Gableman’s contract extended through April

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos signed a new contract to extend Gableman’s partisan review of the 2020 presidential election through the end of April. 

Gableman’s initial contract had expired at the end of December and he operated for months without an agreement with Vos and the Legislature. The contract extension comes a week after Gableman released a report that repeated debunked claims about the election and a recommendation that the Legislature look at decertifying Joe Biden’s win in the state. 

The extension also came the same day that a Dane County Circuit Court judge ordered the release of hundreds of pages of documents Gableman and his staff have created during their review. The judge said the documents, which were requested by government watchdog group American Oversight, don’t prove any of the claims Gableman has made or show that any investigation has actually been done. 

In a statement, Vos blamed the lengthy extension of Gableman’s review on liberal groups and Democrats who are seeking answers to questions such as “are a legislative investigator and his staff of private attorneys allowed to force private depositions of local officials?” and “are the speaker of the Assembly and his contractors allowed to keep public records hidden?” 

“The office of Special Counsel has done an outstanding job looking into the election concerns people all across Wisconsin had,” Vos said. “Many of the key issues were addressed with legislation that’s going to Governor Evers’ desk this week for him to sign into law. Meanwhile, Justice Gableman continues to face unwarranted resistance. We will continue to fight the obstruction and myriad of lawsuits filed by democrats and out-of-state liberal activists, questioning the legislature’s subpoena power and ultimately keeping this matter from concluding in the time frame we expected.”