Brew City Brawler

Journal Sentinel screws up voter fraud story again

This caught the Brawler's eye on Sunday. He's glad Bruce Murphy noticed it as well:

Spot the bias here: Dan Bice’s Sunday column on U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic claimed that “His office also drew national attention for its poor record in voter fraud cases.” No one has ever proven Biskupic didn’t prosecute voter fraud vigorously and fairly. Rather, some people in the Bush administration wanted him to put away more people (but even they gave up that idea).

The Brawler disagrees with Murphy's use of the word "fairly" (remember Cynthia Alicea!).

But Murphy is 100 percent to call out this  formulation by Bice. Bice, some longtime Brawler readers may recall,  fingered a top state Repub for whining to the White House about Biskupic only a month or so after the Brawler ID'd him as a likely suspect.

Did the Wisconsin GOP illegally target black voters in 2004 suppression effort?

Talking Points Memo yesterday had a must-read piece about former U.S. Attorney & Karl Rover apparatchik Tim Griffin's voter suppression antics during the 2004 election.

From the piece:

For years, Tim Griffin, the former aide to Karl Rove who’s been at the center of the U.S. attorney controversy, has been dogged by allegations that he was a part of a 2004 scheme to block African-Americans in Florida from voting.

As Greg Palast first reported for the BBC, an August, 2004 email sent to a number of Republican National Committee operatives contained a spreadsheet of the names and addresses of more than 1,800 voters in Duval County, Florida, a mostly white county that includes the city of Jacksonville. Palast reported that the addresses were located in mostly black neighborhoods, and his story, followed by others posted this year on his website and the Brad Blog, alleged that the list was compiled in order to challenge African-American voters at the polls. We sought to test that conclusion through our own analysis of the data.

The result? Our comparative analysis of the spreadsheet with Duval County voter rolls shows that most names were of African-Americans. (For more on the analysis, see below.) Such a finding, voting rights experts told me, strengthened allegations that Griffin, working for the Republican National Committee, was involved in an effort to target African-American voters. “It is difficult to explain other than an effort to target Democrats and by extension, minority voters,” Toby Moore, a former political geographer with the Justice Department, said.

Michael McDonald, an Associate Professor at George Mason University and an expert on elections statistics, said that the chance that the list is randomly so different from the population is less than 1 in 10,000. It is illegal to target voters based on their race under the Voting Rights Act. Griffin resigned earlier this month as the U.S. attorney for Little Rock after a six-month stint.

Sound familiar? It should. A similar thing -- not exact, but similar -- happened in Milwaukee in the run up to the 2004 election. If you recall, the RPW tried to removed more than 5,000 names from the voter rolls and failing that vowed to challenge the voters at the polls. The RPW found the alleged bad addresses -- quite often transcription errors -- by checking registration information of Milwaukee's more than 368,000 registered voters against Postal Service data.

From the 10/28/2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Although the state Republican Party failed Thursday in its effort to have 5,619 names and addresses removed from Milwaukee voting lists, the GOP plans to challenge anyone who tries to vote from the disputed addresses Tuesday.

Polling-place challenges could bring a high level of emotion to an issue that was argued Thursday in largely dry legal terms, with the city Election Commission unanimously deciding the GOP had not sufficiently proved its case to have the names removed.

Nevertheless, the city moved Thursday to take its own steps to flag problematic addresses so poll workers could make their own challenges. Mayor Tom Barrett suggested that all voters bring identification with them to alleviate potential problems.

Republicans filed a challenge of 5,619 names at 4:57 p.m. Wednesday, three minutes before the legal deadline. The party identified the addresses as vacant after using a computer to compare 386,527 names on city registration lists against a U.S. Postal Service database of all known street addresses in the city.

The big question of course is whether the RPW targeted black voters. The Brawler's not saying they did, because he doesn't know. Partly because that was a question the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel left completely unexplored (instead George Stanley prodded Greg Borowski to whip up fears about problems in Milwaukee's electoral process).

That said, the addresses mentioned in the story suggest yes. Unless there's been a white influx at 43rd and Teutonia about which the Brawler is unaware.

Other circumstantial evidence that this was aimed at black voters: While the state GOP did a similar address run of other, substantially whiter cities in Wisconsin, it never disclosed what it found there:

James Konowalski, who did the analysis for the GOP, said he had done similar comparisons for Racine, Appleton, Madison and Green Bay. Republicans have not filed similar challenges in those cities.

And days later, after the state GOP raised questions about more than 31,000 additional addresses, party chair Rick Graber said:

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Graber acknowledged the party is asking local officials, including the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, to voluntarily take the step as the right thing to do.

Asked why the party was not asking other communities to take the same voluntary precautions and computer check their lists before Tuesday, Graber said the Milwaukee voter list is a "mess" and cause for great alarm.

"You mean why aren't we doing this in Wausau?" he said. "We certainly could."

After a pause, he added: "And perhaps should."

Has OJ found the killer yet?

Three questions:

1. Why didn't Steve Biskupic -- who locked up a grandmother who voted when she shouldn't have and tried to lock up a young mother who, at the direction of a poll worker, filled out two registration cards -- look into this? Even if the RPW was on the up and up, it looked a little hinky, to say the least. And Bisk took the trouble to investigate a legit voter registration drive at the county jail.

2. When will the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel realize that the big question in Wisconsin politics is not voter fraud but how the GOP is trying to suppress the minority vote? And when will it treat this as an issue worthy of coverage? It's the tribune of a majority minority city, after all. The GOP pulled similar stunts in Ohio and elsewhere. This behavior is part of a pattern. You'd think those watchdogs would wake up and smell the mendacity. Reporters -- at least the good ones -- are packrats. The Brawler is confident Borowski still has the list of the addresses challenged by the RPW. Maybe he and his computer assisted comrades can determine whether the GOP targeted voters of a darker skin complexion. Might make for a good story -- and the Brawler won't even try to take credit!

3. When will Herb Kohl or Russ Feingold or Tammy Baldwin or John Conyers or Patrick Leahy or somebody recall Rick Graber from the Czech Republic, where he scandalously is the face of American democracy as the U.S. ambassador, and have him explain what he was trying to do? Also, it would be interesting to see what the RPW found in Appleton and Green Bay. Were the lists there so pristine as not to raise concerns?

Prude conviction affirmed

7th Circuit affirms Kimbery Prude conviction.

Bisk busts open some bubbly.

UPDATE: The JSOnline's story is here. For you kids keeping track at home, yes, the Brawler smoked the JS in reporting this news by 10 minutes or so. Yes, the Brawler will have more to say on this decision. Given the facts as presented in the appeal, the affirmation is not overly surprising. Still, the Brawler recalls Justice Woods' description of Biskupic's decision to bring this case: "Mysterious." (Wood did vote to affirm).

And meanwhile. Scott Jensen is still a free man.

Republicans pressed for voter fraud investigation BEFORE 2004 election

The accepted narrative of "The Great 2004 Republican Voting Fraud" Fraud runs something like this.

On the eve of the 2004 Election in Milwaukee, Republicans called for the purging of thousands of names from the voter rolls on the flimsiest of grounds. Republican howls grew louder after the election as they demanded a voter ID to prevent potential fraud. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on cases of human error and bureaucratic breakdowns that suggested our system was susceptible to abuse (though the never spelled out how such an organized conspiracy could take place). St. Steven Biskupic proceeded to investigate, and after nearly a year declared he found no evidence of a conspiracy to tilt the election -- as any child could have predicted. Republicans were mad, some  complained to Karl Rove, which only caused the Journal Sentinel to exalt him more.

Well, now there's a new wrinkle to add to the story. Based on documents DoJ turned over to the Senate two weeks ago (and recently perused by the Brawler here), it's clear that the Republicans were urging St. Steven Biskupic to launch a voter registration fraud investigation more than a month before the election. Now, generally the feds don't do those sorts of things (unless you're a voter fraud freak in Missouri) because the public brouhaha -- over potentially groundless charges -- could affect the outcome of the election.

The Brawler doesn't hold the RPW in high regard, but he suspects they are smart enough to know that news stories saying "Biskupic investigating voter fraud accusations" would have helped them in the 2004 election.

And who was the point man on this effort? None other than State Representative Jeff "Stache" Stone. Stache asked, early and at least twice, what it would take for the feds to investigate voter fraud allegations. It's almost as if he were trying to game the system!

The Brawler has a few questions:

1. Was Stache freelancing or was he acting on someone's direction? Who ultimately set in motion Stache's contacting Bisk?
2. When was the decision made for the RPW to challenge the validity of Milwaukee's voter rolls and who made it? Was this PR stunt done in consultation with the national GOP or the White House?
3. Given the wide variety of lame reasons state Republicans gave Bisk to investigate alleged voter fraud  (Some of the documents (p. 38-42) include RNC chief Ed Gillespie asking Bisk to investigate a letter ostensibly from him urging a Fox River Valley guy to vote for Kerry. It was obviously a prank as it got Gillespie's name wrong.), Bisk clearly knew he was playing into the GOP's narrative by launching a massive voter fraud investigation. Did he take into consideration he was doing what the state GOP wanted?

Anyway, on to the documents.

From a letter Stone sent to Biskupic, dated September 29, 2004 (page 59 in the docs):

I am writing to you today looking for some assistance with concerns my constituents and I have regarding the potential for voter fraud here in Southeastern Wisconsin. The question that has arisen is when the line is crossed from being a local or State issue to being a Federal concern. (Brawler: Aren't the Republicans all about the primacy of local governments over federal? And how many "constituents" asked this legalistic question?)

With the potential for this fraud to affect a Federal election would this cross the line to allow the DOJ and your office to investigate the irregularities with the registration of voters?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story detailing issues with a group named 'project vote.' I believe that some of the funds for this groups (sic) activities originate from out of state. Would this or the use of people not from Wisconsin make it an interstate issue (Brawler: Sweet Jesus, doesn't Stache Stone have staff who could figure this out instead of bothering a USA?).

What would need to occur for your office to take an active role in the investigation of the possible fraud? (Brawler's bold.)

"What would need to occur for your office to take an active role in the investigation of the possible fraud?" Again, Is it the Brawler or does it sound like the RPW, through Stone (a leading voice in the voter fraud conspiracy hysteria), wanted to know how to game the system?

Assistant US Attorney Richard Frohling responded to 'Stache Stone in an Oct. 1 letter (pp. 56-57). In it he said the office asked three main questions when "assessing whether a 'voting fraud' matter should be pursued federall.'" They were (and he expounded on each):

• "Is criminal prosecution appropriate?" (Noting: "A key factor is whether the conduct was part of an organized effort to corrupt the voting process. Organized efforts are far more likely to be pursued federally than isolated acts of individual wrong. ... Our office and the FBI will assess whether the complaints we have received regarding organized wrongdoing are sufficiently credible and specific to generate solid, investigative leads. ... it is often easier to follow-up on first-hand information than it is to assess referrals based on second-hand accounts or media reports.");
• "Is there federal jurisdiction?"
• "Is there a need to "federalize" the investigation or prosecution?" (Noting: "...federal agencies typically defer to state and local law enforcement in election matters" but there were four situations in which "such deference might not be appropriate" including "federal affect." "civil rights," "prosecutor of last resort," and "links to ther crime.")

The Stache from the south burbs responded on Oct. 11 (pp. 54-55). And whaddya know? He said "I believe there exists sufficient concerns to justify asking for assistance from the United Sates Attorneys Office and the DOJ. The integrity of our Presidential election is at risk if no further actions are taken."

He continued:

My office is formally seeking consideration that the United States Attorney and the FBI investigate possible wrong doing in the registration of certain voters in Southeastern Wisconsin. We ask this with the hope that any activity worthy of prosecution be followed to the full extent of the law. The request for your offices is based on the following reasons:

1. Organized efforts being made.

There exist sufficient examples of groups from inside and outside the state of Wisconsin that are organizing voter registration efforts with questionable practices and result. Local news reports have shown multiple examples of questionable practices including but not limited to: forged signatures, fake addresses, payments for signatures returned and signatures collected by unauthorized agents. (Brawler: Note none  of these are "first hand" or "specific.")

2. Violation of federal statutes (Stuff about signature bounties. Weak. -- Brawler.)

3. Need for federal involvement.

We feel justified asking for federal assistance with the voter registration issue.State or local authorities should properly handle some areas, however, there are certain areas that would be best handled by Federal authorities. With the involvement of groups from outside of Wisconsin, the ability of the DOJ to investigate ·and possibly prosecute is greater than that of the State. The ability for a local or state agency to link the activities of groups acting in multiple states is certainly less than the abiliry of the FBI. There seems to exist credible evidence that the same groups active in Wisconsin are involved in registration irregularities in other states. Additionally these groups have targeted only states with the presidential election being considered 'close'. Due to this fact, it is abundantly clear these groups are looking to affect a federal election. My office also has very real concerns that the information being collected could be used for the purpose of identity theft. This type of crime would be most easily investigated and prosecuted by a federal as opposed to a local authority.

He concludes:

My office would like to thank you in advance for any consideration of assistance with this matter. We feel that the credibility of the United States Attorneys office and that of the FBI would help to protect the integrity of the election process. A person considering fraudulent voting would have to think twice before acting knowing your office is working to protect the election process.

Stache forgot to add that a fed investigation into voter fraud before the election -- apart from being highly irregular for good reason -- also would have fed into the right wing spin machine, unusually strong in Milwaukee.

It's always been clear that the Repubs' accusations of a vast voting fraud conspiracy were hype. These documents make clear that the Repubs had been trying for months to get Bisk to launch a dubious investigation. Maybe the JS would think there's a story in here. Thing is, the only story they got out of this document dump was the fact that Bisk got solid performance ratings even though he was put on the firing list.

Again, the the RPW's shameful behavior during the 2004 Election is a story that will be told by someone, some time. It would be nice if the JS, which has reporters with decades of collective political reporting experience, would be the one to break that story.

Meet Kimberly Prude

On May 10, The Brawler took the Journal Sentinel to task for ignoring the plight of Kimberly Prude, the grandma Steven Biskupic locked up as part of his voter fraud investigation, until after the NYT told her story.

Prude was, you may remember, was the grandmother who voted when she shouldn't have, tried to correct her mistake and got nailed.

A mere 11 days later the Journal Sentinel tells her story.

Never doubt the power of the Brawler!

The story, by Bill Glauber, is pretty good. It doesn't let her off the hook for making a mistake. But after reading it, it's difficult to imagine Prude deliberately set out to subvert the Wisconsin electoral system and difficult to see why she deserves to be jailed.

But because everybody's an editor, the Brawler has a couple points he wants to make.

First, while the story notes that "In almost any other election year in perhaps any other state, such a vote might have gone unnoticed and unpunished," it could have provided further context  from a third party on how bizarre Biskupic's pursuit of this case -- and use of federal resources -- truly was.

How? By quoting Judge Diane P. Wood of the 7th Circuit (she who said Bisk's case against Georgia Thompson was "beyond thin"), who, during oral arguments in Prude's appeal had this to say:

“I find this whole prosecution mysterious,” Judge Diane P. Wood of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, said at a hearing in Ms. Prude’s case. “I don’t know whether the Eastern District of Wisconsin goes after every felon who accidentally votes. It is not like she voted five times. She cast one vote.”

It remains to be seen how the 7th will rule in Prude's case. But that's a less-than-laudatory comment on Bisk's prosecution from a high-ranking judge.

Second, we now know that there's an element missing in the "voter fraud scandal" timeframe:

In the days leading to the election, Republicans leveled accusations that the vote was subject to fraud and challenged 5,600 addresses of voters on Milwaukee's rolls, while Democrats warned of intimidation and potential suppression of minority voters including African-Americans, such as Prude.

The election was held. The votes were counted. The debate died down.

But the issue did not go away.

In early 2005, Republican officials in Wisconsin complained to senior White House political adviser Karl Rove that Milwaukee U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic was not being aggressive enough in pursuing voter fraud cases.

Biskupic has said he was unaware of those complaints and has repeatedly denied that his office prosecuted any voter fraud case because of White House pressure.

As the Capital Times reported, we now know that at least two state politicians wrote Bisk before the election to ask him to investigate voter fraud. So to say that there was no White House pressure. But pressure certainly came from elected state Republicans.

Were they working in concert with the White House? Might be worth checking out.

WI Republican pols urged Biskupic to investigate voter fraud in 04 -- before the election even happened!

The Capital Times, doing the journalistic heavy lifting that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel apparently refuses to do, on Sunday notes that two state Republican legislators urged St. Steven Biskupic to investigate voter fraud in southeastern Wisconsin -- before the election even happened!

The more than 100 pages of released DOJ records, however, reveal how hard state Republicans pushed for fraud probes.

State Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greendale, sent several letters to Biskupic's office, asking in October 2004 that Biskupic and the FBI "investigate possible wrongdoing in the registration of certain voters in Southeastern Wisconsin. We ask this with the hope that any activity worthy of prosecution be followed to the full extent of the law."

State Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, also wrote Biskupic in October 2004 to express his concern that "fraud may play a large role in the outcome of the (upcoming) election."

This report struck the Brawler as strange. Why? Well, according to Bisk and the Journal Sentinel, investigating voter fraud was all McCann's idea and Bisk was never under any pressure! From the 4/13/07 Journal Sentinel:

Biskupic said it was former Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann's idea to team up on voter fraud cases. McCann is a Democrat.

Fourteen cases were charged, although only five resulted in convictions.

One of those cases involves Kimberly Prude, who was convicted of voting as a felon. Federal appeals court Judge Diane Wood said in December in connection with the Prude case, "I find this whole prosecution mysterious. I don't know whether the Eastern District of Wisconsin goes after every felon who accidentally votes. It is not like she voted five times. She cast one vote."

The appeals court has not yet ruled in the Prude case.

Biskupic said he was never instructed to prosecute voter fraud cases.

The former communications director of the state Republican Party wrote a 30-page report about alleged voting improprieties in Wisconsin in the 2004 election, and it was given to Karl Rove, deputy White House chief of staff and President Bush's primary political adviser. A White House spokeswoman said issues from the report were discussed by the president and Gonzales. Someone wrote on a page included with the report that federal prosecution of voter fraud in Milwaukee was only "so-so."

Biskupic said he was never aware of the GOP's report.

Granted, when Bisk said he was never instructed to prosecute voter fraud cases he was referring (the Brawler assumes) to the White House/Justice. Yet it's weird: The Brawler doesn't recall Bisk mentioning the correspondence he received from Stone and Kanavas in that JS interview. Must have slipped his mind.

We all recall that a week before the 2004 election, in late October,the state GOP called for thousands of Milwaukee voters to be purged from the rolls because of alleged fake addresses that in the vast majority of instances were transcription errors.

We now know that probably earlier that month -- the reports don't say exactly when the letters were sent -- Bisk was urged, repeatedly, by state pols to investigate voter fraud.

We also know that in the next election cycle, the White House was pressing the Justice Department to investigate voter fraud in Wisconsin. Justice balked.

Was the White House (read:Karl Rove) one way or another ultimately behind Kanavas and Stone's requests in 04? Or were they just freelancing?

Rick Graber, then chairman of the state GOP and now the face of American democracy in the Czech Republic, likely would know. And the Journal Sentinel lately has been doing some hardcore reporting on him.

Turns out, he hasn't seen Brangelina!

Intriguingly, the story the JS did on the newly released Bisk memos noted that he had received strong performance reviews before being put on the chopping block. He's a helluva guy, that Bisk, if you can get past the whole putting a grandmother in prison thing.

Also, the Cappy Times notes that Bisk was seeking voter roll data from Madison and other parts of southeastern Wisconsin as well.

Update: Lightly edited for clarity.

Rove wanted to press partisan voter fraud cases in WI? Nothing to see here, sez MJS

Last Thursday the McClatchy Washington desk reported this:

WASHINGTON - Only weeks before last year's pivotal midterm elections, the White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice official has told congressional investigators.

In two instances in October 2006, President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson.

Sampson tapped Gonzales aide Matthew Friedrich, who'd just left his post as chief of staff of the criminal division. In the first case, Friedrich agreed to find out whether Justice officials knew of "rampant" voter fraud or "lax" enforcement in parts of New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and report back.

But Friedrich declined to pursue a related matter from Wisconsin, he told congressional investigators, because an inquiry so close to an election could inappropriately sway voting results. Friedrich decided not to pass the matter on to the criminal division for investigation, even though Sampson gave him a 30-page report prepared by Republican activists that made claims of voting fraud.

Since then the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has shared, so far as the Brawler can find, none of this with its readers.

Did the editors somehow miss this story on the wires? Did they not care that Karl Rove wanted to play dirty pool in the 2006 elections in their state?

I got it: Upon reading this story, George Stanley got in a room with the MJS's Watchdog Kommandos and said, "All right, this story clearly demonstrates that the White House was willing to whip up concerns, legitimate or not, about voter fraud in hopes of gaining an edge in elections. If the White House was willing to do this in 2006, we can only assume the White House was pulling the strings when the RPW claimed widespread fraud back in 2004. Intentionally or not our sometimes sensationalist coverage of voter roll problems and human error at polling stations probably gave the RPW more grist -- hell, Karl Rove certainly saw our stories as cover for voter fraud charges.  So we're going to find out the real story behind the Republicans' "voter fraud" hysteria and its sister ailment, the drive for Voter IDs. Hit the phones, work your sources, burn some shoe leather. No more Tommy Thompson stories, kids. We're gonna break a big story."

OK, maybe not.

The Journal Sentinel did, however, see fit to run a column by Cedarburg tough guy Mike Nichols saying we should be glad that St. Steven Biskupic ruined the life of Georgia Thompson, who, as you may remember, was found innocent of any crime by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Or something. Xoff tries to figure it out here.

Maybe the White House did conspire with the WI GOP in an '06 voter suppression effort

On Friday the McClatchy Washington Desk reported this:

WASHINGTON - Only weeks before last year's pivotal midterm elections, the White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice official has told congressional investigators.

In two instances in October 2006, President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson.

Sampson tapped Gonzales aide Matthew Friedrich, who'd just left his post as chief of staff of the criminal division. In the first case, Friedrich agreed to find out whether Justice officials knew of "rampant" voter fraud or "lax" enforcement in parts of New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and report back.

But Friedrich declined to pursue a related matter from Wisconsin, he told congressional investigators, because an inquiry so close to an election could inappropriately sway voting results. Friedrich decided not to pass the matter on to the criminal division for investigation, even though Sampson gave him a 30-page report prepared by Republican activists that made claims of voting fraud.

"Only weeks before last year's pivotal midterm elections..."

Huh, what happened then?

Oh yeah, as noted in the now-classic Brawler post "Did the State GOP consult with the White House on an 06 voter suppression effort?" , the state GOP claimed 1,600 suspect addresses were on voting lists and once again raised the specter of widespread voter fraud.

From the October 27, 2006 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

GOP leaders held a news conference in a south side parking lot, across from a freeway bridge. They said someone had voted after giving their address as 2056 S. 5th St., which is vacant land beneath I-43/94.

That was just one of more than 1,600 such suspect addresses, the Republicans charged.

"It means people are voting from these addresses, and they don't live here," said state Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield).

State GOP Chairman Brad Courtney  said city election officials "have failed the voters of Wisconsin" by not correcting the errors.

The MJS, noting that St. Steven Biskupic had found no evidence of a conspiracy to tilt the 04 election, gave the charges short shrift -- as they should have the equally ridiculous charges the Republicans lodged leading up to the 04 election.

But you can't blame a party based on dirty tricks for giving it a college try, can ya?

Now the way the Republicans found all these "bad addresses" -- often cases where digits were transposed, things like that -- by sending post cards to 2,900 addresses. To plan, organize, ship and receive undeliverable addresses would have taken a fair amount of time, the Brawler imagines. But because the state GOP is such a ruthlessly efficent organization, as demonstrated by their electoral success last November, let's say the whole thing started Sept. 1. (Though the Brawler suspects this operation began much earlier. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt.)

Then you would have a timeline like this in Wisconsin, roughly:

Sept. 1: State GOP embarks on post card drive.

End of September: State GOP receives more than 1,600 undeliverable post cards.

Meanwhile, in Washington, we have this date:

October 11: Alberto Gonzalez discusses Wisconsin "voter fraud" issues with President Bush. AG remembers discussing the same thing with Karl Rove in the fall, but shucks, he can't remember exactly when.

The Brawler's only question is whether the White House pressed its case to Justice before or after the Republicans held their October 26th press conference?

(Actually there's another couple two three questions. In the case of Wisconsin what exactly was  the White House pressing Justice to investigate? Voter fraud? Or was it the voter rolls and "lax enforcement" of voter fraud. And what is meant by a "related matter"? Were these "bad addresses" the basis of the White House's case to Justice? Was this press release held after knowing Justice wasn't going to do anything and the GOP wanted to raise as much as a stink as they could?)

Now the Brawler doesn't have what you lawyer folks would call concrete evidence, but it seems that there's some circumstantial evidence to say that the state GOP was laying the groundwork for the White House to cry "voter fraud" and send Justice on the matter. And thereby sending Charlie Sykes, and likely the MJS, into another lather. "Here we go again."

Now, the Brawler is not a blog triumphalist by any stretch. He knows reporters and has a great respect for them. It's hard work -- if you're good it's hard work -- for little material reward. (And the phrase "Milwaukee's Stupider Media" is pointed specifically at the TMJ talkers and that layout guy who now writes columns.)

But still, the Brawler -- armed with nothing but a cheap computer, an internet connection and the truth -- pointed out that former state GOP exec director Rick Wiley was a likely suspect for the guy who complained to White House about Biskupic three full weeks before Daniel Bice (the tough-talking, blogger-bashing Bice) said, uh, yeah, it was Wiley. And the Brawler would argue he was, once again, ahead of the pack in raising questions about the White House's drive to suppress the vote in 2006.

When will the MJS wake up and realize the fact the state GOP has been working with the White House to suppress the vote in Wisconsin for two consecutive election cycles constitutes a major story? Or is that a story someone else will tell, as the NYT did with the sorry tale of Kimberly Prude?

Before praising Biskupic, remember Kimberly Prude

Steven Biskupic had a good day on Thursday, as someone other than his sister and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board stuck up for him.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spoke highly of Biskupic and said he was not the sort who would prosecute people based on party (i.e. Georgia Thompson).

Reporting further on the matter, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo wrote:

... Having raised the questions about Biskupic noted above, I feel compelled to note that in subsequent conversations with others who I believe come with as much credibility as Comey has -- which is a great deal -- I've been told pretty much the equivalent of what Comey said today. These people don't necessarily know the specifics of the case in question. But they know Biskupic. And they vouch for the guy's character and reputation. They say they know him and he just would never do something like that.

The Brawler is, and has been, entirely willing to accept the proposition that Bisk brought a case that would benefit Mark Green and the Republicans without that being his intention. And if that seems a leading way to frame the matter, it's not. It's the facts.

And yet ... and yet ... When hearing people talk about what a great guy Bisk is, the Brawler cannot help but think about Kimberly Prude. the grandmother he put in jail for voting when she shouldn't have (she was on probation) and then trying to correct her mistake. Think about it: Bisk brought the full force of the federal government against a woman whose crime was this:

Ms. Prude's path to jail began after she attended a Democratic rally in Milwaukee featuring the Rev. Al Sharpton in late 2004. Along with hundreds of others, she marched to City Hall and registered to vote. Soon after, she sent in an absentee ballot.

Four years earlier, though, Ms. Prude had been convicted of trying to cash a counterfeit county government check worth $1,254. She was placed on six years' probation.

Ms. Prude said she believed that she was permitted to vote because she was not in jail or on parole, she testified in court. Told by her probation officer that she could not vote, she said she immediately called City Hall to rescind her vote, a step she was told was not necessary.

''I made a big mistake, like I said, and I truly apologize for it,'' Ms. Prude said during her trial in 2005. That vote, though, resulted in a felony conviction and sent her to jail for violating probation. (NYT, April 12)

She's now been in jail for more than a year. Feel safer?

Bisk, as we all know, conducted an investigation into possible voter fraud after the 2004 election. Republicans claimed we had turned into a second Chicago, with billboards voting and what not. After a nearly year-long investigation, Bisk declared that there was no evidence of voter fraud. Bisk fans -- of which there are plenty in the Milwaukee media -- hailed him as a hero.

To quote Eugene Kane, the self-described most hated black man in the Wisconsin blogosphere:

When Biskupic announced that his investigation produced zero evidence of widespread voter fraud in Milwaukee, it sent Republican activists reeling but sent a message to other citizens that this U.S. attorney wasn't a puppet on a string.

As the Brawler said before, it's pretty to think so. Bisk's declaration -- really no more courageous than saying the sky was blue -- didn't send Republican activists "reeling." It "sent" them to change a few notes but it was the same old song. The song went from "Voter fraud is rampant we need Voter IDs" to "Just one case of voter fraud is too much, we need Voter IDs." Clearly his declaration angered the state GOP, who complained about him to Rove, but that's a separate matter. Nothing Bisk did or said changed the Repubs' strategy of pushing for voter ID.

And Bisk's pursuit of poor black people like Ms. Prude (maybe Kane should ask for her opinion about Bisk, has he talked to her?) who were defended by court-appointed attorneys arguably gave legitimacy to this push because the Journal Sentinel could say "X number of case of voter fraud have been successfully prosecuted." 

(And Bisk's high failure rate in these cases -- in which the feds were mostly going against court-appointed attorneys mind you -- illustrates how weak these cases were).

This is what Kane's fellow columnist in the big leagues, Patrick McIlheran, had to say in wake of Bisk's declaration:

There's no evidence of a concerted, massive conspiracy in Wisconsin to hijack the 2004 election. That's what U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said Monday.

Here's what he didn't say: that there was no cheating.

"I stand by the preliminary report," Biskupic said Monday to Journal Sentinel editors and reporters.

That report, last May, was that more than 100 people voted twice, used fake names or fake addresses or voted in the name of a dead person in the 2004 election in Milwaukee.

That is, they cheated. This week, Biskupic said it again: No particular party conspired to cheat, but plenty of people cheated anyhow.

He just can't prove it to jurors beyond a reasonable doubt.

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This week also brings news that Wisconsinites suffering colds must endure layers of rigamarole to score some pseudoephedrine. They can't just buy Sudafed; they must find an open pharmacy, where a registered pharmacist must log the sale, all because if you grind up enough cold pills, you can make a batch of crank. Of course, customers must prove their identity.

Those who oppose asking voters to do that say it amounts to disenfranchisement since many poor people, particularly African- American men, lack driver's licenses. A bill, vetoed in the summer by Gov. Jim Doyle, would have required photo ID of voters but also would have offered a free one to anyone lacking a license. The bill's offer would have opened other doors: relief from colds, the use of libraries, the chance to buy an Amtrak ticket, all of which require photo ID.

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This week also brings news that Wisconsinites suffering colds must endure layers of rigamarole to score some pseudoephedrine. They can't just buy Sudafed; they must find an open pharmacy, where a registered pharmacist must log the sale, all because if you grind up enough cold pills, you can make a batch of crank. Of course, customers must prove their identity.

Those who oppose asking voters to do that say it amounts to disenfranchisement since many poor people, particularly African- American men, lack driver's licenses. A bill, vetoed in the summer by Gov. Jim Doyle, would have required photo ID of voters but also would have offered a free one to anyone lacking a license. The bill's offer would have opened other doors: relief from colds, the use of libraries, the chance to buy an Amtrak ticket, all of which require photo ID.

McIlheran is a "Republican activist" under any meaningful definition and clearly he's not "reeling" here.

All of which is to say, yes, it's possible, likely even, that Bisk did not go after Georgia Thompson to save his job.

But it's less than accurate to say that he was a bulwark against partisan, destructive and baseless cries of voter fraud when he quite clearly dug as hard as he possibly could for cases that appeared -- no matter how thin the evidence -- to be fraud. And Bisk was quite aware that pursuing voter fraud was a priority of the Bush administration, given John Ashcroft had been saying it since January 2001. Do you remember him going after any Republican activists for seeking to block voter access?

All of which is to say, let's not measure Bisk for a halo quite yet.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, the Brawler thinks it's entirely possible, and even likely, that Bisk acted with the purest of motives in investigating and pursuing "voter fraud" and didn't have to be leaned on by higher-ups. But it's also clear that he knew the context and the score.

Did the state GOP consult with the White House on an 06 voter suppression effort?

As most of you know, the Senate -- both sides of it -- reamed the petulant boy who is our attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.

The part that really caught the Brawler's interest (no, the non-answers about Biskupic did not) was a discussion about Gonzales' consultation with George Bush and Karl Rove about alleged "voter fraud" in Milwaukee and elsewhere.

And when these guys discuss voter fraud, it's safe to say the conversation goes along the lines of "How can we claim voter faud so that we can push voter suppression efforts?" Such as, you know, purging voter roles or throwing out charges of phantom voters to see if they stick.

From Talking Points Memo:

Gonzales could not recall details about his conversation with Karl Rove about voter fraud, although he testified that he did have such a conversation. He said that it covered three jurisdictions -- New Mexico, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. He could not recall when or where or how it had occurred, only that it was in the fall of 2006.

He pinpointed the date of his conversation with President Bush about those same three jurisdictions as happening on October 11.

The time element caught the Brawler's attention. After a brief furrowed brow moment, he remembered this story from the October 26,  2006 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Republicans launched new allegations Thursday of flawed Milwaukee voter lists, less than two weeks before the Nov. 7 election.

But the problem addresses represent a small fraction of the city's total voters, and many if not all of the problems appear to be minor errors, not vote fraud, the city's election chief said.

Democrats struck back by accusing the GOP of trying to suppress votes.

GOP leaders held a news conference in a south side parking lot, across from a freeway bridge. They said someone had voted after giving their address as 2056 S. 5th St., which is vacant land beneath I-43/94.

That was just one of more than 1,600 such suspect addresses, the Republicans charged.

"It means people are voting from these addresses, and they don't live here," said state Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield).

State GOP Chairman Brad Courtney  said city election officials "have failed the voters of Wisconsin" by not correcting the errors.

The GOP allegations mirror ones the party raised before the 2004 presidential election.

Ah yes, the 2004 election, a banner year in still uninvestigated GOP voter suppression efforts. And in 2006, as in 2004, the errors were largely human errors. In one instance, a street name had been changed since the roll was created.

But of course, the really interesting thing here is that the state GOP came out with this line about two weeks after Gonzales and Bush had their conversation.

Maybe it's worth looking into communications between the White House and the WI GOP in the runup to the 2006 elections. Who knows, maybe this came up.

(Obviously the GOP's scare tactics didn't work. And the media didn't hop all over it the way they did the last time -- no doubt in part because St. Steven Biskupic had declared he had found no evidence of a voter fraud conspiracy in Milwaukee (on his way to prosecuting a young mother and a grandmother on ridiculous charges).

But the fact that it didn't work doesn't make raising bogus charges any less reprehensible. And if the gubernatorial race had been any closer -- instead of Doyle mopping the floor with Green -- you can bet the Repubs would have used this list as Exhibit A of widespread irregularity.)