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Democratic Radio - "Stop Corruption – Save John Doe" PDF Print E-mail
News - Media for State & Local
Written by GBP Staff   
Thursday, 20 August 2015 10:04

darlenewinkMADISON – Today Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire) offered the Democratic Weekly Radio Address. The topic this week is the Republican effort to dismantle Wisconsin's John Doe law, which helps prosecutors fight political corruption.

dana_wachs"Most legal experts agree that our John Doe process – which helps prosecutors gain access to critical testimony and important documents – is effective at rooting out corruption. Yet Assembly Republicans are pushing a bill through committee this week that would dismantle the John Doe process as part of their ongoing assault on our democracy," Rep. Wachs said. "Corruption is bad no matter who is involved, and it’s important that prosecutors have the tools necessary to stop that corruption whenever and wherever it happens."

The audio file of this week’s address can be found here.

A written transcript of the address is below:

This week Republicans are taking yet another step to make it easier for partisan corruption in our government.

Most legal experts agree that our John Doe process – which helps prosecutors gain access to critical testimony and important documents – is effective at rooting out corruption. Yet Assembly Republicans are pushing a bill through committee this week that would dismantle the John Doe process as part of their ongoing assault on our democracy. The Republicans also want to limit legislative oversight over the state’s troubled jobs agency, turn our state government watchdog into a partisan lapdog and have tried to dismantle our open records laws.

The first John Doe investigation resulted in the convictions of six top aides to Governor Walker from his time as Milwaukee County Executive. The second investigation ended only after the conservative majority on the state Supreme Court – who benefitted from millions in campaign spending by groups involved in the case – refused to recuse themselves and ordered all evidence destroyed.

There is no doubt Republicans want to keep prosecutors from using this highly effective tool to root out corruption because it helps Governor Walker’s presidential ambitions. And it makes you wonder what else they might be trying to hide.

The people of Wisconsin deserve to know what their government is doing behind closed doors. Corruption is bad no matter who is involved, and it’s important that prosecutors have the tools necessary to stop that corruption whenever and wherever it happens.

 
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