Wisconsin: Democratic Party sues state over Brad Schimel training videos
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/280019082.html
Lawyers for the state Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to obtain videotapes of five prosecutor training sessions conducted by Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel, the Republican candidate for attorney general. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess has set a hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday on the party's petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the release of the videos. Schimel is running against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, a Democrat.
"What an odd fishing expedition," Johnny Koremenos, Schimel's campaign manager, said in response to the lawsuit. Countered Michael Bauer, the attorney for the Democratic Party: "If there's nothing to hide in these videos, why doesn't Schimel ask his friends at (the Department of Justice) to release them or release them himself?"
In September, a Democratic Party researcher filed an open records request with the state Department of Justice seeking all materials related to five presentations Schimel had done over the years at State Prosecutors Education and Training conferences. DOJ organizes and oversees these sessions. The party contends these videos of Schimel's talks may contain questionable material.
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In the Democratic Party's lawsuit, Bauer argued that it was Schimel who may have compromised the privacy of the crime victims by disclosing their identities at the training sessions. Bauer noted that Potter said his office couldn't provide a redacted version of one video because Schimel mentioned a victim's name so often. Bauer, a former top-level DOJ staffer under Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, is asking for the release of the two videos and a court order directing DOJ officials to try to locate material from the other three training sessions. The party is seeking punitive damages, plus attorney's fees.
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