Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general on Tuesday praised a key Republican legislator for speaking out against an ongoing GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 election, saying more Republicans should join her in publicly opposing efforts to undermine faith in democracy.
attorney general on Tuesday praised a key Republican legislator for speaking out against an ongoing GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 election, saying more Republicans should join her in publicly opposing efforts to undermine faith in democracy.
State Sen. Kathy Bernier, chair of the Senate elections committee and the former Chippewa County election clerk, on Monday blasted the election review in Wisconsin being led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. She called it a "charade" designed to appease the GOP's conservative base, urged its completion as soon as possible and said questioning the integrity of elections will ultimately hurt turnout for Republicans.
"I agree with her and I applaud her for speaking out," Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. "I wish we would see more Republicans speaking out."
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Bernier made her comments during an event at the state Capitol where Ben Ginsberg, who spent nearly four decades representing Republicans in election disputes, also spoke out against the Wisconsin investigation.
"I understand there is frustration when you have a president saying there is massive voter fraud," Bernier said, noting that former President Donald Trump claimed fraud regularly as far back as the 2016 Iowa caucuses. "We have a great system here and no one should falsely accuse election officials of cheating."
Gableman was hired by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and has a budget of nearly $680,000 in taxpayer money to look into allegations of wrongdoing in the 2020 election.
Democrats decry the investigation as a sham given that some of those hired by Gableman worked in Trump's administration or have supported conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Trump lost to President Joe Biden in Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, an outcome that's been upheld following recounts, multiple court rulings and a nonpartisan audit.
Vos and other Republicans defend the probe, saying they are trying to address issues raised by voters and others about procedures and private grant money awarded to heavily Democratic cities during the election.
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Kaul accused Gableman and Republicans of "chasing after conspiracy theories." Vos last week refused to call claims that Biden stole the election from Trump conspiracy theories.
Kaul is suing to block a subpoena Gableman issued seeking testimony from the state's nonpartisan elections administrator. Kaul argues that the subpoena is overly broad, unenforceable and illegal because Gableman wants to conduct the interviews in private, not before a legislative committee in an open hearing.
"It’s clear that the efforts we have been seeing from some partisan Republicans are designed to destabilize our democracy and confidence in our democracy," Kaul said Tuesday. Kaul, who worked on voting rights issues before he was elected attorney general, said he has never been as concerned about fundamentals of democracy as he is now.
Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison
In addition to the investigation, Trump supporters are also looking at enacting a constitutional amendment on elections to get around Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and empower the secretary of state's office to take over some election-related duties that the bipartisan elections commission currently handles.
Kaul said he opposes giving election duties to the secretary of state, something the office hasn't had control over for nearly 50 years. Republicans are only interested in doing that if a Republican wins the office next year, Kaul said.
"That’s not a valid way to determine how elections are run," he said.
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