Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Paul Bucher, Van Hollen, and John Doe Investigation

If only Paul Bucher had become Wisconsin's Attorney General instead of J.B. Van Hollen, so many things would be different.

Paul Bucher, former Waukesha County DA, knows how John Doe investigations should proceed. He understands the need to be unbiased. He gets that secrecy is critical.

Today, Bucher called on Van Hollen to take over or at least play a significant role in the John Doe investigation of staff and associates of Governor Scott Walker by the Milwaukee County DA's office.

Read Bucher's letter here.

From WisPolitics:

Attorney Paul Bucher asked the state Department of Justice today to take over a John Doe probe that has ensnared a half dozen of Scott Walker’s former aides in Milwaukee County, complaining it has “leaked like a sieve” and suggesting it has been politically motivated.

But DOJ spokeswoman Dana Brueck said the agency doesn’t “have the legal authority to take John Doe investigations away from elected District Attorneys.”

Bucher also called on DOJ to investigate the Milwaukee County DA’s office for its handling of the Doe probe, including any breaches of confidentiality within or outside the DA’s office and any possible communication to the media, the Dem Party, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, his family or staff, or anyone else associated with the recall of Walker.

Bucher charged the announcement of indictments appear to have been made with an eye toward political timing, calling into question “whether this investigation is a legitimate exercise of prosecutorial activity and discretion or whether this is merely a partisan political witch hunt.”

He also cited a report from a conservative group that 43 members of the DA's office signed the recall petitions against Walker.

Amazingly, J.B. Van Hollen has already responded.

When has Van Hollen ever reacted with such speed? It's usually difficult to get him to comment at all.

Van Hollen says he won't take over John Doe investigation

The state Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it will not get involved in the ongoing John Doe investigation of aides and staff to Gov. Scott Walker.

The announcement came an hour or so after Paul Bucher, a defense attorney, released a letter he had sent to the Justice Department requesting an investigation into the Milwaukee County district attorney's office and its handling of the John Doe investigation.

"Our office receives many letters from many people and we do our best to respond to all of them," Dana Brueck, a Justice Department spokeswoman, wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel. "Among other things, our response to Mr. Bucher will inform him that we simply don’t have the legal authority to take John Doe investigations away from elected District Attorneys."

Bucher's letter, which you can read here, states that "this John Doe has consistently leaked like a sieve, and has blatantly abused the rights and reputations of individuals who have no way of defending themselves without violating the secrecy orders surrounding the investigation."

Bucher said that, in order to protect the rights of the people involved in the investigation, "complete control of this investigation must be taken from the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office."

Anyone up for recalling Van Hollen?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brags about breaking all the leaks regarding the John Doe investigation but simply declares as gospel that no information has been leaked by Milwaukee County prosecutors.

...Milwaukee County prosecutors have leaked no stories regarding the John Doe investigation to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which has broken every story on developments in the 23-month probe.

Someone is leaking to the Journal Sentinel and the ethically-challenged journalist Dan Bice.

Gee, the prosecutors aren't leaking. The Journal Sentinel says so. We are expected to take that as fact.

Then, who is?

Is Bice getting the information from a psychic?

Does a psychic stand at the prosecutors' parking spaces and pick up the information, then share it with Bice?

Someone with a clear political agenda and politically motivated timetable is feeding information to Bice. Bice dutifully reports the leaks.

And we're supposed to be OK with this?


I'm glad Paul Bucher is demanding justice; because right now, it's missing in action in Milwaukee County.

Bottom line: Van Hollen has been a terrible disappointment as Attorney General.

John Chisholm is a miserable failure at conducting John Doe investigations properly. The buck stops with him. If it walks like a political hack and talks like a political hack, it's a political hack.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's political bias goes way beyond its editorial page.

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