David Michael Miller
The Wisconsin Supreme Court basically fired Francis Schmitz, the special prosecutor who was leading the John Doe II case. This is the same court where justices refused to recuse themselves from the case even though it involved groups that paid for their election campaigns. They also ordered the case shut down and the materials destroyed. They really don’t like this case.
Schmitz was preparing to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of the United States. To make it look like they weren’t trying to outright kill that appeal, the conservative majority suggested that an appeal could be led by one of the five district attorneys on the case, one of whom is Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. Apparently, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s logic, when you are a county district attorney, you clearly have the spare time to toss together a quick appeal for the girls and boys of SCOTUS. Oh, and they have just two weeks to make their appeal.
Even though Schmitz should still be leading the case, I believe Ozanne should take charge of the appeal. It is a case that deserves to be heard at the federal level. Beyond the obvious conflict of interest of Wisconsin Club for Growth-backed justices ruling on a case involving the Wisconsin Club for Growth, the conservative bloc on the state’s high court made a ruling that goes way beyond Citizens United by legalizing coordination between candidates and outside groups.
If Ozanne does appeal, there’s the risk it will be seen as part of a continued, obsessive attack by Madison liberals against Gov. Scott Walker. Something similar could happen if Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm decides to lead the appeal.
But this case has been politicized from the very beginning. Conservatives have incessantly described John Doe I and II as a partisan witch hunt, ignoring the inconvenient fact that two of the five DAs involved are Republicans. Meanwhile, liberals believe the current Wisconsin Supreme Court has been bought and sold by their campaign contributors. Since almost no one in this state is undecided on John Doe II, an appeal isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Leading the appeal would only help Ozanne’s career. Dane County voters aren’t going to mind if he is distracted from his regular job duties as long as it involves leading an appeal against Walker and Club for Growth. Unfettered campaign spending helps Republicans keep their lock on state power, which hurts Dane County. Heck, if Ozanne does this, Dane County voters will keep him in his current job for life.
More importantly, Ozanne wants higher office. He ran for Wisconsin attorney general a year ago but came in a distant third in the Democratic primary. Ozanne needs greater name recognition if he’s going to make another run at that office. He’s Wisconsin’s first black district attorney, but he isn’t going to get too much traction on a social justice platform. Not when he leads a team of prosecutors in a county where black men make up 43% of the jail population but less than 5% of the total population.
Leading the John Doe appeal would put Ozanne’s name in the headlines and boost his profile among Democratic primary voters. On the chance that the Supreme Court of the United States does pick the case up, he’ll be a serious candidate for attorney general or Wisconsin Supreme Court justice.
It’s time for Ismael Ozanne to show some leadership and take this appeal to the United States Supreme Court. It’s the right decision for him, for the county he represents and for the state of Wisconsin.
