Cory Liebmann, now widely recognized as liberal Wisconsin’s number one fisherman, is at it again. Fresh off his quest for dirt on State Representative Leah Vukmir, this ‘researcher’ has his eyes now set on…the Mayor of Tomah?
Perhaps it makes a bit more sense when you consider the Mayor of Tomah is Ed Thompson. Ed Thompson, brother of Tommy. More of a concern to Mr. Liebman, one suspects, is that he is Ed Thompson, candidate for Wisconsin State Senate.
Similar to the oddly-worded Vukmir request, Liebman has asked Thompson for:
“Copies of all email from any email account that you use for official city business from 11/5/08 through 2/5/10 that fit the following search words and names:
“Senate”, “Vinehout”, “Doyle”, “Clinard”, “Kuester”, “Republican”, “Democrat”, “Libertarian”, “Obama”, “Palin”, “911”, “Bush”, “Potter”, “Rudd”, “Connelly”, “Schueman”, “Orr”, “Fuchs”, “Nordberg”, “Hepp”, “Mayo”, “ABC”, “Tommy”, “Arthur”, “Hansen”, “Martin”, “Kleckhefer”, “Googins”, “Donahue”, “Potter”, “RPW”, “DPW”, “September”, “MacIver”, “Americans for Prosperity”, “AFP”, “Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce”, “WMC”, “ALEC”, “American Legislative Exchange Council”, “Tea”, “blog”, “Block”, “Healy”, “Jensen”, “Fraley”, “Sykes”, “Belling”, “Walker”, “Ron Paul”, “abortion”, “marijuana”, “gay”, “Tee Pee”, “Barrett”, “Governor”, “Tax”.
I know what you are thinking…and no, I did not make that up. That’s the (verbatim) heart of his recent request.
I surely hope Mayor Thompson remembers to hand over that email he got from WMC inviting us to what was promised to be a gay tea and marijuana, Harry Potter/Arthur double feature party at the Tee Pee last September. I’m not sure if Belling, Sykes or Walker made it, but rumor has it Phil Donahue and George Bush each made a surprise appearance.
As previously mentioned, Wisconsin’s Open Records Law is a strong tool for citizens and journalists who routinely use it to keep tabs on public officials in an effort to keep them honest. It appears Mr. Liebmann has perhaps also found it to be a useful tool to have others compile opposition research that he could then peddle to a willing bidder.
And it didn’t even take stimimuls dollars to create or save his job. Kudos to Liebmann for his ingenuity and resourcefulness.
By Brian Fraley
A MacIver Perspective