Empower Wisconsin, a grassroots conservative information hub, claimed Governor Tony Evers (D) hired a lawyer to “go after” citizens who were circulating a petition calling for the removal of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.
On Twitter, the group alleged Evers “secretly hired a Milwaukee lawyer to go after the citizens who filed a complaint against [Milwaukee County] DA Chisholm instead of investigating how a career violent criminal suspected in the Waukesha massacre got $1,000 bail.”
.@GovEvers secretly hired a Milwaukee lawyer to go after the citizens who filed a complaint against Mil Co. DA Chisholm instead of investigating how a career violent criminal suspected in the Waukesha massacre got $1,000 bail #wiright #wipolitics @MollyBeck @sbauerAP #priorities
— Empower Wisconsin (@EmpowerWi) January 12, 2022
Several letters have been written to Evers, asking for him to remove Chisholm following the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack, where Chisholm’s office was responsible for letting out the suspect Darrell Brooks on a $1,000 bail.
Empower Wisconsin told The Wisconsin Daily Star that “sixteen Waukesha area lawmakers sent Evers two letters asking [him] to remove Chisholm.” The lawmakers have no connection to the Milwaukee County citizens who filed the complaint, Empower Wisconsin said.
The attorney Evers hired, Matthew Fleming, wrote in a letter to the Wisconsin governor that the citizens’ petition “suffers from several flaws, both formal and substantive, that render it insufficient to invoke the power the petitioners demand Governor Evers to exercise.” Fleming is trying to discredit the complaint, Empower Wisconsin has alleged.
“The Petition makes no mention of what Mr. Chisholm did or did not do that is relevant to this incident and could be read to suggest that had Mr. Chisholm’s policies been followed, a higher bail amount would have been set,” Fleming reportedly said regarding the citizens’ petition. “The Petition seems to rely on a theory … to hold Mr. Chisholm responsible without the need to make any specific allegations regarding Mr. Chisholm’s conduct.”
Empower Wisconsin told The Daily Star that Fleming has been paid a $275 hourly wage to review the complaint, which they said entailed legally attacking it. The group asserted that Evers should be more concerned about “investigating why a career violent criminal was set free to terrorize a community” not “legally attacking the complaint and standing of the citizens.”
Rebecca Kleefisch, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, appears to agree with the group, saying “Tony Evers is a coward. John Chisholm’s leadership in the Milwaukee DA’s office is a danger to Wisconsin families, and he must be removed. How many lives have to be lost before Tony Evers stops making excuses?”
Tony Evers is a coward. John Chisholm’s leadership in the Milwaukee DA’s office is a danger to Wisconsin families and he must be removed. How many lives have to be ruined before Tony Evers stops making excuses?
— Rebecca Kleefisch (@RebeccaforReal) January 12, 2022
“Here are the facts: John Chisholm’s office allowed a decades-long violent criminal to walk free and kill six people in Waukesha, and Tony Evers is refusing to hold him accountable,” Paul Farrow, the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said.
Farrow continued, saying that Evers “has the gall to suggest that there weren’t enough ‘facts’ to fire John Chisholm.”
.@GovEvers has the gall to suggest that there weren’t enough ‘facts’ to fire John Chisholm.
Here are the facts: John Chisholm’s office allowed a decades-long violent criminal to walk free and kill six people in Waukesha, and Tony Evers is refusing to hold him accountable. https://t.co/BsHa7QoRNH
— Paul Farrow (@PaulFarrowWi) January 12, 2022
Evers’ office did not respond to The Daily Star’s request for comment regarding the hiring of Fleming or the status of the petition.
– – –
Hayley Feland is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun and The Wisconsin Daily Star | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
