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Author Archives: Bill Lueders, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Public still paying for fraud probe records fights

Gableman ordered to not delete records

Many people in Wisconsin are under the impression that the disastrous probe into the state’s 2020 presidential election conducted by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is over, as are its costs to taxpayers. They’re wrong.

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Chief justice proposal seen as rip on Abrahamson

A measure for a proposed state constitutional amendment to change how the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s chief justice is selected is on its way to passing a second consecutive legislative session, in time to appear on the April 7 ballot.

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Book rips into both political parties

Any lingering doubts about the nonpartisan bona fides of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the state campaign finance watchdog, should be annihilated by Mike McCabe’s new book, “Blue Jeans in High Places.”

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AG race could be a sizzler

Both contenders in the Nov. 4 general election have ample resumes; both have prosecuted cases and run district attorney offices.

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John Doe ruling alters campaign terrain

There seemed to be no doubt about it: The conduct that state Senate President Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, was recently caught on tape discussing – creating an outside group to attack his Democratic opponent – is against the law.

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Making sense of John Doe II

The ongoing John Doe probe into alleged illegal activities concerning Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election campaign is nothing if not complicated.

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Big money backfires in local races

One day before the U.S. Supreme Court opened new spigots of campaign cash, well-backed groups seeking to sway elections in two northern Wisconsin counties, Polk and Iron, inadvertently drove home another point: Throwing money into the process can hurt as well as help.

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State needs openness advocates

Careful readers may have noticed that while many papers carry this column on their opinion pages, it is not an especially opinionated column.

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Redistricting isn’t going away

Few legislative causes have drawn as much interest and as little momentum as redistricting, the drawing of new voter boundaries after each 10-year census.

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Talk is cheap in John Doe probe

A lot of folks — perhaps too many — are spouting off about the John Doe probe launched by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office into the campaign of Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and more than two dozen conservative groups, among others.

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New rules sought on asbestos suits

In April, Renee Simpson told a state legislative committee about her father, who was diagnosed last fall with mesothelioma, a virulent form of cancer associated with asbestos.

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