« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Wisconsin Senate Votes to Reimburse Prosecuted Aide
Continued fallout from the U.S. attorneys scandal. From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
The state Senate on Thursday unanimously approved the payment of legal fees for Georgia Thompson, a state employee whose conviction for mishandling a contract was overturned by a federal appeals court....Senators voted 32-0 to pay $228,793 for Thompson's legal fees; the bill now goes to the Assembly, where it is expected to pass. There was no debate on the bill, but Sen. Judy Robson (D-Beloit) said it was the "least we can do" for Thompson, who served time in a federal prison before the appeals judges ordered her released.
Of course, the appeals court's decision to immediately overturn the case was remarkable in itself. But here you have a state legislature working to redress the wrongs of a federal prosecutor. Has this ever happened before? It strikes me as a rather unique situation.
And remember that efforts by Congress to investigate the Justice Department's handling of the case -- in addition to other possible cases of selective prosecution -- have been firmly rebuffed (with the exception of the disclosure of one telling email).
Josh
Zachary
"But here you have a state legislature working to redress the wrongs of a federal prosecutor. Has this ever happened before? It strikes me as a rather unique situation."
It may not be so much redressing the wrongs of the federal prosecutor as paying for the defense of a state employee who was unjustly put through the wringer for something she did as part of her employment. I'm not sure under what circumstances the state would normally pay to defend an employee against job-related charges, but actual innocence may be part of the calculation. I suspect that we wouldn't be seeing this had she been a random citizen.
--Kibitzer
February 1, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is very good news. Justice is served.
Now what about US Attorney Biskupic. He gets off scott free? Will he be censured for bringing this case in the first place? Or will Bush give him a medal.
February 2, 2008 5:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect he will not get anything in public...but most likely a cushy job with the RNC
February 2, 2008 6:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry but it seems to me that when an attorney acts illegally, as it appears that this US attorney did, they should be disbarred. Other wise the USA will simply move to another district with new judges and play the same game.
I believe that depending on the state bar requirements a citizens petition or complaint can begin an inquiry and perhaps even disbarment proceedings.
At the least the attorney will have one more headache to worry about and the bar will have a chance to act responsibly.
Worth a try any way.
February 2, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
test
February 3, 2008 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me ( though I am not a lawyer-and do not even play -pretend to be one on the internets ) - it seems to me that this Wisconsin wrong doing should be part of a larger criminal conspiracy narrative as it relates to the wrongful imprisonment of the former Alabama Govenor , at it relates to Wilson/Domenici phoning then US Attorney Iglesias to "ask" about an ongoing investigation , -this is all part & parcel of the Rove/Gonzales hijacking of WE the People's Department of Justice .Our DOJ has been criminally commandeered by the Republicants to further Rove's vision of a permanent right of center Republican Majority.
Help me please-- many state Attorney Generals have called for a review of the Segilmann wrongful imprisonment- why can't this be made into some kind of actionable legal case either criminal or civil -every one of these illegal acts to hijack our political system vis a vis our DOJ has turdblossoms fingerprints all over it .
If the Vichy Democrats will not help us fight back this Rovian/neocon putsche- , we must get creative in stopping "THEM " somehow- maybe with a state attorney general starting some kind of state RICO case against these sumbitches currently running the GOP...
And if any one has figured out how to recover the 'lost" email on Rovers "secret" email account
now would be a good time to come forward with them ..
Any one seen or heard from Carol Lamm lately or maybe David iGLESISAS ? Can any one tell me if there is any organization out there now actively pursuiing this criminal subversion of the DOJ ? I would send such an organization money right now (maybe I can get back the hundred dollars we sent Edwards the day before he dropped out-and redirect it whomever is taking on this RICO subversion of DOJ )
We need to start actively thinking about how we at a grass roots level take back our DOJ ..that will be a necessary first step to root out the Rovebots that now sit "evilly " nesteled in the bossoms of our national government - How do we do this -LETS GET STARTED !
February 3, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the state legislature is "doing the right thing". Their hands are practically tied. They were obligated already to reimburse back-pay when Thompson was reinstated at her job. She is not asking for anything outrageous as a penalty, even though legislature's partisanship was a part of the game that Biskupic played when she was indicted. So if they are voting to reimburse her, it is because they know that, given the development of the case, the state will be on the hook for a lot more if Thompson goes to court instead. So they are "doing the right thing" only in the sense that they are protecting taxpayer-generated funds.
There two additional factors to consider. First, the WI legislature had a party turnover in the last cycle. This should not be ignored. Dems are on the rise in the state once again, which goes with my original evaluation of WI as a state full of independents with liberal values who think that they are conservatives. When they vote on issues, they vote Democratic. When they vote on party-line ideology, they vote Republican. When trust is an issue, Republicans start losing. This is what's been happening the last couple of years.
The second factor is the fact that the vote in the Senate was unanimous. This is serious. If they were simply "doing the right thing", there would be some dissent. But there was none, which means that they knew that it's time to face the music. The State Houses usually have more nuts, so there might be some opposition there, but the measure should still pass. The bottom line for me is that I would not give the legislature too much credit for doing this.
February 3, 2008 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink