Abrahamson questions DOJ’s action in John Doe leak probe
Attorney General Brad Schimel’s investigation into leaked John Doe documents — detailing Gov. Scott Walker’s close ties to corporate donors — has kicked into gear in recent weeks.
But the probe is meeting some resistance.
In a Feb. 10 letter, state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson called into question the actions of the state Department of Justice in the matter. Schimel, who heads the DOJ, is trying to determine who violated the secrecy orders in the John Doe investigation by sending 1,300 documents to the Guardian U.S. newspaper.
In her two-page letter, Abrahamson says DOJ officials may have engaged in an improper “ex parte” communication by contacting the state Supreme Court on Feb. 1 to provide it with a court order from John Doe Judge David Wambach regarding the leak investigation. Her letter doesn’t say what was contained in the order, but the Journal Sentinel has reported investigators in Schimel’s office spent time at the Supreme Court last week reviewing documents as part of the leak investigation.
Abrahamson said Schimel’s office contacted the clerk for the state Supreme Court with that order even though the DOJ has been the attorney for the John Doe judge in cases before the state and U.S. Supreme Courts.
“I am writing to all interested persons because receiving the (DOJ) letter communication may be considered ex parte communication and may implicate my obligations under the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct related to ex parte communications concerning pending or impending cases,” wrote Abrahamson, a liberal who is in the minority on the court.
An ex parte communication occurs when a party to a case contacts a judge or juror outside the presence of opposing counsel.
Even if the justice’s letter comes to nothing — Abrahamson has repeatedly been on the losing end of Supreme Court rulings on the John Doe investigation — it serves as confirmation that Schimel is taking the leak investigation seriously.
Johnny Koremenos, spokesman for Schimel, said his office was unaware of Abrahamson’s letter, which was sent to “interested parties” in the nowshuttered John Doe case.
“The Department of Justice cannot respond to Justice Abrahamson’s personal letter, which describes confidential matters subject to a secrecy order along with her personal view of the department’s method of conducting this active and ongoing criminal investigation,” Koremenos said via email.
“Apart from her release of this letter to a reporter, the department never received this correspondence from Justice Abrahamson,” he continued, “and the court never docketed any such correspondence in an official court file.”
The paper did not receive the Abrahamson letter from the justice, and Koremenos did not explain why Schimel’s office was accusing her of doing that.
Koremenos also did not address a central question raised in Abrahamson’s letter: How can Schimel seek an order from the same judge he has represented in court?
Late last year, Schimel moved ahead with his investigation after the Supreme Court refused in November to appoint an official known as a special master to oversee the investigation into the leaked documents.
Donations disclosed
Walker and other Republicans were embarrassed by the leak because it appeared to show the influence of corporate money on Wisconsin politics, even though no one was charged criminally as a result of the investigation.
For instance, the Guardian reported that Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature approved a 2013 measure aimed at retroactively shielding paint makers from liability after a billionaire owner of a lead producer contributed $750,000 to a political group that provided crucial support to Republicans in recall elections.
Walker and top Republicans called the investigation a partisan witch hunt, a claim the prosecutors have denied.
According to Abrahamson’s letter, Schimel’s office sent a letter dated Jan. 31 to the Supreme Court clerk with a Jan. 30 court order signed by Wambach, a Jefferson County judge who was appointed to oversee the John Doe investigation. Abrahamson said in her letter that DOJ officials did not ask that their letter be kept secret, but she wrote that the Wambach order said it “shall be filed under seal.”
“The letter communication from the Department of Justice does not state that the letter communication or a copy thereof was sent to anyone by the (Supreme Court) clerk,” Abrahamson wrote.