Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin's Act 10 - also called the "Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill," it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions - was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs' frantic barking. The entire house - the windows and walls - was shaking. She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram. She wasn't dressed, but she started to run toward the door, her body in full view of the police. Some yelled at her to grab some clothes, others yelled for her to open the door. "I was so afraid," she says. "I did not know what to do." She grabbed some clothes, opened the door, and dressed right in front of the police. The dogs were still frantic.
...
Why were the police at Anne's home? She had no answers. The police were treating them the way they'd seen police treat drug dealers on television. In fact, TV or movies were their only points of reference, because they weren't criminals. They were law-abiding. They didn't buy or sell drugs. They weren't violent. They weren't a danger to anyone. Yet there were cops - surrounding their house on the outside, swarming the house on the inside. They even taunted the family as if they were mere "perps." As if the home invasion, the appropriation of private property, and the verbal abuse weren't enough, next came ominous warnings. Don't call your lawyer. Don't tell anyone about this raid. Not even your mother, your father, or your closest friends.
...
For dozens of conservatives, the years since Scott Walker's first election as governor of Wisconsin transformed the state - known for pro-football championships, good cheese, and a population with a reputation for being unfailingly polite - into a place where conservatives have faced early-morning raids, multi-year secretive criminal investigations, slanderous and selective leaks to sympathetic media, and intrusive electronic snooping. Yes, Wisconsin, the cradle of the progressive movement and home of the "Wisconsin idea" - the marriage of state governments and state universities to govern through technocratic reform - was giving birth to a new progressive idea, the use of law enforcement as a political instrument, as a weapon to attempt to undo election results, shame opponents, and ruin lives. Most Americans have never heard of these raids, or of the lengthy criminal investigations of Wisconsin conservatives. For good reason. Bound by comprehensive secrecy orders, conservatives were left to suffer in silence as leaks ruined their reputations, as neighbors, looking through windows and dismayed at the massive police presence, the lights shining down on targets' homes, wondered, no doubt, What on earth did that family do?
This was the on-the-ground reality of the so-called John Doe investigations, expansive and secret criminal proceedings that directly targeted Wisconsin residents because of their relationship to Scott Walker, their support for Act 10, and their advocacy of conservative reform.
...
If the first series of John Doe investigations was "everything Walker," the second series was "everything conservative," as Chisholm had launched an investigation of not only Walker (again) but the Wisconsin Club for Growth and dozens of other conservative organizations, this time fishing for evidence of allegedly illegal "coordination" between conservative groups and the Walker campaign. In the second John Doe, Chisholm had no real evidence of wrongdoing. Yes, conservative groups were active in issue advocacy, but issue advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and did not violate relevant campaign laws. Nonetheless, Chisholm persuaded prosecutors in four other counties to launch their own John Does, with Judge Kluka overseeing all of them. Empowered by a rubber-stamp judge, partisan investigators ran amok. They subpoenaed and obtained (without the conservative targets' knowledge) massive amounts of electronic data, including virtually all the targets' personal e-mails and other electronic messages from outside e-mail vendors and communications companies. The investigations exploded into the open with a coordinated series of raids on October 3, 2013. These were home invasions, including those described above. Chisholm's office refused to comment on the raid tactics (or any other aspect of the John Doe investigations), but witness accounts regarding the two John Doe investigations are remarkably similar: early-morning intrusions, police rushing through the house, and stern commands to remain silent and tell no one about what had occurred.
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I don't care what political party or end of the spectrum you affiliate with, if you're an American, you should be angered, ashamed and afraid.
This post was edited on 4/20 11:15 AM by lilMAC
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisco
...
Why were the police at Anne's home? She had no answers. The police were treating them the way they'd seen police treat drug dealers on television. In fact, TV or movies were their only points of reference, because they weren't criminals. They were law-abiding. They didn't buy or sell drugs. They weren't violent. They weren't a danger to anyone. Yet there were cops - surrounding their house on the outside, swarming the house on the inside. They even taunted the family as if they were mere "perps." As if the home invasion, the appropriation of private property, and the verbal abuse weren't enough, next came ominous warnings. Don't call your lawyer. Don't tell anyone about this raid. Not even your mother, your father, or your closest friends.
...
For dozens of conservatives, the years since Scott Walker's first election as governor of Wisconsin transformed the state - known for pro-football championships, good cheese, and a population with a reputation for being unfailingly polite - into a place where conservatives have faced early-morning raids, multi-year secretive criminal investigations, slanderous and selective leaks to sympathetic media, and intrusive electronic snooping. Yes, Wisconsin, the cradle of the progressive movement and home of the "Wisconsin idea" - the marriage of state governments and state universities to govern through technocratic reform - was giving birth to a new progressive idea, the use of law enforcement as a political instrument, as a weapon to attempt to undo election results, shame opponents, and ruin lives. Most Americans have never heard of these raids, or of the lengthy criminal investigations of Wisconsin conservatives. For good reason. Bound by comprehensive secrecy orders, conservatives were left to suffer in silence as leaks ruined their reputations, as neighbors, looking through windows and dismayed at the massive police presence, the lights shining down on targets' homes, wondered, no doubt, What on earth did that family do?
This was the on-the-ground reality of the so-called John Doe investigations, expansive and secret criminal proceedings that directly targeted Wisconsin residents because of their relationship to Scott Walker, their support for Act 10, and their advocacy of conservative reform.
...
If the first series of John Doe investigations was "everything Walker," the second series was "everything conservative," as Chisholm had launched an investigation of not only Walker (again) but the Wisconsin Club for Growth and dozens of other conservative organizations, this time fishing for evidence of allegedly illegal "coordination" between conservative groups and the Walker campaign. In the second John Doe, Chisholm had no real evidence of wrongdoing. Yes, conservative groups were active in issue advocacy, but issue advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and did not violate relevant campaign laws. Nonetheless, Chisholm persuaded prosecutors in four other counties to launch their own John Does, with Judge Kluka overseeing all of them. Empowered by a rubber-stamp judge, partisan investigators ran amok. They subpoenaed and obtained (without the conservative targets' knowledge) massive amounts of electronic data, including virtually all the targets' personal e-mails and other electronic messages from outside e-mail vendors and communications companies. The investigations exploded into the open with a coordinated series of raids on October 3, 2013. These were home invasions, including those described above. Chisholm's office refused to comment on the raid tactics (or any other aspect of the John Doe investigations), but witness accounts regarding the two John Doe investigations are remarkably similar: early-morning intrusions, police rushing through the house, and stern commands to remain silent and tell no one about what had occurred.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I don't care what political party or end of the spectrum you affiliate with, if you're an American, you should be angered, ashamed and afraid.
This post was edited on 4/20 11:15 AM by lilMAC
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisco
