Not once, but twice, the White House -- in full Keystone Kops damage control mode in the scandal over the fired US attorneys -- said they had received complaints about US attorney Steven Biskupic not pursuing voter fraud cases.
The Brawler, who is not a professional journalist but merely a concerned citizen, offered his theory as to who the whiners might be: The Republican Ricks, Wiley and Graber. As leaders of the state Republican party, they did a bangup job of guiding it into mounting irrelevancy over the past two cycles. They also made a big ruckus about voter fraud in Milwaukee.
Did they do it? The Brawler's not saying that. But the Brawler would suspect they'd be high on the a reporter's list to call given they were the face of the party on this issue.
The Brawler was wrong about what Wisconsin reporters put on their lists.
Here's what we got from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Brad Courtney, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, said Wednesday he's had no contact with White House officials regarding Biskupic and didn't think any other state party officials had made such contacts.
"I'm unaware of anything like that," said Courtney, who took over as chairman in September. He said he didn't believe accounts that Wisconsin GOP leaders had pressed the White House regarding Biskupic.
This response is the definition of a nondenial. I don't have any trouble believing Courtney didn't have contact. But the language "didn't think" or "I'm unaware" is language some might call "Libbyesque" and a story you could drive an increasingly light MJS delivery truck through. Also note, neither Rick is a state party official any longer.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin State Journal also falls short:
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, who lost to Doyle in the 2006 gubernatorial race, and a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, said they didn't complain to Bush or Gonzalez about the federal prosecutors in Wisconsin. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Menomonee Falls, said he wasn't aware if Sensenbrenner complained.
A spokeswoman for Erik Peterson, the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Wisconsin, referred questions about Bartlett's comments to the Justice Department. Peterson replaced J.B. Van Hollen, now the state attorney general, who through a spokesman declined to comment on Bartlett's statements.
It would have taken some stones for Green and Ryan to complain about investigations that were well outside their district. So whay call these guys and not, apparently, the Ricks?
Again, the Brawler is not saying the Ricks complained to the White House. But any reporter seriously trying to cover his or her bases on this story would have called those guys. But apparently that didn't happen.
Who taught these guys journamalism? Jessica McBride?
Speaking of Jessica McBride, she way hearts Steven M. Biskupic, the man who "cleaned up Wisconsin." Man, don't you feel safer with Georgia Thompson behind bars?
Anyway, Jessica accuses the White House of misleading the public:
Of course, no one believes that Biskupic did anything wrong. I think the White House tossed Milwaukee in because it sounded stronger to hang the comments on three examples, rather than two. And there was an element of truth to it: There was criticism over the lack of aggressive prosecution on voter fraud here... but it centered on DA E. Michael McCann, and his years in office.
The White House didn't need to go there. The cases of Washington and New Mexico are strong enough. The White House owes Biskupic an apology.
So basically Jessica is saying the White House threw in the bit about Milwaukee for the same reason they talked about how Iraq was amassing aluminum tubes that could only be used for nukes: It sounded good.
She goes on to say:
And what's with the vague line at the end of these passages in the Journal Sentinel about GOP leaders pressing the White House about Biskupic. I have never heard that, not once. I also don't believe it. Obviously GOP leaders wanted voter fraud prosecuted. But I've never heard anyone utter anything but respect for Biskupic.
First off, the Brawler read "the vague line" Jessica mentions -- "[Courtney] said he didn't believe accounts that Wisconsin GOP leaders had pressed the White House regarding Biskupic." -- as referring to the White House's claims it had received complaints, which presumably would have come from leadership. But Jessica is right. It is vague. Are there "accounts" the MJS is keeping from its readers?
But she is misrepresenting reality when she says "I've never heard anyone utter anything but respect fro Biskupic." No, Biskupic, a Bush appointee, wasn't denounced by leadership. But Graber and Wiley made it clear, at different points during the investigation, that they weren't thrilled with the progress of Biskupic's fraud investigation.
While the investigation was still live, but not turning up much, in August 2005, Rick Wiley said this:
"There are widespread problems. While they haven't uncovered a widespread conspiracy or fraud at this point ... this investigation is far from over," Wiley said. (AP, 8/22/05)
When the investigation was concluded and Biskupic said he found no sign of widespread conspiracy and he wasn't going to be prosecuting a lot of cases, Graber had this to say:
That only 18 voter fraud cases have been charged doesn't mean it's not a major problem in Wisconsin, state Republican Party Chairman Rick Graber said.
"For anyone to sit back and say our election system doesn't have problems, that is just blatantly false," Graber said. "The questions raised in 2004 still haven't been answered."
Let's be clear: Neither quote is brimming with respect for Biskupic. Indeed, they're saying that there's a lot of stuff going on below the surface.
If they were willing to say these things publicly, is it impossible to imagine that they didn't say other things privately to the White House?
That's not to say they did. But by all means, Wisconsin reporters owe it to their readers to put a call in to the Ricks.
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