Brad Schimel- not just a dimwit, a crooked dimwit

GOP Attorney General candidate Brad Schimel already illustrated this week that he was unfit for office by claiming that he would have enforced interracial marriage bans if they were still legal (showing he has no core decency and principles regarding equality under the law). But that wasn’t the most damning thing that came out about Schimel’s ability to serve in the job over the last few days. Being a dummy who would condone racism is one thing, but being a crook while serving in elected office is entirely another.

Check out this file involving the reprimand by the state’s Office of Lawyer Regulation against former Milwaukee County GOP Treasurer Christopher Wiesmueller. Wiesmueller got slapped down due to the “assistance” he gave former Scott Walker staffer Darlene Wink after Wink got caught politicking on the taxpayer’s dime in Walker’s office. In the wake of Wink's exposure, Walker memorably emailed "We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story." Well, Wiesmueller tried to do his part.

Wiesmueller arranged a meeting with his client (Wink) soon after his initial contact with her. He instructed his client to bring her personal laptop computer to the meeting. At that meeting Wiesmueller advised his client to remove all evidence related to her political activity from her computer, including computer files and emails. Wiesmueller offered to assist his client with the removal of the evidence from her computer and she therefore left the laptop at his office. Wiesmueller then deleted the files from the computer and downloaded software to “wipe” the information from the computer. He saved copies of the documents on his office computer and on a USB flash drive that he gave to the client when he returned the laptop to her approximately one week later. Wiesmueller admitted to OLR that he was aware at the time of the deletion that the files and emails “likely had potential evidentiary value” and that a prosecutor would be interested in the information….

Based upon Wiesmueller’s statements, the prosecutor obtained a search warrant for Wiesmueller’s law office. At the investigator’s request, Wiesmueller came to the office and was present during the execution of the search warrant. Wiesmueller provided the investigator with copies of the material that Wiesmueller had copied from his client’s computer. In the course of providing this information, Wiesmueller revealed the content of his discussions with his client during their initial conference and offered his impression to the investigator that the computer files and emails were “the most damning things.” Wiesmueller reiterated that he told his client “to get rid of” the evidence. He did not admit that he deleted the information from the client’s computer.

Following the execution of the search warrant at his law office, Wiesmueller terminated his representation of the client. The client and her successor counsel met with the prosecutor and his investigator. In exchange for providing information about Wiesmueller’s role in the destruction of evidence from the client’s computer, the client was offered immunity from prosecution as a result of any information she provided in that regard. The client stated that she left her computer with Wiesmueller and that it was Wiesmueller who had deleted her emails and removed the evidence from her computer.

And now here’s the good stuff involving the Waukesha County District Attorney - AG candidate Brad Schimel.

The prosecutor referred the matter of Wiesmueller’s destruction of evidence to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office as the alleged crime had been committed at Wiesmueller’s law office located in Waukesha County. The Waukesha County District Attorney agreed to forego filing criminal charges against Wiesmueller provided he made a thorough and complete report of his conduct to the Office of Lawyer Regulation. Wiesmueller reported his conduct to OLR in July of 2012. He did not incur any criminal sanctions as a result of his conduct in destroying the digital evidence of his client’s crimes.

In other words, Schimel had Wiesmueller say he was sorry and face whatever slap on the wrist the OLR would give, and Schimel made sure the incident went away without court documents coming out describing what was in the files he destroyed. It’s an obvious cover-up.

But wait, there’s more! Capper at Cognitive Dissidence gives excellent added details to this story, noting that Schimel claimed at the time Wiesmuller and/or Wink weren’t aware that what they were doing was against the law, and therefore it wasn’t something he was going to prosecute. The OLR complaint shows that what Schimel told the public at the time about this case was a FLAT-OUT LIE, as Capper sums up:

Schimel knew exactly what had happened and that they were felonies but still chose not to charge his fellow Republican. Then he lied to the public about it to help cover up the involvement of Scott Walker and his campaign.

Not only is Schimel unfit for Attorney General, he is unfit for his current position as Waukesha County District Attorney.

All true on Schimel's unfitness for office, and it sure goes a long way toward explaining why this doofus had the field cleared for him for the nomination when J.B. Van Hollen stepped aside. Can you say “Payback for past favors?”

You’d think this revelation would be all over the state’s largest newspaper, as it not only involves a cover-up by the GOP’s candidate for Attorney General, with the deed being done in that newspaper’s readership area, but it also was done to cover for the current Governor who is up for re-election (and still under investigation). You’d think so, but when I went to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s website yesterday, the story was buried down the page, and today, any mention of it is gone entirely.

No, the J-S thinks it’s more important to reserve the large type and column-space inches to Dan Bice amplifying the latest rumor-mongering by GOP operatives about Mary Burke (and finding very little of substance), as opposed to investigating a cover-up that was allegedly done by the guy who’s running to be the state’s top cop. Sure makes you wonder why they choose those priorities, and why they don’t want to find out more about what was in the files that Wiesmuller and Wink destroyed.