John Doe Investigation, Journal Sentinel: Disgrace

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's office and the political hacks at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel appear unprofessional and unethical.

Back in December 2011, Dan Bice and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel declared:

Another major shoe has dropped in the John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's current and former aides.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested Andrew P. Jensen Jr., a commercial real estate broker with Boerke Co. and a past president of the Commercial Association of Realtors-Wisconsin.

Fran McLaughlin, spokesman for Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., confirmed that Jensen was behind bars Tuesday night. But McLaughlin said no one had filed a criminal complaint against the 50-year-old Milwaukee resident.

The sheriff's website states that charges are pending against Jensen.

Attempts to reach Jensen or his lawyer were unsuccessful.

Jensen was a minor contributor to Walker's gubernatorial campaign, donating $850. Boerke Co. employees gave a total of $12,150.

Insiders told No Quarter that he was arrested after refusing to cooperate with the long-running John Doe investigation by Milwaukee County prosecutors.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf declined to discuss the matter late Tuesday.

"I have no comment," Landgraf said.

The arrest represents a new direction and development in the secret probe of Walker's staff while he was county executive and as governor.

Along with the story, the Journal Sentinel ran a mug shot of Jensen decked out in jailhouse orange.

He hadn't been charged, but they named him and plastered his photo on the Internet, violating usual practice for the paper. Bice jumped on the opportunity to smear Jensen.

From Bice's December 13, 2011, article:

John Doe investigations are secret proceedings in which witnesses can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath about potential criminal matters and are forbidden from talking publicly about the case.

Doesn't that make you want to throw up?

"SECRET PROCEEDINGS."

Yes, Bice, so secret that you and your paper slapped Jensen's mug shot on your publications even though he hadn't been charged with anything.

And now, in April 2012, that "major shoe [that] dropped in the John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's current and former aides" amounts to nothing.

Jensen is exonerated.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel even ran a flattering photo of Jensen with its story this time.

That's too little too late.

Real estate broker exonerated in John Doe probe

Milwaukee County prosecutors have cleared a commercial real estate broker who was earlier jailed for refusing to cooperate with John Doe investigation into activities during Gov. Scott Walker's tenure as county executive.

Andrew P. Jensen Jr. and the firm for which he works, Boerke Co., have been informed by District Attorney John Chisholm's office that they are not targets in the nearly two-year probe, according to a highly unusual statement released Thursday by Jensen's attorney, Stephen E. Kravit.

"The District Attorney's office has also indicated that Mr. Jensen will not be charged and that clients of the Boerke Company will not be involving themselves in this matter as a result of their working relationship with Mr. Jensen or the Boerke Company," said the one-page statement on Chisholm's official letterhead.

"This statement is being issued with the advance approval and consent of the John Doe Judge and the Milwaukee District Attorney's office, and we appreciate the cooperation in permitting this information to be made public."

...Late last year, prosecutors called Jensen before the John Doe and tried to compel testimony by having the judge grant him immunity. Jensen went to the state Court of Appeals to try to keep his grant of immunity secret.

The appeals court ruled in early December that grants must be public.

Less than two weeks later, sources say, Assistant District Attorney David Robles personally arrested Jensen for refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

"What that means is he wouldn't adopt their version of events," said Patrick Schott, who was Jensen's lawyer at the time.

Shortly after that, Jensen switched lawyers, replacing Schott with Kravit and, it appears, began cooperating with prosecutors.

Chisholm's office launched the secret investigation in May 2010.

And there's that "secret" claim again. What a crock!

The lack of integrity being exhibited is stunning. Chisholm's office didn't launch a "secret investigation."

The word "secret" has meaning. This investigation isn't secret.

Isn't this odd?

"Assistant District Attorney David Robles personally arrested Jensen for refusing to cooperate with the investigation."

That's not typical procedure.

I would like to personally arrest the person/persons in Chisholm's office leaking the "secrets" of this John Doe investigation farce. I'd like to arrest Chisholm, too, because I feel like it. I don't like the way he's running his office. He's not cooperating and doing what he's expected to do.

Do I have that authority? Does it matter? It seems rules and the law are irrelevant.

The way this alleged John Doe investigation has been handled by Chisholm's office and the way Bice and the anti-Scott Walker team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have been operating is truly a disgrace.

Let's stop calling it a "John Doe" investigation now.

"John Doe"? Secret?

ARE YOU KIDDING?

This all reeks of sleazy political maneuvering, two years of slime.

It couldn't be more non-John Doe.

If any "major shoes" drop as a result of this two-year probe, within the relatively small window before the June 5th recall election, John Chisholm and his leakers and his media mouthpieces will be exposed as total tools, Democrat political operatives.