# What's ther Straight Dope about this story about political oppression in Wisconsin? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383 "2015-04-23T19:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/1 "2015-04-23T19:39:06Z")
Briefly, a Democrat, Chisholm, tries to suppress what he sees as support for Walker and uses draconian powers to do so. What’s the Straight Dope here? > [@](#): > > Why would Chisholm seek such broad powers to investigate a year-old embezzlement claim with a known suspect? Because the Milwaukee County executive, Scott Walker, had by that time become the leading Republican candidate for governor. District Attorney Chisholm was a Democrat, a very partisan Democrat. [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/2 "2015-04-23T20:06:34Z")
Suppressing Republicans isn’t a crime, it’s the patriotic duty of any good American. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/3 "2015-04-23T20:11:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Suppressing Republicans isn’t a crime, it’s the patriotic duty of any good American. What if, god forbid, the people vote one into office? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/4 "2015-04-23T20:44:34Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What if, god forbid, the people vote one into office? Then the people have lost their collective mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/5 "2015-04-23T21:16:34Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Briefly, a Democrat, Chisholm, tries to suppress what he sees as support for Walker and uses draconian powers to do so. > > What’s the Straight Dope here? > > [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french) I’m not from Wisconsin, and I’m not familiar with this case. But looking into it, the [Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel](http://www.jsonline.com/news/sealed-documents-in-john-doe-probe-of-gov-scott-walkers-campaign-could-be-unsealed-tuesday-b99331782-271713691.html) seems to have a good overview: > [@](#): > > Q.What is being investigated? > > A. Some details of the investigation are not known because the probe is being conducted in secret. But many specifics have come out in recent months because of the litigation over the investigation and through other means. Investigators were looking into whether the Wisconsin Club for Growth and other conservative groups illegally coordinated with the campaigns of Walker and candidates for state Senate during the 2011 and 2012 recalls that were sparked by Walker’s limits on collective bargaining for most public workers. > > Prosecutors contend they have developed evidence that Walker and his top campaign aides extensively raised large sums from donors for the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Prosecutors say the club received $700,000 during that period from Gogebic Taconite, an iron ore mining firm that secured relaxed environmental regulations as it pursues developing a massive mine in northern Wisconsin. Walker has said he was unaware of that donation. > > In one filing, prosecutors spelled out a theory that Walker was part of a “criminal scheme” to subvert campaign laws. But an attorney for one prosecutor later said Walker was not a target of the probe. It doesn’t sound like a totally crazy prosecutor bent on destroying a governor from an opposite party. National Review is a conservative magazine (it was founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.), and they do seem to think that Scott Walker and Republicans are on the side of angels, so obviously that puts a spin on the story. Looking at other news stories, I can’t seem to find anything that indicates that Chisholm used any draconian powers. Hopefully a Wisconsinite or someone else more familiar with the issue can explain more about what’s happening. The raids do sounds scary, I don’t think the police need to come with guns and battering rams in the middle of the night to collect evidence for illegal campaign coordination. But that’s not specific to this case, that’s regarding the overall militarization of the police. I saw a good documentary at SXSW called [Peace Officer](http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/sxsw-film-review-peace-officer-1201455860/) about that issue. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/6 "2015-04-23T21:20:09Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > The raids do sounds scary, I don’t think the police need to come with guns and battering rams in the middle of the night to collect evidence for illegal campaign coordination. But that’s not specific to this case, that’s regarding the overall militarization of the police. Illegal campaign coordination is on par with mattress tag ripping offing for its level of emergency. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/7 "2015-04-23T21:24:42Z")
It’s hard to judge based on this one article. I do note the following paragraph seems to be begging the question, somewhat: > [@](#): > > In the end, the John Doe proceeding failed in its ultimate aims. It secured convictions for embezzlement (related to the original 2009 complaint), a conviction for sexual misconduct, and a few convictions for minor campaign violations, but Governor Walker was untouched, his reforms were implemented, and he survived his recall election. It assumes that the ultimate aims of the investigation was to harm Walker’s political career which, I think, is a fact not proven, at least in the article (although that’s certainly the author’s strong opinion). Apparently they did find some minor malfeasance which could either mean that’s all there was to find, or that that some people are better at hiding shenanigans than others. I’d kind of be interested in hearing more about those campaign violations and where the money came from, myself. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/8 "2015-04-23T22:09:24Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > It’s hard to judge based on this one article. I do note the following paragraph **seems to be begging the question** , somewhat: > > [Embedded quote dis-embedded courtesy of vBulletin] > > **It assumes that the ultimate aims of the investigation** was to harm Walker’s political career which, I think, is a fact not proven, at least in the article (although that’s certainly the author’s strong opinion). Apparently they did find some minor malfeasance which could either mean that’s all there was to find, or that that some people are better at hiding shenanigans than others. I’d kind of be interested in hearing more about those campaign violations and where the money came from, myself. [Emphasis\*\* added]\*\* Minor hijack… but THANK YOU for correctly using “begging the question”. I was prepared to grit my teeth and studiously not nag at you about it. But you’ve restored my faith in Dope-ity. (Or whatever the Dopish subset of humanity should be.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-ther-straight-dope-about-this-story-about-political-oppression-in-wisconsin/718383/9 "2015-04-23T23:27:03Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Illegal campaign coordination is on par with mattress tag ripping offing for its level of emergency. I have to quibble with that, at least on one level. Mattress tag ripping (by the end-user) is not a crime; as such, there is no urgency to foil any attempts to destroy (or otherwise manipulate the availability of) evidence. This is not the case wrt illegal campaign coordination.