Prosser Hires Bush v. Gore Recount Lawyer Who Claims GOP Opposes Equal Protection

[deminks]

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/07/prosser-hires-bush-v-gore-recount-lawyer-who-claims-gop-opposes-equal-protection/

As a key sign of just how much Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser’s corporate supporters are willing to spend to keep him on the bench, Prosser’s campaign just announced its hire of one of the most high-profile election lawyers in the country — Bush v. Gore recount attorney Ben Ginsberg. Ginsberg, who also spearheaded former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) unsuccessful legal team in the 2008 Minnesota recount, is not simply known for his key role in two high profile elections. Ginsberg is also a victim of his own unintentional honesty. In a 2006 speech at Duke Law School, Ginsberg made a surprising admission about what the GOP really thinks about voting rights:

A quick note on perhaps the most interesting issue that came up as we dealt with it, and that was Equal Protection . … Now, just like really with the Voting Rights Act, Republicans have some fundamental philosophical difficulties with the whole notion of Equal Protection.

(end snip)



Brooks Bros in WI? Bring it on.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. What? No Ted Olson?

[Tx4obama]

2. And Jim Troupis and Patton Boggs

2:14 PM: Prosser announces legal team


Justice David Prosser announced this afternoon the leader of his legal team for the expected recount will be Jim Troupis.

The team will also include Milwaukee-based Attorney Dan Kelly and Ben Ginsberg of Washington, D.C.

“We are preparing for a recount, contingent on the results of the statewide canvas currently underway,” Prosser said.

Ginsberg, of Patton Boggs, worked on the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential race for then-Gov. George Bush.

http://elections.wispolitics.com/

[starroute]

3. Oh, crap

Ginsberg isn't just Bush v. Gore and Norm Coleman. He also has Koch connections and more. Below is something I posted a month ago about his involvement in the Triad Management scandal back in the 90's. (That was when Haley Barbour was chairing the RNC -- and more recently Ginsberg was counsel to the RGA while Barbour was heading that last year and receiving questionable donations from News Corp., Sheldon Adelson, and the Kochs. I think Barbour needs more scrutiny in connection with this posse of radical Republican governors than he's yet gotten.)

Some here may remember the name of Triad Management Services, which paid over $5 million for attack ads and get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Republican candidates during the 1996 elections. The money came from wealthy donors but was funneled through a variety of tax-exempt groups, in apparent violation of prohibitions on political activities by such groups. In 1997, Democrats on the Senate Government Affairs Committee unearthed evidence of improprieties in Triad's activities and scheduled hearings, but these were canceled by the Republican majority on the committee.

According to one website that no longer seems to be operative, "Ben Ginsberg, a former general counsel of the RNC, represented secret trusts that also contributed to Triad groups. The Koch family, which owned the Kansas-based Koch Industries, gave heavily to tax-exempt groups linked to Triad, using one of the trusts represented by Ginsberg. Senate investigators sent Charles Koch a letter in October 1997, asking to speak with him about their inquiry, but he has failed to respond. According to FEC records Koch brothers and Koch PAC contributed directly to more than a dozen of the candidates supported by three tax-exempt groups they had funded."

Ben Ginsburg has since served as Bush-Cheney national counsel in 2000 and 2004, represented Norm Coleman's campaign, and is counsel to the Republican Governor's Association. He has also been involved such major GOP fund-raising entities as Gail Norton's CREA, the Swiftboat Veterans, Move America Forward, and the American Majority Project.

[pnorman]

4. Bush v. Gore?

K & R!

[lunasun]

5. eeeegads ! Thanks (I guess) for the info = depressing

[lib2DaBone]

6. This whole thing stinks more and more....

in-your-face election fraud. The fish lies rotting in the sun from the head down.. and no one notices.. no one cares. The media will move on to Charlie Sheen and will dare to touch this crimal assault on democracy.