By Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner
A second Dane County judge ordered attorneys fees to be paid to the government watchdog group suing for records related to the review of the 2020 presidential election being conducted by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.
On Monday, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington awarded $163,000 in fees to American Oversight, which has filed several lawsuits against Gableman and the Assembly to force the production of documents related to the review.
The $163,000 in fees was awarded just days after a different judge awarded just over $98,000 in a different case. All of the fees will be paid for by Wisconsin taxpayers. The Gableman review has already cost the state more than $1 million, surpassing its initial $676,000 budget.
American Oversight has for months been fighting to get access to the documents. Both Gableman and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have been found in contempt of court for refusing to hand over the requested records. Gableman has said in court that during his review he regularly deleted documents that he deemed “irrelevant,” which is a violation of the state’s open records law.
In court on Monday, Gableman’s attorney James Bopp, who is being paid $450 an hour at taxpayer expense to represent the former justice, objected to taxpayers footing the bill for American Oversight’s attorney fees at a rate of $375 an hour.
This story first appeared in the Wisconsin Examiner and is being republished with permission through a Creative Commons License. See the original story, here.
