Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Hopes Former Elections Investigator Gets Disbarred

Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 -- 12:00 PM

(Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) Michael Gableman, the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who led a pricey probe into the 2020 presidential election that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing, should be “disbarred,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in an interview that aired over the weekend.

According to Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, Vos, who initiated that investigation, told WISN-TV’s “UpFront” program that hiring Gableman “is probably the single biggest embarrassment that I have ever had.”

“I hope eventually he gets disbarred,” Vos, R-Rochester, said. “He should not be an attorney. Anybody who thinks about hiring him, call me, because I will tell you what an awful decision that I made to hire him.”

Vos hired Gableman in June 2021 and fired him in August 2022. No evidence of widespread fraud was ever uncovered by Gableman’s team. Along the way, Gableman was sued for allegedly violating open records laws and racked up millions in legal fees.

Gableman and Vos have butted heads in the past. Gableman endorsed Vos’ primary challenger in his 2022 Assembly reelection campaign, and Vos called Gableman “an embarrassment to the state” after ending the investigation.

Supporters of that primary challenge to Vos launched a recall effort against him, an effort that Vos has challenged. Part of the recall group’s complaint against Vos is that he did not move to decertify the 2020 election, and did not continue to endorse Gableman’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

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