House committee seeks Republican e-mails in Wisconsin case
(Published Friday, April 13, 2007 11:18:47 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Frederic J. Frommer Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House Democrats asked the Republican National Committee Thursday to hand over e-mails about U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic of Milwaukee prior to his decision to indict former Wisconsin state worker Georgia Thompson.
In a letter to RNC Chairman Robert M. Duncan, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of Michigan said that the committee has been "advised that there may be RNC e-mail traffic" about concerns that the Republican Party had about Biskupic.
The letter was the latest attempt by congressional Democrats to try to uncover whether there was political pressure on Biskupic to indict Thompson, whose bid-rigging conviction last June was vacated last week by a federal appeals court for a lack of evidence. She was ordered freed from prison immediately and is expected to get her civil service job back soon.
Earlier this week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to provide documents in connection with the case, saying they were "concerned whether or not politics may have played a role" in the case against Thompson.
Conyers' letter, which was also signed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez, D-Calif., singles out Wisconsin and Arkansas but asks for all RNC e-mails that discuss the performance of any U.S. attorney, including whether to retain, dismiss or seek resignations, among other things.
The request comes as the White House claim that e-mails sent on an RNC account might have been lost was challenged by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The White House says the Bush administration is making a genuine effort to recover any missing e-mails.
The RNC and Biskupic's office did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages left Thursday night by The Associated Press.
But Biskupic's office has said he received no pressure from anyone in the White House, the U.S. Department of Justice or the state Republican Party to bring the case against Thompson.
He repeated those denials Thursday, telling Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors he wasn't pressured to file charges in political cases or to prosecute voter fraud cases.
Thompson was accused of steering a travel contract to a company with ties to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, and her conviction became an issue last year in his campaign for re-election.
Wisconsin Democrats have long questioned whether Biskupic's prosecution of Thompson was an attempt to go after Doyle, who faced a tough run against Republican Mark Green, a congressman at the time. Biskupic was appointed by President Bush.
A jury found Thompson guilty of fraud charges and she was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. But the appeals court ruled that Thompson was innocent and ordered her immediate release after four months behind bars.
Her case has pushed Wisconsin into the national debate over the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Last month, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the White House had received complaints about how U.S. attorneys were handling election fraud cases in Wisconsin, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Bartlett added that Bush discussed the issue with Gonzales last October.
"These are questions that members of Congress are going to have to look at," said Matt Canter, a spokesman for Doyle. "There is certainly no question that Georgia Thompson was used as political fodder in a hard fought election."
