Republican Member of Wisconsin Elections Commission Advised Green Party Representative After Vote to Keep Green Party Candidate
Thursday, September 17th, 2020 -- 9:13 AM
(AP) -A Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission advised a Green Party representative about who to hire as an attorney after its presidential nominee was denied ballot access in the key battleground state, records obtained by The Associated Press show.The commission deadlocked 3-3 Aug. 20 on whether to put Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins on the ballot. All three Republicans were in favor, while all three Democrats were against. Hawkins asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to put him on, but the court in a 4-3 ruling Monday rejected that request. The court also lifted an order it issued last week pausing the mailing of absentee ballots while it considered the challenge. The email string obtained Monday by the AP under an open records request shows that commission member Bob Spindell emailed Kevin Zeese, then-press secretary for Hawkins, less than 24 hours after the commission voted to keep him off the ballot. Zeese died of a heart attack at age 64 on Sept. 5, the Green Party announced on Sept. 6. Spindell, a Republican who supported putting Hawkins on the ballot, wrote to Zeese that he was “very sorry. but not surprised, the three Democrat Commissioners fought hard to keep the Green Party off the Ballot. The Democrat Party obviously believes this action would push your members to vote for Biden, if they could not vote for their own Green Party Candidates,” Spindell wrote.
In response to the Spindell email, Zeese asked if he could recommend a “good lawyer to handle the case.” Spindell had suggested during the commission’s discussion about putting Hawkins on the ballot that the issue may need to be considered in court. Spindell responded, “Please call me,” and provided his personal cellphone number. Spindell didn’t break the law or ethics rules by contacting the Green Party, said Kevin Kennedy, the former top elections official for Wisconsin who retired when the current elections commission was created in 2016. Still, Kennedy said contacting the Green Party knowing that they were about to sue the state was “just plain stupid.” “It’s clearly bad judgment,” Kennedy said. “It clearly undermines the credibility of the commission.”
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