Deal
Article By Mike McCabe
November 26, 2004
Can you believe it?
They want to privatize our highways, our university, our museums and now our elections. Egad! Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state of Wisconsin’s Elections Board, signed a contract with a multi-national calling itself Accenture (it was part of Enron-tainted Arthur Anderson) to create “a total management package to run our elections.” Hello? See Bill Lueders’ column in Isthmus for the full, disturbing story, and then ask, What in the world is wrong with Kevin Kennedy?/
No public hearings were held on the outsourcing of our elections to a company–one that is based in Bermuda to avoid taxes in this country. When I called the Elections Board on Wednesday, I was told that it is, in essence, too late to complain because the contract has been signed. Really? Is it too late to fire Kennedy, appoint a new board, and cancel the contract? I don’t think so.
Call the elections Board and demand that they cancel this contract. Believe it or not Mr. Kennedy, the citizens of Wisconsin are quite capable of managing our own elections.
Kennedy’s Vested Interest
Kennedy has a long history of chummy ties with the Accenture and Electronic Voting Systems. He pitched the system to the legislature. Do you really think he is going to be fair and impartial in answering questions about poll tapes?
The Brad blog has been investigating elections in the country for years, and this is what Brad has to say about the pesky poll tape.
“Worse, if the results printed on the poll tapes are the ultimate proof of the accuracy of results, what happens when — as discovered among poll tapes from the City of Pewaukee in Waukesha County late last week — the “recount” uncovers “Official Results Report” poll tapes dated a full seven days before the actual election was held?’
Prosser was the certified winner of the Supreme Court election and cast a deciding vote on the decision to end collective bargaining rights for workers and families in Wisconsin.
He was certified as the winner before evidence from the recall was published.
1) To date, the GAB has not published the court reporter minutes of the Waukesha recount.
2) The GAB has not published the number of total votes cast in the Supreme Court election.
3) The GAB will not acknowledge whether there is an on-going investigation of the events leading up to the “found vote” by Kathy Nickolaus. They cite the need for confidentiality since Kloppenburg filed a formal complaint. Confidentiality or hiding behind the curtain?
4) The GAB has never said what happened to Kathy Nickolaus’ private computer that held the official vote tabulation for Waukesha County.
5) The GAB has not explained why it gave Kathy Nickolalus “special software” to tabulate the Waukesha County vote.
The information for this post has come through intensive hard work and investigation by the people of the Election Integrity Group, many of whom have been advocating for fair “every vote gets counted ONCE” elections in Wisconsin for years.
Look at the Wisconsin SC Recount BALLOT / POLL TAPE Anomalies
A permanent, online web cache of photo stills revealing just *some* of the GLARING and ALARMING ballot “irregularities” recently seen during the STATE WIDE (VIRTUAL) HAND RECOUNT of the SUPREME COURT ELECTION, held on April 5th, 2011. The following was recently compiled through the collective efforts and shared documentation from many wonderful citizen observers from all over the Great Badger State of WI. The Election Integrity community commends them for all their diligence, tenacity and hard work, and thanks them for the important contribution it’s lending to *all* American Voters. This kind of real time photographic documentation of evidence in real time is, to our knowledge completely unprecedented. EI can use all the Facebook love we can muster…thanks!
The WI Citizens for Election Protecion will deliver a petition to the Government Accountability Board to demand a hand-count of the upcoming recall election votes. It is the Board’s current policy to dissuade clerks for counting ballots by hand. Help protect your vote.
Please share this. Please demand an independent investigation of the GAB and Kathy Nickolaus. Another election is right around the corner, just waiting to be stolen.
The Wisconsin ACLU mission
As part of its mission to ensure the integrity of individual ballots as well as election results in Wisconsin, the Board continues its commitment to working with municipal and county election officials and local and statewide law enforcement agencies to prevent errors and opportunities for voter fraud and to detect and prosecute cases of illegal voting which may occur.
ACLU—–207 East Buffalo Street
Suite 325 Milwaukee, WI 53202
Eagle Scout Walker waits for the next shoe to fall
In the meantime he expects the people of Wisconsin to trust him, after all, he was an eagle scout. Ok. Is this a Halloween trick? Just like the trick of campaigning for governor without bothering to mention that his agenda was to include curtailing collective bargaining, concealed carry, and vote suppression laws? Just like the trick of bringing the legislative agenda of the fringe, right wing, organization ALEC to the tables of the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, often in the dark of night with little advanced notice?
The very first word in the scout law is trustworthy. Eagle Scout Walker expects trust when he never revealed his real agenda before becoming governor. He expects trust when he claimed that an end to collective bargaining was imperative to balancing the budget, but when questioned under oath he admitted the collective bargaining issue had nothing to do with the budget.He expects trust when a John Doe investigation swirls around his top aides and campaign donors?
If you were an eagle scout, which is questionable, then it is just as likely that David Prosser was your Scout Master. Is this some Halloween trick?
Now that the Recall Walker is slated to begin in earnest on Nov. 15 at the same time a John Doe investigation seems to focus on the same victim, we are left to wonder who will get there first, and Walker plays the “eagle scout” card?
What are we to expect in the coming months for Eagle Scout Walker?
The Blue Cheddar blog spells it out masterfully:
Walker has also proven he does not have the self-restraint to stop digging when he finds himself in a hole, so expect more cheating from him during the upcoming signature-gathering period and the eventual recall election. Here are a few predictions:
Expect covert Walker operatives to collect recall signatures with the intention of shredding them. Thousands of people who sign will never have their names turned in to the legitimate recall committee. Similarly, fake petitions will be circulated tricking citizens into believing they have signed a recall petition.
Expect the filing of at least one police report alleging that criminals are going door to door pretending to be recall volunteers but robbing or injuring people when they open their doors. The “criminals” will never be found, but expect wide-spread media reports to result, which will scare citizens away from signing petitions.
Expect emails to circulate telling people that Democrats are going to keep track of people who refuse to sign so they can punish them later.
Expect at least one mysterious fire, electrical surge, or burglary at the offices of organizations coordinating the recall efforts.
Expect Walker’s allies to accuse recall organizers of cheating when they themselves are caught cheating.
Expect Walker’s Republican party to force a primary election by running a fake Democrat if the real Democrats have only one candidate.
Expect draconian and confusing new voting rules that will discourage minorities, college students, senior citizens, and disabled voters from voting in the recall election. Oh, wait, we already have that. Eagle Scout Walker Prepared to Earn Election Fraud Merit Badge
Expect the Walker campaign, through one of their front groups, to distribute mailings that list the wrong date for the election. Expect those mailings to go to Milwaukee addresses in primarily African-American neighborhoods.
Expect Kathy Nickolaus to be the last county clerk to report her vote totals.
Expect the Milwaukee County District Attorney and/or the U.S. Justice Department to indict Walker and/or his top aides soon.
And if anyone has a photo of Scott Walker wearing his Boy Scout uniform, with the Eagle badge, I’d love to see it. He says he earned it, but knowing his habit of stretching the truth, it’s more likely that he punched a Girl Scout and stole her cookie money.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has been the subject of an on-going investigation since April.
Tim Verhoff, who was assigned to investigate Kathy Nickolaus has now completed his assignment and filed his recommendations with the Government Accountability Board.
Melissa Mulliken, manager for the Kloppenburg campaign, announced back in July that she had been notified by attorney Tim Verhoff that he was following up on the complaint she filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. His work is complete.The next step is for the GAB to take further action based on his report.
Six full months have passed since her press conference two days after the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election. Her “found” 14,000 votes in the City of Brookfeild excited national attention as one of the most bizarre turns in events in recent election history, and as a result, lead many to suspect foul play. Even though she apologized for the finding, calling it “human error”, the door was open for deep concern, suspicion, and demands for an immediate investigation. The GAB sent staff to Waukesha to investigate her vote tabulation process. Not long after that, the GAB itself was called into question since the board was alleged to have supplied her with unique software, not given to any other County Clerk in the State, to use for tabulating the vote, and of all things, on her personal lap top computer.
More than 10,000 concerned Wisconsin citizens called for a bipartisan investigation by Attorney General JB Van Hollen in less than 48 hours.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (now candidate for Senator) wrote a letter to the Justice Department.
From letter to Justice Department – Eric Holder
“To ensure that the April 5 election for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice is free, fair and transparent, and to uphold faith in our democracy for ourselves and future generations, I ask for your immediate assistance in investigating these election inconsistencies in Wisconsin. Specifically, I urge you to immediately assign the Justice Department Public Integrity Section, which oversees the federal prosecution of election crimes, to investigate the questionable handling of vote records in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.”
As one of a handful of attorneys across the state of Wisconsin to be named to the prestigious “Rising Stars” award (originated by Law & Politics), Attorney Timothy R. (Tim) Verhoff defends people accused of crimes and drunk driving offenses.
Outstanding Record
Attorney Tim Verhoff began astounding people with his abilities during his secondary education, and graduated Summa Cum Laude, the highest recognition. His comprehension and quick-thinking skills were again recognized during his undergraduate degree from UW-Madison where he graduated Cum Laude, and once again affirmed when he earned his law degree and graduated with honors.
Attorney Verhoff began his legal career as an assistant district attorney for Dane County. In short order, he graduated from trying low-level shoplifting cases to trying very complex murder, sexual assault and felony battery cases.
criminal defense trial attorney
In January 2011, Attorney Verhoff left the Dane County Prosecutor’s Office to further his passion for protecting the rights of people charged with criminal offenses. He joined Attorney Corey Chirafisi, and together they formed Chirafisi & Verhoff, S.C.
outstanding results
As was true for Attorney Corey Chirafisi, who had also served as a prosecuting attorney prior to entering private practice, Attorney Verhoff possesses a very unique advantage in criminal cases: he has tried every level of criminal case from the other side of the courtroom and possesses a unique insight into the prosecution’s legal strategies and methods.
Felony & Misdemeanor Trial Litigation
Attorney Tim Verhoff brings to each case a tremendously vast and in-depth knowledge of criminal case work and trial experience from thousands of cases ranging in degree from low-level misdemeanors and drunk driving charges to very complex multiple-defendant high-level felony cases.
We Need Answers
Director Kevin Kennedy and the GAB are on notice; pubic confidence in the Election process has been severely shaken.
We just witnessed how the appointment of the Special Prosecutor” Bradley to bring light to the choking incident in the Chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court lead to nothing more than casting an even darker shadow over the actions of Justice Prosser, who just happens to be the beneficiary of the found vote by Kathy Nickolaus! The long list of questions, anomalies, and new proof of election fraud surrounding the Waukesha recount must be answered. A real special prosecutor must be appointed to examine the mountains of evidence that resulted from the the Waukesha recount.
* Nickolaus dismissed an independent audit commissioned over concerns there are massive security threats in her current system. Nickolaus, who maintains a secret system for keeping public voting data, condescendingly laughed off the audit, drawing an irate reaction from the Waukesha County Board chair.
* Nickolaus was an employee of the Assembly Republican Caucus when Prosser was the Republican Assembly speaker, and she was one of two database experts for Assembly Republicans, spending 13 years becoming one of the state’s leading partisan experts on manipulating voter data.
* Nickolaus was in charge of developing a computer program that “averaged the performance of Republicans in all statewide races for the previous eight years in each ward and then averaged that information for each city, township, county and district.
* Nickolaus waited over 24 hours after the time she claimed she discovered the vote change before publicly reporting it. Two conservative media members reported the change prior to Nickolaus’s late afternoon announcement.
* Nickolaus withheld critical information from the the Waukesha Board of Canvassers. One member says Nickolaus invited her to be at the press conference, but had not given her a full picture of the problem. Also, Nickolaus curiously demanded the canvass begin on Wednesday instead of Thursday, and that the problem with the more than 14,000 additional votes were never brought up at the Wednesday or Thursday canvass by Nickolaus.
*Nickolaus was responsible for the vote tabulation in a county
-where she tabulated the votes for the Supreme Court election on her personal laptop with little or no transparency.
-where she tabulated the vote on special software provided by the GAB or, as has come to light more recently, the Department of Administration, which is subject of its own John Doe investigation.
-where the vote bags were open and “winged”, slit open with a sharp instrument and repaired with duct tape, and the numbers on the seal on the bags did not match the report sheets.
Do you want to know what election fraud looks like? Read on and you will discover real evidence before your very eyes.
You remember during the recount of the Wisconsin Spring Supreme Court election there was a lot of talk and pictures of unsealed and winged election bags?
Some bags appeared to have been slit with a sharp instrument were actually duct taped.Read “Duct Tape (Really?)”
Then there were the bags whose seal numbers did not match the numbers on the Inspectors Report. To protect the integrity of our elections your ballot is accounted for by numbering and recording where it goes, even after it is placed in bags. The bags are numbered and recorded on Inspector Reports. Whenever there is a discrepancy that points to an opportunity for a bag to be tampered with by adding or stuffing votes it is called a break in the chain of custody.
A host of these instances of break in the chain of custody where apparent in Waukesha County.
In each instance the observers for Kloppenburg challenged each and every one. Why was nothing done? The Wisconsin statutes give complete control of the means and rules for counting the vote to the County Clerk, who was Kathy Nickolaus. Since, Nickolaus had dismissed herself from the count, the head authority was give to retired Judge Mawdsley(pictured top holding bag). In each case it was his judgment that the votes be counted and any challenges to be dealt with later. As you may remember Kloppenburg conceded, the vote was certified by the Government Accountability Board, and the challenges where never officially addressed. It seems none of the challenges rose to real proof and could be dismissed as human error or mistakes. There wasn’t real proof of election fraud.
Until now.
From the Minutes of the Waukesha Recount – Town of Genesse
The Clerk, Barabar Whitmore, was present and tesitified
The Kloppenburg representatives objected to counting …the bag tag and seal and label were different numbers than on the inspection report.The Board noted the the seal is 3165678, and the label and serial number is 3165678, but the inspector’s list is 3165679 = different number. It appears B. Hellman wrote a different number down.The Clerk addressed why the board has two copies of the statement with numbers on them. The second copy is somewhat incomplete, but does have a set of numbers that matches the ballot bags. The Clerk testifies that one is the original copy and one is a photo copy. The tag number and the voting number and the tamper evidence seal numbers were added to the copy. She thinks she made a copy for the town’s purposes, but did not make a copy of the back of one page that went to the County.
The ORIGINAL
The COPY
So, the testimony is that the COPY was Changed to include the correct numbers.
You, most likely, viewed the two forms above and see that one is a copy of the other with the numbers changed, just as the observers did? Take another closer look. Most obviously notice the circled word beneath the word “Town” in the original that SOMEHOW did not transfer to the “COPY”?
It is NOT a COPY
You can see that indeed the numbers are added to the “copy” as testified in the minutes of the Waukesha recount, but look carefully. The “copy” is not a copy at all. It is an entirely different document.
This is what Election Fraud looks like.
In the “Original” the town is not circled, and the date is written as April 5. In the “Copy” the town is circled and the date is written as April 5th. The “Copy” is not a “Copy” as all, but a completely different document that was testified as being a “Copy” of the “Original”.
This is undeniable PROOF of Waukesha Election Fraud
This is like me signing your check with your name and saying “I made mistake.” Someone composed an entirely new and different Inspection Report and it was presented, judged, and counted as a “copy”. This is hard proof of Fraud.
Meanwhile – 14,000 “Found Vote” Problem Gets .00004% Fix
Why must progressives and the League of Women Voters, protest, fight, recall, blog, and file suite to illuminate what is an obvious partisan move of the GOP to suppress the vote?
6 Million For Vote Suppression…
MADISON – A new legal challenge to the Wisconsin Voter ID Law is coming.
The League of Women Voters plans to file a lawsuit against Governor Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers, alleging the law is unconstitutional.
The requirements involved in the Voter ID Law are among the toughest in the nation.
That law goes into effect in 2012, but the League of Women Voters want to put an end to it now.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske (appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1993) this lawsuit does have merit.
“It’s certainly not a frivolous argument, and one of the reasons they are making those arguments is that under the federal Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court says basically the voter ID requirement is OK, so they have to make their argument under the Wisconsin Constitution,” explained Geske.
Geske believes, however, the suit will not go very far.
Wisconsin is now the 11th state to have approved legislation requiring ID at the polls.
Why must progressives protest, fight, recall, blog, to get any answers about Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus? But, oh, there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence to warrant a full investigation.
1) The post election meeting Prosser had with Walker to which Prosser has given three different responses on three different days: a) It didn’t happen b) I might have met him in the hall c) I don’t think I went to the Capitol that day. Which is the truth?
2) Walker’s response to the press when Prosser trailed by 200 votes, that a recount would be fair unless a bunch of votes turns up somewhere. One day later they did turn up in Brookfield. Was this a slip of revealing what he already knew?
3) The GAB announced that it was conducting an investigation of Kathy Nickolaus and her methods of counting the Waukesha vote, shortly after she made her “human error” public; the error that found 14,000 votes that put Prosser comfortably in the lead and ultimately the victor of the Supreme Court election. The latest update of progress on this investigation by the GAB, which was to be published by the end of June, is that they cannot acknowledge whether the action is on going or when, if ever, it will be complete, because the formal complaint by Kloppenburg has imposed new confidentiality restrictions that apply under state law and prevent any comment.
More evidence?
The Mickey Mouse Vote Fraud problem gets 6 Million Dollars for a fix. The Elephant in the Room Election Fraud problem gets no funding, little attention and after more than five months, no answers.
Election Fraud takes money and the kind of covert organization demonstrated by the activities of the Koch Bros. and their pet ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) to draft laws that will allow them to increase profits. One of these activities is to suppress the vote of groups that choose Democrats. Why do you think voter ID requirements have been imposed on, not only Wisconsin, but 10 other
states? Election Fraud requires recruiting, bribing or extorting people to tamper with electronic voting systems machines, hardware, and software. ALEC was created to covertly recruit legislators and people in powerful positions to write legislation, like the new voter ID laws. Do you see any similarities in the mode of operation of the two actions? Both are covert well orchestrated plans carefully designed and implemented to put conservative Republicans in power.
Vote Fraud, on the other hand, cannot be demonstrated to be a real problem that is influencing the outcome of elections in any significant way. So, why is all the money and attention going to correct this non-existent problem? The public hearings on the vote ID legislation provided a clear answer. The people who testified against the bill were representatives of seniors, the disabled, and people of color. Which party do you think most of these people are most likely to vote for? Yep. So it’s in the best interest of Republicans to keep them away for the polls, and they are spending 6 million dollars in poor “broke” Wisconsin to do just that.
Measures to prevent the non-existent Vote Fraud problem are really a masked effort to suppress the vote of groups who would vote Democrat.
Measures to ignore the Election Fraud problem is an effort to keep the mask on the vulnerability of electronic voting systems to prevent Democrats from winning elections. Bush v, Gore – Bush v. Kerry – Kloppenburg v. Prosser….
who was appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1998 and won the Spring 2011 Election over JoAnne Kloppenburg when Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nicholas, “found” 16,000 uncounted votes the day after the election. The same Justice Prosser who physically attacked Justice Bradley in chambers. The same Justice Prosser who wrote the majority “short shrift” decision regarding the curtailment of collective bargaining rights for most public workers. 
fitzwalkerstan 