A Closer Look at Wisconsin's 2020 Election Investigation

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022 -- 9:00 AM

(AP) The leader of a sprawling, taxpayer-funded probe of Joe Biden’s victory in battleground Wisconsin ignited his political career in 2008 by unseating the first Black justice on the state Supreme Court, capitalizing on an ad that sparked ethics complaints and allegations of racism.

Michael Gableman’s commercial against then-Justice Louis Butler drew comparisons with the infamous Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential race and an official complaint from the state judicial commission.

But the ad paid off as Gableman, then a little-known circuit judge in rural Wisconsin, became the first challenger to defeat a sitting justice in 40 years, tilting the court’s balance in favor of conservatives.

Gableman, 55, who left the high court after one 10-year term, is now bringing the same bruising, and, to his critics, fact-challenged, approach to the election probe. Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in Wisconsin has withstood recounts, lawsuits and multiple reviews. There is no evidence of widespread fraud.

In his seven-month inquiry, Gableman has been sued over his response to open records requests and subpoenas and countersued. He’s been criticized for scant expense records, ridiculed for sending confusing emails and making rudimentary errors in his filings and called out for meeting with conspiracy theorists.

Election experts and members of both parties have dismissed Gableman as a partisan hack for claiming, even before he was appointed to lead the probe, that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump.

He faced even more criticism for filling his investigative team with former Trump staffers or supporters. A bipartisan group of Wisconsin business leaders wrote letters of support Monday for the state’s embattled elections officials.

Tom Florsheim, who signed the letter, said in an interview that Gableman was harassing and threatening elections officials, which is bad for the state and the business climate.

Republican state Sen. Kathy Bernier, a former elections clerk who is retiring next year, has called Gableman’s review a “charade” and said “no one should falsely accuse election officials of cheating.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, also a Republican, has called the Wisconsin investigation part of a national disinformation campaign designed to “keep the lies of the 2020 election alive.”

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.