MADISON (WKOW) -- Emails that became public following a judge's order show the man Assembly Republicans hired to investigate the 2020 election has taken consultation from a lawyer who sued to block that very election from being certified.
Dane County Judge Frank Remington ordered Michael Gableman and his Office of Special Counsel on Tuesday to release records and emails tied to his investigation. The decision was prompted by a lawsuit American Oversight, a liberal Washington, D.C.-based group, brought against Gableman's office.
The organization posted more than 750 pages of records, which include streams of emails dating back to July. There are more than three dozen mentions of Erick Kaardal in the records. Kaardal, a Minnesota lawyer, was referred for possible discipline by a D.C. judge over what the judge considered to be a frivolous election that sought to block the 2020 election from being certified.
Previous documents obtained by 27 News shows Gableman was leasing out space in his Brookfield office to Kaardal's firm.
"This is clearly a conflict of interest here," UW-Madison Political Science Professor David Canon said in an interview Wednesday. "Pretty clearly, Gableman's investigation, from the beginning, has not been the type of objective investigation you would hope for from an outside counsel."
Neither Kaardal nor Gableman have made any effort to conceal their collaboration although Gableman hired lawyers to fight the release of emails.
Following Gableman's presentation of an "interim report" on his investigation, Kaardal held a press conference with Ron Heuer, one of Gableman's paid investigators, and Republican state representatives Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) and Rep. David Murphy (R-Greenville).
"We worked together collaboratively to collect the records, analyze them and then present them in a useful way," Kaardal said at the March 1 press conference.
Kaardal went on to suggest conservative firms like the Thomas More Society could work with the legislature in the future on election-related issues and even on other subjects.
"Can you imagine that kind of a populist project in Wisconsin moving from subject area to subject area? This is just the beginning," Kaardal said. "And we're gonna take on election administration; there's so many other issues we could do."
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has given Gableman a taxpayer-funded budget of $676,000 to review the election. The Assembly Chief Clerk's office released a copy of a new contract with Gableman Tuesday allowing the former state supreme court justice to continue his work through the end of April.
The contract does not provide additional funding; according to American Oversight's records, Gableman has spent about $519,000 of his allocated budget. Vos' office did not immediately respond to messages Wednesday.
New expense reports raise new questions
American Oversight also obtained expense reports Gableman's team submitted for December and January. The documents include a variety of line-item expenses for dining and 'groceries.' There's also another hand-scrawled "milage" [sp] expense report.
One of the items is for Gableman's trip to Chippewa Falls. When pressed by Chief Clerk Ted Blazel for dates for the corresponding trips, Gableman's office notes the trip was on December 20.
On that day, Gableman spoke to the Chippewa County Republican Party and told supporters Sen. Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls), a staunch critic of Gableman and former county clerk, should resign.
"Some of Gableman's trips were clearly political, like going to attend a county Republican Party event," Canon said. "That's not something taxpayers should be paying for."
A spokeswoman for Vos told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Gableman would have to pay back the money from that trip.
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