Doesn’t Waukesha County’s district attorney have better things to do than harass school board candidates?
Bucher’s muse
By
Camille Faherty
Voter apathy is rampant and disappointing. Few people show up at local government meetings or read the official minutes. Even fewer choose to put their name on a ballot, especially if they do not have close ties to the political machines.
But what about those who do, those non-politicos who step forward to run for office without the backing of parties and powerful organizations? People who take seriously words such as “Of the people, by the people and for the people”? What about people like me?
I ran for school board in New Berlin last fall, and Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher has been trying to make me pay a price for it ever since.
My crime? According to Bucher, I received two checks for $100 and thereby violated my campaign pledge to not accept more than $100 from a single source. I did not solicit or cash the checks in question, mind you, and actually returned them to the donor.
I believe my real crime was running for the school board in the first place.
Bucher has been busy investigating and prosecuting complaints against school board candidates he does not like. The author of one complaint is a candidate who lost in the last school board election. Another came from a political ally of that candidate who was still on the board at the time of his complaint. Both are members of Bucher’s Republican Party. All the alleged violations are by people who do not sit on Bucher’s side of the political fence.
At first, Bucher offered me a deal: Plead guilty, pay a small fine and the matter will be dropped. Contest the charges, he told me, and I will lose and become responsible for paying all the court costs.
I decided to contest the charges. Bucher then did everything he could to make this as difficult for me as possible.
I made an independent discovery request. Two weeks after my request, I received a response telling me I needed to supply Bucher’s office with a money order or a cashier’s check before copies of the documents would be available to me. A personal check would not be accepted.
I eventually received the documents, but they were less than complete. For example, I was not supplied with a list of the names of witnesses Bucher subpoenaed. Bucher referred to e-mail correspondence between himself and my accusers, but did not include copies for my review. Bucher’s papers made reference to a letter and a check, but I did not receive copies of these, either.
Waukesha County Deputy Sheriff deputies came to my door four times with subpoenas from Bucher’s office. I worried that my neighbors were starting to think I was a habitual criminal.
The night before my scheduled day in court, I received a letter from Bucher. In it he accused me of having held one of the checks for more than 15 days before returning it, a second campaign finance violation. I was never given a formal copy of the second complaint.
My court appointment was re-scheduled. Bucher relayed to me yet another offer: Plead guilty to the second count and the first one will be dropped. I guess Bucher really wanted me guilty of something.
After that offer, I decided to contact attorney Ed Garvey of the Garvey and Stoddard law firm in Madison (Garvey is also FightingBob.com’s editor and publisher). Garvey and his associate Christa Westerberg donated hours digging through far too many documents, and spent an afternoon defending me in court. Ultimately, the judge found me not guilty on both counts.
Is this a happy ending? I do not know how much my ordeal cost the taxpayers of Waukesha County, but I do know that it was orchestrated by a man whose political party advertises itself as the guardian of the taxpayers’ wallets. I’m no better off than I was before and neither is anyone else.
Will I ever run for public office again? Yes. I will not let these thugs win by intimidation and harassment. These charges were about destroying political opposition.
Candidates expect the difficulties of running for office, and most run knowing that winning will mean low compensation, countless meetings and exposure to public criticism. Still, every year brave and dedicated people run for office. They still have faith in our democratic system.
I believe there are not enough people with that faith and not enough people running. I believe Bucher would like fewer of both.
May 15, 2003
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Camille Faherty is a teacher who lives in New Berlin and served two terms on the New Berlin School Board.
