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Crime, Daily Bread, Ethics, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.23.24: In Wisconsin, Even a Felony Conviction Wouldn’t Lead to Automatic Suspension or Disbarment for former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis

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Good morning.

Sunday will be partly cloudy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 19m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1911, native John Schwister becomes a pioneer in Wisconsin aviation by flying the state’s first home-built airplane. The plane, named the “Minnesota-Badger,” was constructed of wooden ribs covered with light cotton material. Powered by an early-model aircraft engine, the “Minnesota-Badger” flew several hundred feet and reached a maximum altitude of 20 feet. [Source: Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame.]

On this day in 1917, in a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.

Sarah Lehr offers a primer revealing laxity of Wisconsin’s attorney regulation in Will former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis lose his law license over false elector plot? (Troupis, along with Kenneth Chesebro and Michael Roman, face felony charges in false elector plot):

Felony conviction doesn’t necessarily lead to loss of Wisconsin law license

But, even if he’s found guilty, a felony conviction would not automatically lead to the loss of Troupis’ law license. 

That’s unlike in other states, such as Texas and Maine, where people with felony convictions cannot practice law.

“Not all crimes are created equal and not all result in discipline,” said Stacie Rosenzweig, an attorney who specializes in legal ethics and licensing.

In Wisconsin, attorneys must report to the state’s Office of Legal Regulation and the Wisconsin Supreme Court if they’re convicted of crime, whether that’s a felony or misdemeanor, Rosenzweig said.

That report triggers an investigation from the office. But Rosenzweig said regulators will only pursue disciplinary action if they determine that the crime reflects negatively on someone’s ability to practice law.

Attorney rules prohibit dishonesty, fraud

“Crimes involving dishonesty, misrepresentation fraud — those are always going to reflect aversely to varying degrees,” Rosenzweig said. “Truthfulness is paramount.”

A section of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s rules of professional conduct bars attorneys from actions “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

Those rules apply “24/7,” Rosenzweig said.

“Whether you’re practicing law at the time or not, you’re not allowed to lie or commit fraud,” Rosenzweig said. “So anything like that is going to be looked at.”

The better standard would be to apply an automatic suspension for any attorney convicted of a felony, pending a subsequent disciplinary proceeding (to suspend, disbar, reprimand & restore to practice, or simply restore to practice). The public — clients and potential clients — are best protected when disciplinary actions place them as the group of preeminent concern.

That’s not Wisconsin’s approach, but an approach that does not address the public first and practitioners second disrespects both the public and the practitioner.

See also Troupis’s Suspension (Criminal Defendants Don’t Belong on Judicial Advisory Panels) (describing suspension from an advisory panel, not the practice of law).

How French artist Henri Roche developed his #pastels:

Courts, Crime, Daily Bread, Ethics, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.13.24: Troupis’s Suspension (Criminal Defendants Don’t Belong on Judicial Advisory Panels)

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:34 for 15h 19m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Board of Review meets at 4 PM.

On this day in 1777,  Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, lands near Charleston, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress train its army.

Scott Bauer reports Former Trump attorney in Wisconsin suspended from state judicial ethics panel:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended former President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin lawyer from a state judicial ethics panel a week after he was charged with a felony for his role in a 2020 fake electors scheme.

Liberal advocates have been calling for Jim Troupis to step down from the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee, saying he is unsuitable due to his role advising the Republicans who attempted to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Trump after he lost the 2020 election in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.

Troupis, a former judge, Kenneth Chesebro, another Trump attorney, and former Trump aide Mike Roman were all charged by state Attorney General Josh Kaul last week for their role in the fake electors plot.

Troupis did not return a voicemail or text message seeking comment Tuesday.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in its order, notified Troupis and the judicial advisory committee that he was “temporarily suspended” from serving on the panel effective immediately. The court did not give a reason for the suspension. 

(In March 2023, the former conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court reappointed Troupis to a second term despite awareness and objections at the time of his role in the fraudulent electors’ scheme. There was no requirement in 2023 that he be reappointed, and as there were many other suitable candidates for appointment, he should not have been given a second term.)

Now, almost a year and a half later, it should not — and among the ethically-minded people has not been — merely the center-left demanding Troupis’s suspension. Pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him, he is unsuited to serve actively on the advisory committee. Should he be convicted, he is unsuited to remain a member.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not state a reason for Troupis’s suspension, as they might have, but then again, the reason should be apparent.

A glass that builds and heals itself:

Conspiracy Theories, Crime, Daily Bread, Elections, Presidential race 2020, Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.9.24: Ron Johnson

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:32 for 15h 16m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1954, Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

While these years since 2016 have ruined some (Gableman comes to mind), and left others in the past (Walker), a third type has come through better in these worse times. Charlie Sykes is of that last type: an ideological transformation that has shown him to be more principled in less principled times.

Sykes writes of Ron Jonnson, Wisconsin’s ventriloquist dummy of conspiracy theories, in Sen. Ron Johnson’s claim he knew nothing about a fake electors plot isn’t believable (‘Text messages show that Johnson and his staff were told explicitly about the plot to deliver the fake electoral votes to Washington’):

On Tuesday, Wisconsin’s Department of Justice brought felony forgery charges against one of the architects of the plan, Kenneth Chesebro. That attorney already pleaded guilty in Georgia to participating in the illegal attempt in that state to overturn the election. Wisconsin prosecutors also charged Trump aide Mike Roman and attorney Jim Troupis, who represented Trump in Wisconsin during the 2020 election. Wisconsin is the fifth state to bring criminal charges in connection with the conspiracy to overturn Trump’s defeat.

The evidence supporting the Wisconsin charges is especially robust, given the volume of communications — text messages, emails, photos, videos and social media posts — that were gathered as part of an earlier civil lawsuit that unearthed more than 1,400 pages of documents related to the conspiracy. (That case was settled after the fake electors admitted they had signed a document that was “used as part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results.”)

….

Johnson initially said he was “basically unaware” of what was going on, dismissing the attempted handoff of the fake certificates as a “staff-to-staff exchange.” Later, however, he admitted that his staff had been in touch with Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., “about how Kelly’s office could get us the electors because they had it.”

Even so, he continued to insist that he “had no idea that there was an alternate slate of electors.” Referring to Troupis, Johnson said, “He was asking me to deliver some documents.” He said he didn’t know the document Troupis wanted him to hand off was a fake slate of Trump electors from his home state. What did he think the document could have been, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked. Responded Johnson: “I couldn’t have cared less. I’m asked by the attorney for the president of the United States to deliver something to the vice president on that day.”

But documents released as part of the civil lawsuit in March seemed to blow a hole in Johnson’s story. In a Dec. 8, 2020, email to Chesebro, Troupis wrote that he “spoke with Senator Johnson late last night about the Pence angle at the end.” Troupis wrote, “Just wanted to take his temperature.”

….

The documents also show that Troupis texted Johnson personally on Jan. 6, explicitly mentioning the electors: “We need to get a document on the Wisconsin electors to you for the VP immediately.” He added, “Is there a staff person I can talk to immediately.”

That same day, Troupis texted Chesebro, confirming that he had been “on the phone with Mike Roman and Senator Johnson’s COS [chief of staff] to get an original copy of Wi slate to VP.”

Of all the many influences of these last years on the men and women of Wisconsin, one can easily say that Sykes rose, while Johnson descended, to the occasion.

See also Wisconsin Attorney General Files Criminal Charges over Fraudulent Presidential Elector Scheme,  Wisconsin Native Kenneth Chesebro’s January 6th Instigation, and Wisconsin & Arizona Investigations into Fraudulent 2020 Presidential Electors, and the 6.4.24 criminal complaint, below:

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In Paris, a 10.5-mile trail plotted out by American Boy Scout troop leaders:

In Paris, among all of the history and glamour, one can find something completely unexpected: a 10.5-mile trail plotted out by American Boy Scout troop leaders. The trail highlights sites of importance to both the French and Americans. Ed O’Keefe brings us along to explore this connection dating back to Benjamin Franklin.

Crime, Daily Bread, Elections, Josh Kaul, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.5.24: Wisconsin Attorney General Files Criminal Charges over Fraudulent Presidential Elector Scheme

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will see partly sunny afternoon conditions with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:30 for 15h 13m 29s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1883, William Horlick patents the first powdered milk in the world. He named his new product, intended to be used as a health food for infants, “Malted Milk.” Horlick’s product went on to be used as a staple in fountain drinks as well as survival provisions. Malted milk was even included in explorations undertaken by Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Richard Byrd.

On this day in 1944, more than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.

Yesterday, Attorney General Josh Kaul filed felony charges against three, two of whom are attorneys, for a fraudulent presidential electors plot. Anya Van Wagtendonk and Sarah Lehr report Wisconsin AG files felony charges against Trump allies involved in 2020 false electors scheme (‘Attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis, political operative Michael Roman each face 1 count of felony forgery’):

Wisconsin’s attorney general filed felony charges Tuesday against three people in connection with a 2020 scheme to submit a slate of false electors in support of former President Donald Trump.

Attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis, as well as political operative Michael Roman, each face one count of felony forgery for their roles in the scheme, which involved signing official-looking documentation claiming that Trump won Wisconsin in 2020, even though he had narrowly lost. 

The Class H felony charges were filed Tuesday morning by Attorney General Josh Kaul in Dane County Circuit Court. They use a state law suggesting that Chesebro, Troupis and Roman acted knowingly when they worked to collect and submit the false elector documentation.

….

Chesebro is considered the architect of the plot, which extended to multiple swing states Trump had lost, in the days following the 2020 presidential election. In a memo he sent to Troupis, who was then the lead attorney for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, Chesebro laid out a strategy to use “alternate” electors to contest the election results. 

Chesebro and Troupis recently settled a civil lawsuit related to their actions in Wisconsin. As part of that agreement, the two men admitted no “liability or culpability,” but said they would not submit false electors in the future. 

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See also Wisconsin Native Kenneth Chesebro’s January 6th Instigation and Wisconsin & Arizona Investigations into Fraudulent 2020 Presidential Electors.

This cow is the most expensive ever sold at auction:

Crime, Daily Bread, Insurrection

Daily Bread for 2.27.24: Wisconsin Native Kenneth Chesebro’s January 6th Instigation

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:32 and sunset 5:42 for 11h 09m 16s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 91.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1782, the House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.

Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro pled guilty to a felony charge in the racketeering indictment against the former president and several of his allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Department)

Reporting from Talking Points Memo and CNN shows that Wisconsin native Kenneth Chesebro, now an admitted felon, lied about his instigation of insurrection while writing as BadgerPundit. Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel summarizes the reporting: 

A Wisconsin native at the center of Donald Trump’s 2020 scheme to stay in power tweeted anonymously under the name “BadgerPundit” in the days following Trump’s reelection loss, promoting theories on how the former president could avoid leaving office.

Kenneth Chesebro, a former campaign attorney for Trump, used the Twitter account to urge Republicans to use Trump electors or Republican-led state legislatures to overturn Trump’s loss and concealed the account from Michigan prosecutors probing the scheme, according to new reporting from CNN and Talking Points Memo.

Chesebro, who is helping investigators in at least four states who are probing the scheme to overturn the 2020 election, initially denied using the social media platform formerly known as Twitter or having “alternate IDs” when asked by Michigan investigators in 2023 but has since confirmed to CNN he used the BadgerPundit account.

….

Chesebro initially told Michigan prosecutors he felt “misled” by the Trump campaign about the fake elector plan but the BadgerPundit account also defended the plot. The blog associated with the social media account dates back to 2011, inspired by the Act 10 legislation that spun Wisconsin politics into turmoil.

Attorneys for Chesebro told CNN “there’s clearly a conflict” between what Chesebro told investigators and what he tweeted.

Swedish soldiers look forward to NATO cooperation: 

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Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.17.24: Sure Enough, That ‘Bipartisan’ Marijuana Possession Bill Is Going Nowhere

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 14. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 4:48 for 9h 27m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 44.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

 Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM and the Library Board at 6:30 PM. 

On this day in 1944, Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino to break through the Winter Line and seize Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.

  Yesterday, I posted on a story about a ‘bipartisan’ marijuana decriminalization bill that seemed unlikely to go anywhere. See On Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession, Bipartisan Bills Don’t Assure Passage (“Success for this bill will not come from those who have proposed it, but instead only if opponents on both sides of decriminalization (‘no’ and ‘more’) are prepared to accept the proposal of a few legislators working in bipartisanship. (As of 12.22.23, the bill had only a few sponsors.)”).

Commenter Joe noted that “Nonetheless, the dinosaur abolitionists in the state senate are persisting and will likely sink Vos’ bill. Evers offering to sign it was probably the kiss of death. No way the Senate R-Team will want to be seen actually cooperating on a matter of high public support with the dreaded Dems.”

Sure enough, later yesterday Speaker Vos proved that he wanted the mere claim of supporting a bill he knew would not pass:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos doesn’t plan to compromise with Senate Republicans who oppose his plan to create a medical marijuana program in Wisconsin.

Vos, a Republican from Rochester, told reporters Tuesday he won’t amend a bill from Assembly Republicans to create the program to address concerns Senate Republicans have with the legislation.

 Change awaits redistricting. 

The world’s largest iceberg: 

Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.16.24: On Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession, Bipartisan Bills Don’t Assure Passage

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 5. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 4:47 for 9h 25m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 31.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

  The Whitewater Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1786, Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.

  Rich Kremer reports Bipartisan bill would decriminalize marijuana possession under 14 grams (‘Legislation would also eliminate felony charges for those caught a second time with less than an ounce’):

A group of bipartisan lawmakers has introduced a bill to decriminalize possession of marijuana in Wisconsin.

The legislation was introduced by State Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Dave Consadine [sic], D-Baraboo. It would create a standard $100 fine for possession of a half ounce or less and eliminate felony charges for anyone caught a second time with less than an ounce. 

Sortwell told WPR it’s a compromise bill, because some lawmakers want harsher penalties while others want to see them weakened. He said some cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire have enacted local ordinances reducing or eliminating fines for possessing small amounts of marijuana. 

“And because of the way things kind of work out right now across our state, you may not be treated the same way if you or somebody you know is caught possessing marijuana in one part of the state versus another part of the state,” Sortwell said.

Under the bill, anyone caught with less than 14 grams of marijuana would not face criminal charges but would face a $100 fine. Under current state law, those individuals face a misdemeanor criminal charge that comes with a fine up to $1,000 and up to six months of jail time. 

The bill would also make a big change with regard to those caught a second time with marijuana. Under current law, a second offense is treated as a Class I felony that could come with a fine up to $10,000 and up to three-and-a-half years in jail. The legislation would eliminate the felony provisions for those caught a second time with 28 grams of marijuana or less. 

There are criminal law aspects of the bill (decriminalization and statewide adoption of remaining penalties for possession) and political aspects (how will this bill fare?). It’s the latter aspect that determines whether the former is germane. 

A bipartisan bill does not guarantee the passage of legislation. While it’s true that Sortwell is a Republican and Ortiz-Velez & Considine are Democrats, a clue to the problems the bill faces comes when one reads that “some lawmakers want harsher penalties while others want to see them weakened.” (Emphasis added.) 

Success for this bill will not come from those who have proposed it, but instead only if opponents on both sides of decriminalization (‘no’ and ‘more’) are prepared to accept the proposal of a few legislators working in bipartisanship. (As of 12.22.23, the bill had only a few sponsors.) 

No one should be holding his or her breath. 

One Day in the Coldest Village on Earth -71°C (-95°F) | Yakutia, Siberia:

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.9.23: Wisconsin Senate Considers Bills to Address Sexual Assault in the Wisconsin National Guard

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Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:55 AM and sunset 8:05 PM for 14h 09m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.5% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1974, as a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard…