Part 275 of 273 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War
MADISON, Wisconsin — This week the Wall Street Journal revealed just how expansive Wisconsin’s political John Doe investigation was, targeting not only Badger State conservatives but national political figures such as Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich.
Now Wisconsin Watchdog has learned the unconstitutional probe also went after state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and other Wisconsin conservative leaders who may not be aware that they, too, were targets of a widespread spying operation.
The information comes from the same sealed court documents referenced in the Wall Street Journal editorial board piece published Tuesday. Sources have shared with Wisconsin Watchdog the names of several individuals not listed in the Wall Street Journal editorial.
ANOTHER POLITICAL TARGET: Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, was targeted in the unconstitutional John Doe investigation, sources with knowledge of the dragnet tell Wisconsin Watchdog. Investigators of the politically driven probe tapped into the Internet service providers of other key conservatives, names previously not made public.
RELATED: Wisconsin’s John Doe targeted national conservatives
Sources say Fitzgerald was subpoenaed in the sweeping John Doe investigation pushed by probe partners, the state Government Accountability Board and the Democrat-led Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.
The Juneau Republican’s name and email address, Scott@votefitzgerald.com, are included on the probe’s spreadsheet of search terms that included prominent national conservatives such as Bush; Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan; Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, also of Wisconsin; Fox News host Sean Hannity; and even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Milwaukee County prosecutors sent the spreadsheet of searchable terms to GAB staff, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Fitzgerald spokeswoman Myranda Tanck said the senator is not able to comment at this time. She said Fitzgerald remains hopeful the Senate will take up a bill next week that would overhaul the rogue GAB, Wisconsin’s political speech regulator, although some Republicans reportedly have concerns about portions of the reform package. Democrats oppose it. The measure passed last week in the Republican-led Assembly along party lines.
And while it is not known for sure, there’s evidence to suggest the John Doe investigators tapped into Fitzgerald’s Internet service provider, as they did to many other individuals in years’-long dragnet.
The investigation was driven on the prosecutor’s widely rejected legal theory that the conservative groups and individuals illegally coordinated with Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign during Wisconsin’s bitter recall election season of 2011 and 2012.
Multiple courts have said the prosecutors failed to show probable cause to support that theory, and in July the state Supreme Court declared the John Doe unconstitutional and ordered it shut down.
Fitzgerald, as he does now, led the Senate when unions and their Democratic Party allies attempted through an unprecedented spate of recalls to oust several Republican senators — including Fitzgerald — who voted for Walker’s public-sector collective bargaining reforms know as Act 10.
Wisconsin Watchdog also has learned that John Doe prosecutors grabbed the emails of Michael Grebe, the outgoing president and CEO of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a Milwaukee-based organization that financially supports “democratic capitalism; limited, competent government” and free markets.
Grebe, a former general counsel to the Republican National Committee, in July was brought in to lead Walker’s short-lived presidential campaign.
Also listed in the spreadsheet are former state Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch and young gun conservative activist Nick Ayers, credited for helping to transform the Republican Governors Association.
While the probe trained in on all things Walker, Wisconsin Watchdog has learned the searchable database included Walker’s personal email address, swalkerwi@gmail.com, and his family email, Walkerfamily4wi@gmail.com.
The spreadsheet also includes the names of key probe targets: Eric O’Keefe of the Wisconsin Club for Growth; political strategists R.J. Johnson and Deb Jordahl; Keith Gilkes, who ran Walker’s 2010 and recall campaigns; and former Walker aide Kelly Rindfleisch, the first — and hopefully last — political prisoner of the John Doe saga.
“This is my 25th month looking into this matter and every month I have learned of new abuses by the prosecution team and the GAB,” O’Keefe said when asked about the spreadsheet Thursday. “I’m confident this trend will continue.”