Wisconsin’s Office of Special Counsel overseeing the state’s 2020 election inquiry was ordered to foot the $163,000 bill in attorney’s fees and other costs for an open records case involving the investigation.
Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ordered the office on Monday to pay the fees to watchdog group American Oversight, which had been battling the OSC for records for months, pushing the total price tag to taxpayers for the inquiry above $1.1 million, according to Madison.com. Ultimately, taxpayers will be the ones covering the costs.
WISCONSIN 2020 ELECTION INVESTIGATOR ADMITS TO DESTROYING RECORDS
“The office responsible for Wisconsin’s partisan election review has deleted records that don’t suit the false election-fraud narrative. Access to these records is essential for accountability. We’re fighting to stop any more records from being destroyed,” the watchdog group tweeted.
Remington’s order follows a ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn last week in which special counsel Michael Gableman’s office was ordered to pay $98,000 to American Oversight for fees associated with a separate open-records case. There have been at least four open records cases involving disputes between American Oversight and Gableman.
American Oversight has sought records about Gableman’s election inquiry, but the former state Supreme Court justice said his team regularly deleted emails and other key documents that he deemed relevant to the inquiry. Multiple judges have slammed Gableman for this and ordered him to preserve records.
In June, Remington slapped Gableman with a $2,000 daily contempt fine until he proved that he handed over all available documents that American Oversight sought from his inquiry. The order came after Gableman made an extremely fiery courtroom appearance and refused to answer a number of questions from the judge. The contempt fine was lifted later that month after Gableman divulged additional information to the court about his record-keeping practices.
Facing pressure from supporters of former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election in the Badger State, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) hired Gableman last summer to investigate the election.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
His investigation has faced widespread scrutiny and criticism, particularly among Democrats but also in court. Last week, Bailey-Rihn stressed that his inquiry found “absolutely no evidence of election fraud.”
Gableman has released reports detailing allegations of maleficence in the 2020 election, but those reports have been refuted by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which claims his reports are rife with mischaracterizations. In May, Gableman’s inquiry was paused while he battles litigation over his inquiry in court.
