You have to hand it to Team Craps for total chutzpah – JSOnline’s DayWatch is reporting that state Justice Department lawyers Michael Bauer, Christopher Blythe and Lara Sutherlin argued in court that the Green campaign should be forced to give back $1.26 million of the $1.3 million and be allowed to keep only the $43,128 they say state law allows any candidate committee to give a gubernatorial candidate.
For you budding (or recovering) lawyers out there, JSOnline happens to have the Team Craps brief, but not the Green Team’s ones. WisPolitics’ Courtwatch, however, comes through with the Green Team’s appeal as well as a supporting affadavit from the Green campaign treasurer. I don’t have the time at the moment to sift through all of that, but I will if anybody feels like commenting.
Ignoring the fact that, among other things, Tom Barrett transfered much more than $43,128 to his gubernatorial campaign from his congressional one without so much as a peep from the Doylies or anybody else, let’s see if Team Craps practices what they now preach.
Looking through the 2002 election cycle records at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, I seem to see donations totaling $190,000 from a “political/ideological” entity called the “Lawton Committee”. I can’t seem to find any information on this committee with either a Yahoo or Google search, but I do know that Barbara Lawton was his lieutenant governor running mate and in fact is the serving lt. gov. My best guess is that the “Lawton Committee” listed in the WDC report is the campaign committee of Barbara Lawton, and I don’t think the $43,128 limit just popped into state law in the last 4 years.
Golly; once again, it looks like Team Craps has stepped in it. Of course, they’re on friendly turf in Dane County, and they do have a Craps-stacked State Supreme Court (one that was left unchallenged by the “R”PW earlier this year).
Remember, I predicted the full monty grand theft back on September 6…
Here’s a bold prediction; whether the Craps strategy of trying to smear Green while starving his campaign of some funds works or not in the public arena, Craps will try to get his Doylie Elections Board to declare the other $800,000 Green transfered from his federal campaign "illegal" by early October, using the "justification" that federal law prohibits the transfer of state campaign funds.
I was slightly wrong on the timing (it’s only mid-September), the forum and the “justification”, but you have to give me credit for nailing the theft. As for the “remaining” $43,128, the Doylies will push to have that disappear in the form of “fines”.
Make this pic (borrowed from Patrick) happen; vote Mark Green Nov. 7
