Democrat Donovan Riley

The double-voting Wisconsin DEMOCRAT state senate candidate Donovan Riley has received his punishment for his wrongdoing.

Background on Dandy Donovan and his supporters: here and here and here.

The question is: Does Riley's punishment fit his crime?

Waukesha -- Donovan Riley, a disgraced state Senate candidate, is paying a steep price for voting twice in the same election in 2000.

Riley, Democrat, agreed on Thursday to pay a $10,000 fine, surrender his law licenses in Wisconsin and Illinois and not practice law. He must also return campaign contributions to supporters who request refunds in the next 30 days even if it means paying them from his personal funds.

He has 45 days to meet those conditions. In exchange, the single count of election fraud, voting more than once, will be reduced to a misdemeanor. The deal, under which Riley avoids jail time, was reached in a plea bargain with Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, Riley and Riley's attorney, Jeremy P. Levinson.

Riley on Thursday entered a plea of no contest to the felony count, but the guilty finding will be withheld for 45 days. If Riley fails any of the conditions, he will become a felon, Bucher said. If the conditions are satisfied, Riley will be found guilty of a misdemeanor.

"We believe this to be a strong signal to other individuals that there is a price to pay" for voter fraud, Bucher told Reserve Judge Laurence Gram.

Outside the courtroom, Bucher said it was the first time ever in his more than 20 years in the district attorney's office that the maximum fine has been issued.

This is certainly more than a slap on the wrist.

I'm sure it's far more severe than what E. Michael McCann would have agreed to as a fitting penalty.

Levinson told the judge that Riley realizes the "records indicate what they indicate" and "that there really can't be much of an explanation or excuse other than he did something he shouldn't have done."

Duh.

"He understand he needs to pay a meaningful price," Levinson said. "He understands in the course of all this he let down a lot of people who supported his candidacy."

Levinson is talking like Riley is mentally impaired.

I would hope this DEMOCRAT senate candidate criminal would "understand."

Riley did not say much during the proceedings. "Mr. Bucher and my counsel stated it accurately. I concur," Riley told Gram.

Translation: "Yup, I'm a crook."

...Gram accepted the plea agreement, saying the penalty was "substantial and severe" and the "toughest penalty isn't always throwing someone in jail and throwing the key away."

"I regret that a fellow lawyer got himself in this kind of a situation. Oh, we can say a lot about our political system and whatnot. Certainly, one vote here and one vote in Cook County is not going to do much to disturb the political process. But the fact that somebody does it is a serious problem," Gram said.

I really don't like Gram's remarks. He regrets that a fellow lawyer, one of his own, "got himself in this kind of a situation."

What does that mean? It sounds like Gram regrets that Riley got caught.

Gram says, "[O]ne vote here and one vote in Cook County is not going to do much to disturb the political process."

I strongly disagree.

Remember when "Count every vote" was the Dem mantra?

I bet Al Gore will mumble it in his sleep for the rest of his life. It may be etched on his tombstone.

This Judge Gram is a real doofus. Riley did disturb the political process.

It sickens me that Gram would diminish the significance of Riley's crime.

Personally, I think that double-voting DEMOCRAT Riley should have received jail time.

I think he should have been sentenced to report to jail on every election day from the time the polls open until they close.

That would help to assure the integrity of our political process.