spindell

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merri ok

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fox bs

Wisconsin judge on Tuesday dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump.

Allegations that the elections commission violated the state open records law by wrongly withholding documents will go forward, but claims made against Commissioner Robert Spindell were dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost.

The commission itself, not Spindell, is the legal authority that must maintain the records in question and be the target of any lawsuit seeking them, Frost ruled after oral arguments.

WI ELECTIONS OFFICIAL STANDS BY COMMENTS APPEARING TO BRAG ABOUT DEPRESSED TURNOUT

Madison-based law firm Law Forward, known for the liberal-leaning cases it takes, filed the lawsuit against the commission and Spindell. Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said after the hearing that he remained optimistic the records would be turned over even though Spindell is no longer a party to the lawsuit.

Spindell's attorney, Mark Maciolek, called the judge's ruling a correct but technical one.

"It does not relieve anyone in government of their obligations to preserve and produce public records," he said.

A judge has dismissed an open records complaint against Republican Wisconsin Elections Commission member Robert Spindell. (WisconsinEye via AP)

The lawsuit stems from a complaint filed by Law Forward with the elections commission in 2021. It alleged that Republicans illegally posed as Wisconsin electors in an attempt to convince the U.S. Congress to declare that Trump won the state in 2020, even though he in fact lost to President Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.

Republican attempts to cast electoral college votes for Trump in seven swing states he lost were a focus of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission last year rejected a complaint about the events, saying that Republicans who attempted to cast the state's 10 electoral college votes for Trump did not break any election laws. Spindell did not recuse himself from considering the complaint, even though he voted as one of the fake GOP electors.

In a closed meeting, the commission voted unanimously to reject the complaint.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice concluded that Republicans were legitimately trying to preserve Trump’s legal standing as courts were deciding if he or Biden won the election. That is the same argument that Trump allies and the fake electors from Wisconsin have made, including in testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.

Law Forward filed two lawsuits after the complaint was rejected.

In one pending action, the group alleges that Spindell should have been excluded from considering the complaint before the commission because his actions were at the heart of the matter.

The other case, heard Tuesday, alleged that Spindell and the elections commission failed to turn over records that Law Forward requested multiple times under Wisconsin's open records law. The law firm sought documents related to a comment Spindell made during the public portion of a November 2021 commission meeting where he openly discussed his decision not to recuse himself from considering the complaint related to fake electors. The commission had been considering the request in closed session only, which made Spindell’s comments unusual.

ACTIVISTS UNSURPRISED BY WI ELECTIONS OFFICIAL'S VOTER TURNOUT COMMENTS

Specifically, Law Forward asked for communications surrounding material Spindell appeared to be reading from during the meeting. According to the lawsuit, the elections commission provided a single document that resembled what Spindell read from and said Spindell had no other related records.

Frost dismissed claims against Spindell, agreeing with his argument that the commission is the legal authority in charge of the records.

Law Forward brought the case on behalf of Paul Sickel, executive director of the Service Employees International Union's Wisconsin State Council.

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The firm has also filed another lawsuit, currently pending in federal court, against the 10 electors and Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis seeking $2.4 million in damages. That case alleges Trump and his allies conspired to overturn his loss in the battleground state.

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an 12 23

in 2020, Republican Robert Spindell Jr. was among the fake electors who tried to help then-President Donald Trump overturn the election results. Spindell is a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, but if Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski has her way, he won't be much longer.

In a Monday, December 11 letter to Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, a Republican, Godlewski called for Spindell to be removed from the Wisconsin Election Commission because of his actions in 2020.

Godlewski told LeMahieu, "I find it abhorrent that Election Commissioner Robert Spindell Jr. knowingly submitted a fraudulent election document to Wisconsin's Secretary of State as part of a larger coordinated effort to overturn the will of the people. Wisconsin deserves Election Commissioners that have the utmost respect for the law and a strong moral compass."

The Wisconsin secretary of state continued, "Based on his acknowledgement of his role in the scheme to overturn the election, I am calling on you to immediately remove Robert Spindell from the Election Commission…. Wisconsinites deserve a Wisconsin Election Commissioner who will uphold the law and not defraud the government."

The Hill's Lauren Sforza, in an article published on December 11, notes that Spindell "was one of the 10 Wisconsin fake Trump electors who conceded that their actions were part of an effort to overturn the state’s election results in a settlement last week.

"LeMahieu first appointed Spindell to the (Wisconsin Election) Commission in 2019 and reappointed him to the Commission in 2021 for a five-year term," Sforza explains. "Spindell will then be a member of the Commission through the 2024 election unless he steps down or is removed."

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CNN —

The 10 fake electors from Wisconsin disavowed their attempt to overturn Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020, recognized the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory, and pledged not to serve as real electors in 2024 or any election when Trump is on the ballot, or to act as sham electors in any future election, as part of a civil lawsuit settlement announced on Wednesday.

This is the latest measure of accountability for the Trump campaign’s seven-state plot to undermine the Electoral College and block the transfer of power. Federal prosecutors indicted Trump in connection with the scheme; the entire faux delegation from Michigan was hit with state charges; and so have three of the 16 fake electors from Georgia.

As part of the Wisconsin settlement, the 10 fake electors issued a statement acknowledging that the phony certificates they signed in December 2020 were “used as part of an attempt to improperly overturn” the lawful election results.

“We hereby reaffirm that Joseph R. Biden, Jr. won the 2020 presidential election and that we were not the duly elected presidential electors for the State of Wisconsin for the 2020 presidential election,” says a portion of their statement. “We oppose any attempt to undermine the public’s faith in the ultimate results of the 2020 presidential election.”

The agreement also requires the 10 GOP activists to provide “full cooperation” with any “ongoing or future” Justice Department probes related to the 2020 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith, who has investigated the 2020 election subversion, indicted Trump and interviewed some fake electors, but hasn’t charged any of them.

Wisconsin’s delegation of sham electors was led by Andrew Hitt, the state GOP chair at the time, and included Robert Spindell, now a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission. They both were part of Wednesday’s settlement.

The civil case is unrelated to any potential state criminal inquiry into the electors plot.

Two liberal-leaning groups filed the case: Wisconsin-based Law Forward and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, at Georgetown University. The groups said the deal penalized people who “ignore our nation’s democratic ideals” and “helps ensure that a similar effort to subvert our democracy will never happen again.”

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green bay sweep! fake electors

WISCONSIN (10)

Andrew Hitt*: The chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin from 2019 until 2021, Hitt is a partner at consulting and lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies.

Kelly Ruh*: Ruh was an alderperson for De Pere but lost her bid for reelection in April. She has also been chairwoman of the 8th Congressional District Republican Party and a controller for Bay Industries in Green Bay.

Carol Brunner: Brunner is the vice chairwoman of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District Republican Party.

Edward Scott Grabins: Chairman of the Dane County Republican Party, Grabins is a technology professional, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Bill Feehan: A business manager based in La Crosse, Feehan was a 2012 candidate for District 32 of the Wisconsin state Senate.

Robert F. Spindell Jr.: Spindell has been a commissioner on the Wisconsin Election Commission since 2019 and recently ran to chair the commission and lost. After Biden won the election, Spindell appeared at a “stop the steal” rally at the state Capitol.

Kathy Kiernan: Kiernan is the 5th Congressional District chairman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Darryl Carlson: Currently executive director of conservative organization No Better Friend Corp., Carlson ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2014 for the Wisconsin State Assembly. He is a veteran and has also represented the 3rd aldermanic district in Sheboygan.

Pam Travis: Travis has served as treasurer of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women and is currently the 7th Congressional District vice chairman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Mary Buestrin: A former national committeewoman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Buestrin says she has done volunteer work supporting Republican candidates for more than 50 years.

Slated to appear but replaced:

Tom Schreibel: Schreibel is a partner at consulting and lobbying firm Michael Best Strategies and a national committeeman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

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https://www.wisdc.org/news/commentary/7271-robert-spindell-disgraces-himself-again

by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director

Robert Spindell, the GOP hack who was one of the 10 false electors from Wisconsin and a sitting member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, has disgraced himself again by bragging about Republican efforts to suppress the Black and Latino vote in Milwaukee.

In an excellent story at Urban Milwaukee, Bruce Murphy disclosed the contents of an email that Spindell sent out to fellow Republicans in the Fourth Congressional District, which Spindell chairs for the GOP. It’s also the district that contains almost all of the city of Milwaukee.

Citing the work of local, state, and national Republican groups, Spindell said, “In the Black and Hispanic areas, we can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.”

He added: “This great and important decrease in Democrat votes in the city” was due to a “well thought out multi-faceted plan.”

Spindell claimed that “Biting Black Radio Negative Commercials” helped discourage the turnout, as did “a substantial & very effective Republican Coordinated Election Integrity program resulting with lots of Republican paid Election Judges & trained Observers & extremely significant continued Court Litigation."

I don’t know what’s worse: Engaging in racist voter suppression or boasting about.

But Spindell has done both.

And why this man still gets to sit on the Wisconsin Elections Commission is beyond me.

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no lnx 1 23

AP News

Wisconsin judge dismisses complaint against GOP fake elector

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections...

.23 hours ago

ADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump.

The commission itself, not Spindell, is the legal authority that must maintain the records in question and be the target of any lawsuit seeking them, Frost ruled after oral arguments.

Madison-based law firm Law Forward, known for the liberal-leaning cases it takes, filed the lawsuit against the commission and Spindell. Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said after the hearing that he remained optimistic the records would be turned over even though Spindell is no longer a party to the lawsuit.

Spindell’s attorney, Mark Maciolek, called the judge’s ruling a correct but technical one.

“It does not relieve anyone in government of their obligations to preserve and produce public records,” he said.

The Mary Sue

Republican Elections Official Brags About All the Racist Voter Suppression He's Helped Oversee

Wisconsin Republican is bragging about Black and Brown voters being suppressed in Milwaukee. One guess what his race is...

.20 hours ago

Urban Milwaukee

Murphy's Law: GOP Leader Thrilled to Suppress City Vote

Republican Robert Spindell, a member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, is proud as a peacock of the work Republicans did to suppress...

.1 week ago

PBS Wisconsin

Wisconsin Elections Commission member Robert Spindell ...

Commissioner Robert Spindell, who also served as a fake elector for former Republican President Donald Trump, said his comments sent in an...

.6 days ago

Wisconsin Examiner

What will Wisconsin Republicans do after Spindell spilled the ...

... reporting of Bruce Murphy in Urban Milwaukee, we now know that fake Trump elector and Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Robert Spindell...

.6 days ago

The Guardian

Wisconsin Republican who bragged about low turnout faces calls to resign

Robert Spindell is one of three GOP appointees on the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), the six-member bipartisan body that oversees...

.5 days ago

Madison.com

Senate Democrats call on GOP leader to replace elections ...

The call for Spindell's removal from the six-member bipartisan ... "I just want the Republican Party and Bob Spindell to know that...

.5 mins ago

PBS Wisconsin

'Here & Now' Highlights: Brian Schimming, Richard Shaw

So, I hope the governor comes to the table and works productively on it." An email by Robert Spindell, a Republican appointee to the Wisconsin...

.1 day ago

Shepherd Express

Laughing Liberally Milwaukee Episode 63: Greg Bach

The two discuss the email from Wisconsin Elections Committee Commissioner Robert Spindell to Republicans, touting that they had successfully...

.1 day ago

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Josh Kaul, Ismael Ozanne Must Pursue Ron Johnson, False ...

... Kathy Kiernen, Kelly Ruh, Robert Spindell, and Pam Travis. Spindell, amazingly enough, still sits on the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

.2 weeks ago

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https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/12/08/spindell-conspiracies-political-violence/

no lnx many pix

Elections official stands by at rally as speakers spread conspiracies, promote political violence

BY: HENRY REDMAN - DECEMBER 8, 2020

Wisconsin Trump election rally

Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Robert Spindell is seen speaking between two people draped in the flags of right wing movements, the Tea Party and Trumpism. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

One of the six officials charged with administering and protecting Wisconsin’s elections system stood on the steps of the State Capitol Monday afternoon as a group of President Donald Trump’s supporters chanted “stop the steal.”

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Robert Spindell, one of three Republicans on the Wisconsin Elections Commission stood by as speakers spread conspiracy theories about election fraud and COVID-19, compared the 2020 presidential election to Pearl Harbor and advocated for the violent overthrow of the government.

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Spindell, in his short speech to the flag-waving and MAGA hat wearing crowd of Trump voters, said he was attending the rally as a private citizen, not in his capacity as a government official. He said the election fraud committed in the 1950s and 60s by former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley shows election fraud could have been committed this year.

Wisconsin Trump election rally

Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Robert Spindell speaks at the rally. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

While he did not give any specific examples of voter fraud in Wisconsin, Spindell implied, falsely, that it had happened.

“There’s no evidence vote fraud did not occur,” Spindell said, calling for election officials to prove a negative.

Spindell also went through a laundry list of grievances about elections this year.

He complained about pre-election lawsuits filed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and Democratic National Committee that attempted to change some election rules to make voting easier during a pandemic. Ultimately these changes were struck down by a federal appellate court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

He complained that the Democrats on the elections commission and the body’s non-partisan staff refused to remove from the voter rolls hundreds of thousands of people who may have moved or died — a decision that was made to avoid mistakenly disenfranchising people. The status of Wisconsin’s so-called voter purge is still pending an order from the Wisconsin Supreme Court but there’s no evidence dead people voted and people who have moved can update their registration at the polls on Election Day.

Wisconsin Trump election rally]

Evidence of Wisconsin’s year of political protest with pro-Trump protesters stand near anti-police graffiti from Black Lives Matter protests. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)]

Spindell complained that municipal clerks filled in missing addresses on absentee ballots, a practice allowed under guidance provided by the Wisconsin Elections Commission and which has been in place for previous elections.

Finally, he complained that candidates from the Green Party and Kanye West were not allowed on the presidential ballot because of issues with their paperwork. Emails showed Spindell attempted to assist the Green Party in its efforts to get on the ballot despite failing to properly file nomination papers. Spindell has repeatedly complained that not allowing West on the ballot, even though his campaign missed the deadline to file, was disenfranchisement of Black voters.

Wisconsin Trump election rally

A QAnon flag flies in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol at the Dec. 7 pro-Trump election rally. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

“How about Kenyon (sic.) West?” Spindell said.

At the start of the rally, the largely un-masked crowd gathered closely together to sing “God Bless America,” “The Star Spangled Banner” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The group was outside; still, singing is considered by the CDC to be an especially effective vector of COVID-19 spread.

Near the singers, a group of 15 people carrying Trump flags did laps of the Capitol while praying the rosary.

Appearing alongside Spindell was the rally’s headliner, Minnesota native, MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Michael Lindell. Lindell also recently donated to the bail fund of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with killing two people at a racial justice protest in Kenosha in August.

Wisconsin Trump election rally

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks to the crowd. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)]

Even though other Republicans on the elections commission have definitively announced there were no issues with the state’s election machines, Spindell stood by as Lindell claimed Trump lost Wisconsin because of issues with Dominion voting machines — a disproven conspiracy theory.

“I would like to stay officially on the record that I have complete confidence in the voting equipment in use in Wisconsin, that I think there is no evidence of systemic problems of software problems programming problems hacking, there’s no evidence of switched votes,” Republican commissioner Dean Knudson said last week.

Lindell, as he argued for the Electoral College to be bypassed so the selection of the president could go to state congressional delegations, stated that Trump had actually won in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Lindell’s proof that Trump won these states was that on election night, the odds at the sportsbooks said Trump was the 3-1 favorite to win. Betting odds on presidential elections aren’t an adequate predictor of outcome. For example, PredictIt, a popular political prediction site, gave Hillary Clinton a chance at being elected president for most of 2020.

[Wisconsin Trump election rally

A rally attendee sits draped in a “Thin Blue Line” pro-police blanket. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)]

The most prominent speaker was Lindell, but the rally featured a number of other right-wing speakers who spread conspiracy theories and railed against the threats of communism, socialism and Marxism that they believe President-elect Joe Biden represents.

The rally, which was part of a “March for Trump” bus tour, is stopping in 27 cities across the country in an attempt to somehow overturn the results of the election.

“We’re trying to go through all the corrupt states with all the corruption,” one speaker said.

[Wisconsin Trump election rally

Release the Kraken is catchphrase for right wing conspiracies signifying the dubious legal strategy of conservative lawyer Sidney Powell. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)]

But short of any legal remedies, which appear to be dwindling as the president continues to lose in court, the rally speakers said there are other options to fight the election results.

“The Electoral College is going to fear We the People,” said another speaker. “Learn our 2nd Amendment, we need to know how to fire those handguns, fire those rifles.”

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omg

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2021/08/23/conservative-think-tank-end-wisconsin-elections-commission/

looks legit

conservative think tank — run by a former staffer for then-Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and connected to former Gov. Scott Walker — has called for abolishing the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) and moving the administration of state elections to the elected secretary of state.

The think tank, the Institute for Reforming Government, called for the change to state election law in a news release Monday morning.

“It is time to abolish WEC and implement good government accountability when it comes to Wisconsin’s elections and work to restore confidence among Wisconsin residents,” Chris Reader, executive vice president of IRG, said in a statement. “When unelected bureaucrats oversee Wisconsin’s elections it can lead to the erosion of faith and confidence in our electoral system. Thirty-three other states have elected officials overseeing the election process, providing a good measure of accountability by empowering people across ideological spectrums to provide a check on who manages elections. This is a good government measure that will benefit all Wisconsinites.”

The think tank’s president is CJ Szafir, who previously worked on Fitzgerald’s staff and served as the executive vice president for the right wing legal outfit, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Walker is named on the think tank’s website as its former national honorary chairman.

According to the think tank’s most recently available tax records, it paid Walker’s consulting firm, the Walker Group, more than $164,000 in 2019.

The call comes as Republicans continue an effort to delegitimize state election administration in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen.

This weekend, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) met with Trumpto discuss an ongoing investigation into the election led by former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Gableman recently traveled to South Dakota for a conspiracy theory-laden convention, run by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, where lies were spread about the 2020 election.

Gableman was joined by a state lawmaker and Robert Spindell, a member of the Elections Commission who has frequently spread conspiracy theories about last year’s election as well.

The conservative group’s call to disband the Wisconsin Elections Commission — made up of six members, three appointed by Democrats and three by Republicans — comes just six years after Republicans themselves created the commission. Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls), who chairs the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Commission, has continued an effort to hold a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election — similar to the widely derided audit held in Arizona.

Fitzgerald, now a member of Congress, and Walker were behind the creation of the WEC in 2015 after they disbanded the Government Accountability Board (GAB) over some similar complaints to the present complaints about the WEC. The GAB was made up of members appointed by a panel of appellate judges and was responsible for administration of the state’s election, ethics and campaign finance laws.

Republicans disbanded the GAB after it began investigating Walker for violations of campaign finance laws through so-called John Doe investigations.

GOP leaders, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, directly cited those investigations as the reason for the disbanding of the GAB and the creation of two new commissions to take its place — the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Wisconsin Ethics Commission.

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The legislation that created the WEC was introduced by then-Rep. Dean Knudson (R-Hudson). Knudson is now a member of the WEC and its former chair.

The current Wisconsin secretary of state is Democrat Doug La Follette. The office is largely responsible for maintaining government records, as Republicans took nearly all of the other responsibilities — and most of the staff — away from the office they now want to run elections under Walker, moving La Follette to a storage room in the Capitol basement. In 2015, a different right wing think tank, the MacIver Institute, called for abolishing the position.

The Institute for Reforming Government did not respond to a request for comment.

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