Fresh off his razor-thin primary victory, Wisconsin’s longtime Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, did not mince words about his disdain for special counsel Michael Gableman.
Vos ripped into Gableman as “an embarrassment” to the Badger State for his conduct during his heavily scrutinized 2020 election review and asserted that the state Republican caucus will meet soon to determine whether Gableman will continue the 2020 inquiry that has cost taxpayers over $1 million.
WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY SPEAKER ROBIN VOS SURVIVES TRUMP PURGE EFFORT IN GOP PRIMARY
“He’s an embarrassment to the state. I hired him on recommendations thinking we were going to hire somebody who was a good, articulate independent voice,” Vos said, the Center Square reported.
Said that the caucus will be meeting soon to take up whether Gableman will continue with his investigation into 2020
— Laura Schulte (@SchulteLaura) August 10, 2022
During the aftermath of the 2020 election, grumblings about the election in Wisconsin from former President Donald Trump and his allies put pressure on top Republicans in the state to investigate whether fraud or any impropriety transpired. Last summer, Vos hired Gableman, a former state Supreme Court justice, to investigate.
Gableman’s inquiry has drawn national attention and faced fierce legal scrutiny in state courts for his apparent failure to comply with public records requests. For example, in June, Gableman was slapped with a $2,000 daily contempt fine until he provided a court with sufficient evidence he turned over all available documents sought by watchdog American Oversight.
The contempt fine was subsequently lifted after Gableman divulged additional details about his record-keeping habits.
Back in March, Gableman’s legal woes spilled over to Vos, and the speaker was also held in contempt for Gableman’s failure to comply with American Oversight’s record requests. In May, Vos announced that Gableman’s inquiry had been halted due to the torrent of legal challenges dogging the investigation. Gableman was still slated to receive a salary during the pause.
Recently, Gableman returned the favor to Vos by backing his primary opponent. He attended a Trump rally in which the former president declared that Gableman was backing Vos’s opponent Adam Steen. Gableman also recorded robocalls for Steen, contending that his inquiry had made advances “in spite of” Vos.
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Still, Vos managed to fend off the primary challenge Tuesday, edging out Steen by just over 250 votes, according to the latest numbers from the New York Times.
Gableman has implored Wisconsin to decertify the 2020 election results in the state due to his allegations of widespread election malfeasance. He has released multiple reports claiming impropriety in the election. However, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has rebuffed those assertions, insisting his reports were riddled with mischaracterizations of how the state conducts its elections.
