Leahy Must Subpoena Biskupic

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Steven Biskupic obtained a conviction last September of State of Wisconsin purchasing agent Georgia Thompson.  The timing could not have been worse for Democrats as the case made headlines through out the state in the months preceding the November elections after the September sentencing.

Thompson's case has major implications for Doyle's re-election campaign in which he squares off against challenger Mark Green on Nov. 7... Thompson has consistently denied the charges. Her attorneys argued that she had a clean criminal record before this case, did not profit from her actions and was not likely to re-offend.

On March 15, 2007, Biskupic told a Wisconsin State Journal reporter that no one told him to conduct political probes.

U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said Thursday that no one in the White House or the U.S. Justice Department directed him to conduct public corruption investigations - including his probe of campaign donations to Gov. Jim Doyle that led to the indictment of a Kenosha businessman.

On Thursday after less than a half an hour of deliberations, a three judge federal appeal court reversed the conviction:

In arguments Thursday, the appeals judges called the charges against Thompson unfounded.

"It strikes me that your evidence is beyond thin," Judge Diane Wood told prosecutors. "I'm not sure what your actual theory in this case is."

Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary should order the issuance of subpoenas for Biskupic to appear before the committee. Biskupic should be asked to bring all documents or communications between himself and any staff members of President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pertaining to discussions regarding the investigation or prosecution of state employees for the purpose of embarrassing the Doyle Administration.

In the meantime, every state employee has to ask if it is possible that they may become a pawn in a larger political struggle between Republican prosecutors and Democratic political leaders. Conversely none of us are served well if there is a real criminal act by a public employee; there is always the suggestion that the prosecution is politically motivated, making it more difficult to obtain a proper conviction.

Comments

[xoff]

Now we know, from Dan Bice's Sunday column, that the State GOP was complaining to Karl Rove about lack of action on voter "fraud" in Wisconsin -- which turned out to be as unfounded as the Georgia Thompson charges.

Did Biskupic go after Thompson to save his job?

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=588156

[Anonymous]

Did Biskupic go after Thompson to save his job?

That only reinforces the presumption of state employees looking at this case, and for a long time now -- that it was politically motivated. Doing so for self-preservation is just political motivation under more pressure.

So you bet that for more than a year now, state employees have had this case in mind in anything they do -- or don't do, as was explained in the story on unwillingness to serve on review committees such as the one that was used against Thompson.

If it doesn't take doing anything wrong to end up prosecuted and in prison, why do anything extra?

I agree. Why do anything extra? Especially when you know that your crooked boss, Jim Doyle, will throw any of his underlings under the bus to avoid prosecution for his out of control corruption: (http://www.doyleforsale.com).