US Chamber Attack on Wife of Walker Prosecutor Falls Apart
http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187859/us-chamber-attack-wife-walker-prosecutor-falls-apart
The investigation into Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is led by a Republican special prosecutor, was unanimously approved by Wisconsin's nonpartisan Government Accountability Board, and includes the participation of elected county District Attorneys from both political parties. But according to an outlet bankrolled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the motivation for the "John Doe" probe can be traced back to a "weeping" teacher's union member married to Milwaukee County's District Attorney, John Chisholm.
...
Yet the "bombshell" story fell apart on September 12, when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice broke the news that the unnamed source described as a "former staff prosecutor" was actually a former unpaid intern who previously made death threats to the prosecutor and his family. Bice confirmed that the source for the Chamber story is Michael Lutz, a former Milwaukee police officer who obtained his law license less than four years ago. Although the Chamber publication described Lutz as a "former staff prosecutor" and "longtime Chisholm subordinate," the truth is that Lutz worked, without pay, for Chisholm's office for only five-and-a-half months in 2011 filling out grant applications, but never handled any cases.
...
Even if the source for the Chamber story was more credible or had closer ties to Chisholm's office, the allegations do not stand up to scrutiny. A "weeping wife" doesn't explain why the non-partisan GAB -- a panel of retired judges appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature -- voted unanimously to approve the probe, or why Republican prosecutors from across the state found that the investigation had legal and factual merit.
The timeline is also questionable. According to the Chamber report, the "unnamed source" claims that an investigation that started in 2009 was motivated by anger over Walker's anti-union legislation -- which was introduced in 2011. The lengthy article jumps forward and back in time, at one point using the term "meanwhile" to refer to events that happened several months in the future. The claim that Chisholm was motivated by partisanship is also questionable, since the career prosecutor has consistently pursued charges against both Democratic and Republican public officials who violate campaign finance or ethics laws.
