The head prosecutor in the ongoing John Doe investigation has been accused of misconduct in office by the leader of a conservative group after the leader himself was accused of illegal campaign coordination by prosecutors in the case.
Eric O’Keefe, president of the Wisconsin Club for Growth, sent a letter Friday to Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm accusing him of using his office to his financial and political benefit. He also requested a judge appoint a new special prosecutor in the case.
In the letter, O’Keefe demanded an investigation be launched to determine whether Chisholm unfairly treated Walker and his supporters in his official capacity as DA of Milwaukee County.
The Club, along with 28 other conservative organizations, is the target of the ongoing investigation into illegal campaign coordination during Wisconsin’s 2011 recall elections for several senators and Gov. Scott Walker.
On the same day O’Keefe sent the letter, a federal appeals court overturned a previous court’s injunction on the investigation, allowing it to continue for now. A panel of three judges ruled that allowing the case to continue would clear up much political uncertainty for voters before the Nov. 4 election.
“The commencement of this federal suit also produces uncertainty, because it entails review by a district judge, three or more appellate judges and potentially the Supreme Court of the United States,” the judges wrote in their decision. “The state case might be over today had the district judge allowed it to take its course.”
