U.S. Attorney Repeatedly Pressured Doyle Aide To ‘Implicate Others’ In Political Witch Hunt
U.S. Attorney Repeatedly Pressured Doyle Aide To ‘Implicate Others’ In Political Witch Hunt
Shortly before the 2006 election, the U.S. attorney in Wisconsin, Steven Biskupic, went after Georgia Thompson, an aide to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D). Biskupic accused Thompson “of steering a state travel contract to a firm whose top officials were major campaign contributors to Doyle.” The case was a boon to the Republican gubernatorial candidate in the 2006 election, who “ran a barrage of attack ads that purported to tie Ms. Thompson’s ‘corruption’ to Doyle.”
In a “stunning reversal,” the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the conviction in April “within hours of oral arguments due to a simple lack of evidence.” Federal Appeals Judge Diane Wood said that the “evidence [was] beyond thin.”
A new report in the Isthmus Daily Paper shows that Biskupic “repeatedly offered to go easy on her [Thompson] if she were to implicate others in the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle,” indicating that Biskupic’s case was based on partisan politics. Similarly, Thompson “repeatedly rejected the plea agreements because she said she had no information” about improprieties in the Doyle administration:
“It was the only time in my career that, after the person was sentenced, the prosecutor has called to renew the discussion,” says [Thompson’s lawyer Stephen] Hurley, who’s been a criminal defense attorney for more than three decades. “I’ve never had that happen before.”
These offers, though not necessarily indicative of improper conduct, suggest that Biskupic and his staff prosecuted Thompson as part of a larger agenda, with potential political overtones.
Documents indicate that Biskupic went after the Bush administration’s political opponents to avoid the Justice Department’s list attorneys targeted for removal. In 2005, the Wisconsin state Republican party prepared a report for Karl Rove that attacked Biskupic for not going after voter fraud aggressively enough.
The Bush administration set out to replace U.S. attorneys in at least nine battleground states. In at least seven, “U.S. attorneys were fired or considered for firing as Republicans in those states urged investigations or prosecutions of alleged Democratic voter fraud.” It appears that Biskupic was able to keep his job because he was willing to go after the Bush administration’s adversaries on thin evidence.
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75 Responses to “U.S. Attorney Repeatedly Pressured Doyle Aide To ‘Implicate Others’ In Political Witch Hunt”
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Wow, a lawyer from teh Ken Starr school of law…
May 18th, 2007 at 4:31 pmBut I replaced 98 US attorneys. what’s the big deal?
why is it ok for me to do it, but not for this administration?
and shit, the crap we said about the loyal Bushies I when we kicked them out…hahahaha!!!
Oh wait, I forgot, my Liberal pundits only care about making anyone that doesn’t agree with us look bad.
I am sorry. Please continue. You guys took good lessons from me. Y ou are doing great. Keep on lying. You repeate a lie enough times and the dumb Liberals that voted for me will believe it.
This is what I told Al gore when he came out with his plan to lie to the american people about Global Warming. Repeat, repeate, repeate, repeate the lie and Liberals will swallow it like Monica swallowed my c….m.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:32 pmGreat photo, makes him look psychotic.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:33 pmJeez what a troll.
First of all, Clinton replaced those attorneys at the beginning of his first term. Quite legal and proper. Other presidents have done it too.
Chimpy and Gonzo got rid of 11? 12? attorneys in the middle of a term because they were not “good Bushies”. In several cases, they were replaced with cronies who stopped investigating Repukes.
And Al Gore is NOT lying about global warming. You are.
Go back under your bridge, troll. You’re a dumbass.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:37 pmNow we know for sure that Biskupic is dirty.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:38 pmThe Dept of Justice has become a Nest of Vipers.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:38 pmMr. Troll, believe me when I say you aren’t doing your side any favors with your posts.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:38 pmMr. Troll, believe me when I say you aren’t doing your side any favors with your posts.
Comment by VerbalKint — May 18, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
What? I take you think like my Liberals friends that this garbage that we spew out does your side favors, eh?
Sorry, take it from me, the greatest President to step on the rug of the Oval Office, we don’t do anyone any favors with our continuing vitrol and hate against the right.
But not that you are going to listen and care.
and do please tell me, what side I am on. I am President Bill Clinton and I am on my own side.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:41 pmBiskupic is a good Bushie who was doing what Gonzo ordered.
Go after Democrats. Voter fraud, money in the freezer, whatever you can dig up on them.
And lay off the Repukes. Don’t investigate or indict them.
This is the Repuke version of the rule of law.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:42 pmThis troll is a whacko and we should all ignore him.
Don’t feed the trolls.
And this is a humane catch-and-release site.
When you catch the troll lying, just throw him back under his bridge.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:43 pmIn a stunning development, the Heritage Foundation has proven that monkeys can be trained to type complete sentences and is using them to post on liberal websites.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:44 pmMr. Troll, believe me when I say you aren’t doing your side any favors with your posts.
Comment by VerbalKint — May 18, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
and I am sorry to burst your bubble, but it is true. You guys swallowed all my lies as monica swallowed my c….m.
I mean geez, I am flattered you all think I was the greatest President to ever be born, but I can assure you that I was not.
This is a tiny littel secret that Bugala told me not to tell you, but what does Bugala know.
Someone just told me that I was very, very popular despite the fact never obtaining 50% of the popular vote. ‘92 43% and ‘96 48%. bush received more votes than I ever did. You know how upset that makes me. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:44 pmAnd so it goes
In order to defeat the ‘enemy’, we had to become them
May 18th, 2007 at 4:44 pmLook at those demonic eyes!
May 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pmCaption:
May 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm‘If you say anything to the press about this, I’ll tell KKKARL!
but…but…but…Kerry, Clinton, and Pelosi!!
May 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pmDidn’t the judge in the Jose Padilla case also say the evidence was beyond thin?
If he gets convicted, he should be sentenced to time served, including the years he was illegally held without habeus corpus in a Navy brig.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pmComment by President Clinton — May 18, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Fair play, you have taken political satire to a new level. I won’t say whether it’s a new high or a new low. It’s certainly a new level though.
Well done.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:49 pmThis troll is a whacko and we should all ignore him.
I have no doubt that this coward trolls here under several identities.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pmJust look at that guys picture. Yup, that’s a trustworthy guy, I can tell in my gut.
BTW, in reference to numero dos, what in the heck is a repeate, repeate, repeate??
May 18th, 2007 at 4:51 pmOkay, I admit it; I’m a troll who has adopted this screen name as an infanile means of ridiculing libtards. So sue me. It’s not like I have any other options. My people (Republicans) have screwed up our party and our nation so badly with their lousy ethics and values that we’ve got nowhere to go.
So all I can do to distract myself from the mess we’ve made is to pretend to be someone I could never hope to measure up to. So lay off.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pmLooks like the trolls are getting more and more desperate. ‘President Clinton’? Heh. I guess that means they’re starting to feel the heat…that or feel the power slipping from their fingers.
Oh, how ironic I find it that all the conservative blogs I’ve visited immediately squelch any kind of dissent, whether it looks like the few level-headed conservatives who argue position and don’t act childish or the asses like so-called ‘President Clinton’ who try to threadjack. Ironic or what?
Anyway, I wonder if this incident will result in any come-upance for Biskupic and up for using the justice department for political gain? Keeping my fingers crossed.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pmkelso,
It’s poor education, poor education, poor education!
May 18th, 2007 at 4:53 pm;)
Trolling is an act of desperation - desperation for a lost cause, desperation from lack of ability to present a coherent counter-position, desperation for lack of a life, etc. I can’t imagine being a sad enough creature to perform such a function on a right wing site. Pathetic.
Even more pathetic is that TP still has not taken the step of account registration.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:54 pm#21 Post more things like this, and I might have to reconsider what I have said about you.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:55 pmI’m pretty sure the trolls are paid to post in here.
They’re Rove goons trying to cause trouble.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:57 pmLamest. Troll. Ever.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:57 pmrepeate - verb - to duplicate spelling errors over and over again
May 18th, 2007 at 4:57 pmMr President
President Clinton
President Bush
who next Reagan
you have to be the most annoying person ever on this site and continually ruin the flow of conversations - get lost
Im Boycotting this site until he goes
May 18th, 2007 at 4:59 pm“I’m pretty sure the trolls are paid to post in here.”
In that case, I need to mention another type of desperation: the desperation of an ideology so corrupt and so devoid of ethical foundation that it must resort to paying to catapult its propaganda.
See also: Goebbels, Rove
May 18th, 2007 at 5:01 pmCaption:
“You will burn in hell if you don’t rat on your fellow campaign workers!”
May 18th, 2007 at 5:02 pm“I got my degree from christ himself, and I’ll sic him on you if you don’t give me what I want!!!!!”
Disbar this USA, NOW!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:04 pmEvery time I hear the phrase “catapult the propaganda” I think of the Frenchmen in the Holy Grail shooting cows over the parapet…
May 18th, 2007 at 5:05 pmComment by Tom3 — May 18, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
I disagree. These people believe. Money means nothing. If someone believes in something then they will fight for it no matter what.
That scares me more than the concept of paid Rove troopers.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:07 pmPCl,
“Infantile” and “vitriol” are the words you’re looking for retard, also “repeat” doesn’t have an “e” at the end.
Learn the language before you try to impersonate an intelligent President. You would have no problem whatsoever impersonating the current President though, he’s a moron.
Get out of the trailer, quit f*cking your sister and get you some education boy .
Oh yeah, and f*ck off.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pmMr. Troll, believe me when I say you aren’t doing your side any favors with your posts.
Comment by VerbalKint
God, isn’t that the truth! The dimwit doesn’t say anything remotely helpful - even to his own cause. I guess he is not invited to post over at redstate or malkins blog, huh? Great. We get to deal with the WATB.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pmand Liberals will swallow it like Monica swallowed my c….m.
Comment by President Clinton —
Boy you’re dumb. If she had swallowed, you’d have nothing to whine about. If not for Monica’s finicky tasebuds, George Bush would have been just a failed pres. candidate, busily running another company into the dry, west Texas soil.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pmbut…but…but…Kerry, Clinton, and Pelosi!!
Comment by Troll du jour — May 18, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Don’t you realize that in the 1990s, I sent out my Liberal armies and told them to say, “but…but…but….Reagan did it too!”
I think if I allowed my pundits to say this during the 1990s, we can cut some slack t othe Repubilcans now.
I mean what is good for the gander is good for the goose, right?
you must be too young to remember how we always pointed to the Reagan administration to convience the American people that it was ok for us to do it since they had done it first.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:09 pmRepublicans electioneer through the Justice Department.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:09 pmI hope on an individual basis that some moral Republicans refuse to partipipate in this practice. If not, America is pretty much fucked.
Mr President
President Clinton
President Bush
who next Reagan
you have to be the most annoying person ever on this site and continually ruin the flow of conversations - get lost
Im Boycotting this site until he goes
Comment by Jake — May 18, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
Jake, another bites the dust. Lucky for me, Monica bit my c…..k!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:10 pm“Every time I hear the phrase “catapult the propaganda†I think of the Frenchmen in the Holy Grail shooting cows over the parapet…”
In that case, here are two MUST VIEW links you will enjoy:
catapult
Quest for the Oily Grail
Thanks to toostupidtobepresident.com.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:12 pmSounds a lot like a partisan fishing expedition, the kind Rove is so quick to accuse everyone else of engaging in. (When Rove does that, it usually means that’s exactly what his Little Shoppe of Harmers is doing. Attacking others by claiming they’re doing what he is doing is a way to blunt disclosure of his own bad acts and pre-emptively discredit their accurate description as bad acts.)
Biskupic moved heaven and earth on a relatively inconsequential set of facts, using a novel, and as it turns out unsupportable, interpretation of the law, to attack a collateral supporter of a Democratic governor in a swing state. And the consistent issue he keeps coming back to is “spill the beans” on your Democratic colleagues and “I’ll let you off with a lighter sentence.”
Who knows whether Biskupic believed his case against Thompson, or whether he never expected it to fly and, therefore, that it would never really harm her (but would get him a pass with the powers that be in DC), or whether he well and truly believed he had a criminal in his sights. Even his kind of thinking is corrupt.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:13 pmComment by President Clinton
Well Reagan was a very low standard, you must admit. To be worse than Reagan, a president would actually have to be caught on videotape selling weapons to terrorists.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:15 pmComment by President Clinton
Well Reagan was a very low standard, you must admit. To be worse than Reagan, a president would actually have to be caught on videotape selling weapons to terrorists.
Comment by barfly — May 18, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
but my administration was caught selling ICBM technology to the Chinese. Was this bad?
Berger and my chiefs of staff told me no. did I do wrong?
May 18th, 2007 at 5:19 pmTypical troll bullshit.
Always bringing up Clinton.
Clinton has nothing to do with it.
Stupid troll.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:20 pmbut…but…but…Hillary and/or Bill Clinton, and/or Nancy Pelosi, and/or John Kerry did it, too!!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pmThis thread brings up the question Thom Hartman has been asking. If there were a few prosecutors who were fired for NOT engaging in illegal, politically motivated Justice Department activities, doesn’t that mean that there were many more who weren’t fired because they DID engage in illegal political Justice Dept. activities? If it turns out that Biskipic engaged in illegal political activity (and it sure looks like he did) he should be disbarred.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pmThe guy looks like Niedermeyer’s son. I hope he gets an orange jumpsuit for this. BRW, let’s ignore the troll. It’s bad enough for him that he is who he is.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:34 pmThese people believe. Money means nothing. If someone believes in something then they will fight for it no matter what.
Comment by UKBristolDave
The ignorants. The easily-led like many of the trolls here, the ones that speak about West vs Islam crappy propaganda as if was a De la Hoya-Mayweather.
The owners, the people behind Bush, behind Executive Boards, etc. They dont care cuz they only care about money.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pmI don’t get trolls. If I look at a right-wing site, I don’t make comments - of course, usually that isbecause I’m laughing too hard at the idiotic things I read to be able to type.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pmpowkat, that’s probably because you are NOT an infantile, annoying a-hole screaming for attention.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:48 pmHeads up: The paper is The Isthmus, their web site is The Daily Page.
May 18th, 2007 at 5:49 pmPresident Clinton:
May 18th, 2007 at 5:57 pmI am happy to know that you still enjoy a nice blowjob. I really like em too. I never really was sure why the opposition was so uptight about them. I think they were just freaked out about I real president doing a real job. I sortof wish the present prez was more interested in them. Problem seems he lacks both balls and brains. Well it’s been nice having you back. Things for me and almost every citizen I know were better off back in your day as was our great nation’s reputation on the world stage.
Is that Biskupic or Kenneth from “30 Rock”?
May 18th, 2007 at 5:58 pm47!!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:58 pmWow you hit it! I knew I’d seen that face before. Great call!
Here’s where the original article ran!
May 18th, 2007 at 6:03 pmIn Madison’s weekly paper, The Isthmus. Then, it was posted to their web site, Thedailypage.com
Comment by Juan C — May 18, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
Tevez kept West Ham up but his signing might send them down.
All a bit bloody odd isn’t it?
May 18th, 2007 at 6:04 pmDoes the picture of this guy not remind anyone of the guy on 30 rock HERE
Sorry - no insight - but that picture got me laughing a bit -
May 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pmCaption Contest: “Welcome to the Bates Motel.”
May 18th, 2007 at 6:12 pmThose attack ads that ran against Gov. Doyle had Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over them. Wisconsin is a swing state, and the GOP really wanted to get a win there.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:14 pmWisconsin voters didn’t buy it. Doyle won reelection. His opponent, Green Bay congressman Mark Green, lost the election, and his previously Republican District went to the Democrat. Wisconsin’s senate also went to the democrats.
Now it’s Biskupic’s turn to Implicate others.
So What!
May 18th, 2007 at 6:39 pmTevez kept West Ham up but his signing might send them down.
All a bit bloody odd isn’t it?
Comment by UKBristolDave
What do you think? Whats the view of the media? I personally dont care too much about if they (Tevez and Mascherano) could or couldnt play. Im just happy for him. He is an outstanding player.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pmbilljpa: “So what!”
Let me spell it out for you. It is illegal to use the Justice Department for political purposes. Got it? Good.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:50 pmisn’t it time for a criminal investigation?
May 18th, 2007 at 7:03 pmI just got a call from the Founding Fathers, they want the country back.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:06 pmComment by Juan C — May 18, 2007 @ 6:47 pm
The issue is around Tevez was signed and when he played. It took Tevez until March to understand the English league. He’s worked it out and has stormed it - I remember us discussing his first goal. I was at the game at Upton Park and the place went mental for him. Since that, he’s been a revelation.
The irony is that the man who kept West Ham up might send them down due to the dubious nature of his signing.
The media is leaning towards an anti-Tevez position I’m afraid. I’m not happy about that as it’s the money men who have put him in that position. If he had played the whole season like he has since that game vs Spurs he’d have been the Footballer of the season without a shadow of a doubt. Remember that’s against Ronaldo, who is up there with Kaka.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:13 pmbut my administration was caught selling ICBM technology to the Chinese.
Comment by President Clinton
Actually, not. But if it helps to fantasize about Clinton to help you forget your hero Reagan actually sold real weapons to the same folks he was claiming we’d never deal with, well, go right ahead. Clinton was a piker, when compared to Reagan’s perfidy. The man began weapons transfers to the Iranians scant months after taking office. His cowardice actually spurred additional hostage taking. Reagan was the worst in modern times.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:27 pm“…biskupik…”
“There, there, baby feel better now?”
May 18th, 2007 at 7:42 pmReagan not only spurred additional hostage taking, but he was the original cut and runner in the war on terror. He sent Marines to Lebanon in a “show of force.” 243 of them were killed by a suicide bomber. Reagan cut and ran. The mythology conservatives have built around Reagan is truly a thing to behold.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:44 pm“Documents indicate that Biskupic went after the Bush administration’s political opponents to avoid the Justice Department’s list attorneys targeted for removal.”
This has been my point all along. We are looking at the wrong people. We should not be looking at the US Attorneys who were fired, instead we should be looking at the Attorneys that were not fired. What did they do and are they doing to keep their jobs?
May 18th, 2007 at 7:49 pm#69..
May 18th, 2007 at 8:04 pmI believe this is what we are seeing now, and the performance and activities of the sub standard appointees Bush has made will entertain and dismay us for years.
Remember that’s against Ronaldo, who is up there with Kaka.
Comment by UKBristolDave
You forgot Messi. ;)
May 18th, 2007 at 8:41 pm#1 Funny you should mention that. Kenneth Starr has another link to Wisconsin. He helped craft Wisconsin’s W-2 welfare reform program ~ the plan that teaches people to live in poverty and like it ~ the plan that Tommy Thompson is using to try and weasel his inadequate butt into the Presidential race.
May 19th, 2007 at 2:49 amMore proof that the Republican-Nazi Party is a criminal organization.
May 20th, 2007 at 12:32 amAn oft misquoted phrase ‘first kill all the lawyers’ actually refers to the primary task when seizing control of a country. Rove reads Shakespear. Who knew?
May 20th, 2007 at 10:57 am