Walker Involved? Some informed speculation…

[starroute]

28. Biskupic? His name came up in the US Attorney scandal

Biskupic was one of the US Attorneys who started going in search of alleged "voter fraud" in January 2005, allegedly under pressure from Karl Rove and the Bush Department of Justice. In fact, he was even reportedly on an early list of US Attorneys to be fired. But his "voter fraud" efforts fell short, so in 2006 he began trying to prosecute state Democrats -- most notably a woman named Georgia Thompson. And the last item quoted below suggests that Biskupic may have been part of a cover-up of some Scott Walker hanky-panky prior to 2007.

I was keeping a file of US Attorney-related items at the time, and the quotes below are from that -- so I can't swear that all the links are still valid. But this is what was going around in early 2007.


http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/mediasources/20070313a

Some of the prosecutors who were fired have said they felt pressured by powerful Republicans in their home states to rush investigations of potential voter fraud involving Democrats.

Perino said deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, vaguely recalls telling Miers that he also thought firing all 93 was ill-advised.

Dating back to mid-2004, the White House's legislative affairs, political affairs and chief of staff's office had received complaints from a variety of sources about the lack of vigorous prosecution of election fraud cases in various locations, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee and New Mexico, she said


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=590368

No Quarter reported that in 2005, the state Republican Party drafted a 30-page report on Wisconsin voter fraud for Karl Rove, Bush's right-hand man. The president passed along the complaints to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in October.

In Wisconsin, GOP leaders thundered for years that Milwaukee was rife with voter abuse. Biskupic and McCann opened their probe in early 2005, with the feds taking the lead. . . .

Late in 2005, Biskupic announced that the task force found no evidence of a conspiracy to steal any election. He added that his office was charging 14 individuals for isolated cases of voter fraud.


http://brewcitybrawler.typepad.com/brew_city_brawler/2007/03/how_was_biskupi.html

The U.S. attorney from Milwaukee, Steve Biskupic, has done an admirable job of going after three Milwaukee aldermen and former state Sen. Gary George, all Democrats. He has also launched several investigations embarrassing the Doyle administration, including the current probe of Troha. Biskupic’s first Doyle-related probe involved state employee Georgia Thompson.


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=591137

Posted: April 13, 2007

Steven M. Biskupic, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, was once targeted for firing by the U.S. Justice Department but given a reprieve for reasons that remain unclear, McClatchy News Service reported Friday.

Congressional investigators looking into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys saw Biskupic's name on a list of attorneys targeted for removal when they were inspecting a department document not yet made public, an attorney for a lawmaker involved in the investigation told McClatchy. The attorney asked for anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the investigation. . . .

McClatchy reported that the disclosure aroused investigators' suspicion that Biskupic, who is based in Milwaukee, might have been retained in his job because he agreed to prosecute Democrats. Such politicization of the administration of justice is at the heart of congressional Democrats' concerns over the Bush administration's firings of the U.S. attorneys.


http://plaistedwrites.blogspot.com/2007/03/steve-biskupic-no-worries-duh.html

Whether by direction, design or just plain old predisposition, Steve Biskupic has walked the political walk for Junior Bush since he was appointed by the Decider in 2002. Whether it’s going after Democratic alderman for buying themselves groceries, civil servants working for a Democratic governor, contributors to the same Democratic governor and investigating non-existent "voter fraud" (the very definition of an elephant laboring for months and bearing a mouse), Biskupic has been Johnny-on-the-Spot for the Bushies‘ political agenda.

Oh, and never mind those Republicans who happen to find themselves on the knife’s edge of investigation and possible illegality. For instance, Biskupic was supposedly investigating some monkey-business between Scott Walker and indicted former Tommy Thompson cabana-boy Nick Hurtgen. The result? Uh, nothing to see here, everyone move along. He also conveniently bailed from the prosecution of the Republican District Attorney in Winnebago County, Joseph Paulus, who has since convicted of bribery and is now in federal prison. His brother happened to work for Paulus. Maybe the reason Biskupic never goes after Republicans is because, if you swing a stick in his house or his office or his country club, you’ll hit five or six of them. Just guessing here.


(On edit: I don't have much on Hurtgen, but it appears he was part of some deeply corrupt effort to get casino gambling into Wisconsin. If anyone on this thread is interested, let me know and I'll dig out what I've got.)