Gableman records show little evidence of investigation
MADISON – A judge on Tuesday released records showing a Republican review led by attorney Michael Gableman consisted of little investigation even as GOP leader Robin Vos gave the former Supreme Court justice a new contract to continue his work.
The review showed the Gableman team was buying furniture and figuring out how to store files months after it was supposed to start its work and Gableman began drawing $11,000 monthly checks from taxpayers.
Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington released 761 pages of records that showed Gableman’s team was still buying furniture and figuring out how to store files months after Vos launched the review of the election.
“We are in danger of our investigation turning into a circus, mostly by adverse press appearances,” attorney Carol Matheis wrote to her colleagues on Gableman’s team in October.
“You give them ammo, and they use it. If we had hid out the whole time, maybe did a video or a press release or two, we’d probably have better press. We wouldn’t have had our own side turning on us, probably either.”
The release of records came on the same day former President Donald Trump launched a last-ditch effort to persuade lawmakers, on their last day in session, to act to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Vos last summer, feeling from Trump to investigate, named Gableman as special counsel and gave him a taxpayer-funded budget of $676,000 to look into the election. Vos, the speaker of the Assembly, and Gableman reached a new contract Tuesday allowing Gableman to continue his work through April.
Remington’s order to release the records came in response to an open records lawsuit filed by the liberal group American Oversight. Just before they were released, he warned they showed little sign of an investigation.
“I believe that it’s for every man now … to examine these documents,” Remington said from the bench. “And I believe when done so (he) will come to the conclusion that this has been much to-do about nothing, that these documents do not support the argument that there has been an investigation, much less the conclusions that have been made by the Office of Special Counsel.”
Trump’s last-ditch appeal
Remington released the records the same day Trump launched a last-ditch attempt Tuesday to persuade Wisconsin Republicans to perform the legally impossible feat of reversing the 2020 election.
The former president claimed Republican leaders had promised to stay in session so they could dissolve the Wisconsin Elections Commission and withdraw from a consortium of states that share voter data known as ERIC.
Trump argued such moves could fuel efforts to decertify the state’s election results — an idea that legal scholars have called legally impossible.
An aide to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester did not immediately confirm Trump’s statements about continuing the legislative session that was scheduled to end Tuesday.
Vos last year hired Gableman at taxpayer expense to look into the 2020 election even though recounts and courts had confirmed Joe Biden beat Trump in by nearly 21,000 votes.
Vos has said lawmakers cannot revoke the state’s 10 electoral votes, but Gableman has embraced the idea and said lawmakers should consider it. That notion won the praise of Trump on Tuesday.
“In addition to announcing that they will stay in session and take action to get rid of ERIC and the WEC, which have done some very bad things and made review very difficult (as also noted by the Legislative Audit Bureau), based on the Gableman report, I would imagine that there can only be a Decertification of Electors,” Trump said in his statement.
Remington’s decision to release the records came a week after he ruled Vos and Gableman had violated the law by keeping records from the group. Remington called the records underwhelming.
Gableman issued a report last week that he maintained showed numerous problems with how the election was conducted. The report reiterated arguments Republicans have been making for months about voting in nursing homes and grants that Wisconsin cities received to run their elections that were funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Democrats in the state Senate sought to launch an audit Tuesday of Gableman’s office, but Republicans who control the chamber rejected the effort. In a sign of some GOP discomfort with Gableman’s work, three Republicans — Sens. Kathy Bernier of Lake Hallie, Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield and Jerry Petrowski of Marathon — joined the Democrats in the vote to advance the audit.
Records show slow start to review
The records show Gableman and his staff were still planning the scope of their review, hiring attorneys, and considering office furniture purchases as late as October and November — a few weeks before Gableman was initially scheduled to complete his review.
Vos spokeswoman Angela Joyce did not immediately say what kind of work was being done starting in June, when Gableman began collecting monthly $11,000 checks from taxpayers.
On Nov. 10, a woman emailed Gableman proposals for new office equipment, including an intercom and filing cabinets.
Many of the documents involved discussions of how to avoid transparency in the taxpayer-funded review. At one point, a staffer suggested a policy of not engaging with any journalists. In another email, a staffer said answering fewer questions by reporters would give the effort “better press.”
Election officials, Democrats and some Republicans have called Gableman’s work a sham that has undermined confidence in the election.
Gableman’s backers have rallied behind him, saying his reports show a need to overhaul how elections are run in Wisconsin. Gableman has called for limiting early voting and mail voting.
If Remington’s rulings withstand appeals, the state likely will have to pay thousands of dollars to American Oversight to cover the group’s legal costs. In addition, the Assembly, Vos and Gableman would have to pay a combined $3,000 in penalties.
Remington said he did not understand why the public release of such documents would in any way hurt Gableman’s review of the 2020 election, as Gableman has claimed.
Remington found in last week’s ruling that many of the records at issue were mundane and said there should be no dispute over whether they should be made public.
The documents also include an email in which Gableman’s office shared its password for a dropbox.com account, Remington wrote.
“No statute prohibits the release of passwords, and the public has no interest in keeping its government’s irresponsible digital security a secret,” Remington wrote.
American Oversight has filed two other open records lawsuits because of documents that have been withheld from it.
More:A who’s who guide to the Republican review of Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election
Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Patrick Marley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.
Read More: Gableman records show little evidence of investigation