District Attorney Agrees With His Office That Potentially Embarrassing Recordings Of Him Should Not Be Released

from the I-hereby-declare-the-public's-interests-to-be-aligned-with-MY-interests dept

For almost a year now, a Wisconsin district attorney (now the state's Attorney General) has been trying to keep allegedly embarrassing footage of him from making its way into the hands/eyes of the public. Last October, while running for the State Attorney General's office, Brad Schimel first went to court to prevent his political opposition from doing this:

Video that purportedly shows the Republican vying to be Wisconsin attorney general making racist and sexist remarks could be released just days before the election...

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin brought the issue to a head with an Oct. 21 petition that says Waukesha County district attorney Brad Schimel made "offensive racial remarks and ethnic slurs, including but not limited to stereotyped accents, as well as sexist remarks" during a Statewide Prosecutors Education conference.
The recordings -- taken at a statewide prosecutors conference and apparently containing (in addition to the alleged racist and sexist remarks) "sensitive subject matter" pertaining to the prosecution of child pornography cases -- have twice been ordered to be released by judges. And twice the state's Department of Justice has stepped in on Schimel's behalf.

Schimel claims the reason he wants these recordings to remain locked up is that they contain sensitive information about other people.
"The decision by Attorney General Van Hollen in 2014 to withhold disclosure of these videos was based on sound principles of victim protection and maintaining confidentiality of prosecutorial techniques," Schimel said in the statement.
Nonetheless, the judge presiding over the case didn't buy the DOJ's arguments.
With regard to the 2013 video recording, the circuit court noted the DOJ’s claim that victims would be harmed by disclosure. The circuit court made the following findings of fact about the 2013 video recording. The presentation took place in a large conference room with numerous individuals present. In his presentation, Schimel employed the “case study” method, focusing on a high-profile case from several years before. Largely addressing prosecutors, Schimel shared lessons learned in dealing with victims of sensitive crimes, tips for interacting with victims, and changes Schimel intended to make in his own practices. Schimel commented on the reactions of the victims and their families to the crime, how the defendant first came to the attention of law enforcement, and the role of the courts. While Schimel provided a great deal of detail, he did not share any identifying information about the victims.

The circuit court further found the information in Schimel’s 2013 presentation would be helpful to families trying to protect children from crime and would encourage cooperation in the prosecution of crime. In particular, the court found that the public should hear Schimel’s statements that there were lessons to be learned from the prosecution at issue in the case study. The case study crime was widely reported at the time of the prosecution, the criminal complaint contained virtually everything Schimel mentioned, and Schimel’s presentation did not add anything not already in the public sphere. Furthermore, Schimel did not offer anything novel regarding prosecution techniques or approaches, and the presentation did not impact the ability of prosecutors to prosecute crimes successfully or work with law enforcement or the community. The circuit court concluded that the public’s right to know outweighed the public’s interest in shielding the 2013 video recording from public view.
The same goes for the contested recordings from 2009.
The circuit court next considered the 2009 video recording, reiterated the strong presumption in favor of disclosure, and made the following findings. The court described the video recording as “investigating child predators 101,” a basic and not particularly novel presentation. Schimel discussed various strategies used in investigating and prosecuting sex predators, but most, if not all, of the strategies and techniques were already widely discussed in the public sphere. Noting that law enforcement techniques have evolved significantly since 2009, the court found “not a shred of evidence in this record that releasing that 2009 video is going to impact the ability to prosecute and investigate and” apprehend sex predators. The public had a right to know how to protect children from internet predators and that law enforcement and prosecutors are taking steps to protect children. The public interest in access to the 2009 video recording outweighed the DOJ’s reasons for withholding the recording.
Schimel, through his office, has appealed this decision, asking for an extension of the twice-challenged injunction until the state's Supreme Court has had a chance to review the case. The motion notes correctly that a released recording cannot be "unreleased" if the Supreme Court later finds in favor of the DOJ. Thus ends the logical arguments. Surrounding that are many statements that use the public's name in vain while attempting to "save" the public from recordings a court has already determined would benefit the public.
Beginning with the second factor--irreparability--it is clear that the denial of a stay would essentially nullify any further review, even if the supreme court were to accept DOJ's position. If DOJ were to prevail on appeal, but without a stay, the public will have suffered irreparable injury because the videos will have been released contrary to the public's interest.
This would seem to conflate Schimel's interest with the public's interest. Considering a petition was signed for the release of video (by a partisan group, so there's that), there would appear to be public interest in the release of these recordings, especially if they contain the racist and sexist remarks the plaintiffs claim they do. (The court's decision to lift the stay does not address the existence/nonexistence of these comments.)

Schimel/the DOJ's motion also notes that time is no longer of the essence, considering its previous thwarting of the recordings' release during the run-up to an election.
The remaining factors ask whether harm will come to the petitioners or the public if a stay is granted. There is no good reason to think that harm to either would occur. These videos relate to law enforcement techniques and otherwise discuss past crime-related events. The petitioners have provided no reason to think that they need them immediately. Rather, the videos were initially sought in anticipation of an election that is now past.

Likewise, there is no time-sensitive information in the videos that the public might need now instead of later. Rather, the public interest is best served by allowing this litigation to reach finality after the supreme court decides whether to accept review. If review is granted, that court will be the ultimate arbiter of what best serves the public, but only if a stay is imposed or continued now.
Once again, the DOJ speaks for the public and declares the release to be against its interests. It also makes lofty statements about how the Supreme Court knows best, something Schimel may regret if the state's top court finds in favor of the plaintiffs.



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Filed Under: brad schimel, censorship, foia, freedom of information, wisconsins


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:13am

    What if a redacted version was released with only the racist/sexist remarks? Schimel couldn't object to that, could he?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:30am

    Re:

    Well, his campaogn manager might.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:32am

    Re:

    He could claim that the redactions were removing the context for the comments. (Such self serving people can always find a reason for getting their way).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:43am

    Beginning with the second factor--irreparability--it is clear that the denial of a stay would essentially nullify any further review, even if the supreme court were to accept DOJ's position. If DOJ were to prevail on appeal, but without a stay, the public will have suffered irreparable injury because the videos will have been released contrary to the public's interest.


    This would seem to conflate Schimel's interest with the public's interest.


    Nah. Schimel's interests aren't going to be considered by the court; embarrassment isn't a reason to withhold the records. If the Supreme Court DOES find in his favor, it's going to be because they find that releasing the video is not, on balance, in the public interest.

    And they're correct about the stay. If it's not stayed, there's no point in the appeal, because you can't unrelease a video. The Supreme Court can refuse to take the case if they don't think it's worth their time, which would eliminate the stay immediately, but if they're going to take the case, the stay should... stay.

    Once again, the DOJ speaks for the public and declares the release to be against its interests.


    And the other side is speaking for the public and declaring the release to be in its interests. So?

    I wonder... could the courts order a release of a redacted version of the video? One that shows just the slurs and maybe a little before and after them for context?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:49am

    Isn't it funny...

    Too bad the various DOJ's can't argue this effectively when defending the average citizen's Rights. Sadly, they only pull out their best when the department or an official/officer will be embarrassed.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 10:55am

    Re: Re:

    He could claim that, but so what? It wouldn't be a reason to not release the comments; it would only be an excuse for his comments after they were released.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 11:59am

    The nobles have open contempt for the public. Since they realize the public can only complain and not force change unless they get desperate

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 12:01pm

    One thing that I agree on...

    Release the videos! But for Batmans sake, release them when they are discovered and not just in the oppotune of times such as an election. I hate the political mudthrowing smear campaigns, most of all because since they lie, misquote or take so many things out of context, there is no information, up to an election, that you can trust within reason and therefore any reveals are useless.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Mark Wing, 26 Oct 2015 @ 12:46pm

    I have done a full and thorough investigation of myself, and have exonerated myself of all charges. You can all rest easy knowing that I'm innocent.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 2:23pm

    not sure why it's bothered to even have a legal system in the USA. when some poor, ordinary person, who has unwittingly committed something minutely illegal, the whole justice system is not just thrown at him, it's thrown so vehemently that there is no chance of it not sticking, and if it doesn't, the contingency plans are waiting in the wings with bated breath!
    now take the case of someone in the governments legal system employ and he is allowed to do what he wants, say what he wants, screw over who he wants and the whole legal system comes out in force yet again, this time to ensure that what has been said and done, he is never held accountable! what an excellent case of two tiers of actions!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 4:48pm

    Hope they get it out

    I sure hope they can get it out before the election. I wonder if the voters can file a recall election if he gets elected, and then the recordings are released?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2015 @ 4:49pm

    The new novel argument

    You can't release these recordings, because they can't be un-released should the Supreme Court decide against releasing them.

    Now, nothing can *ever* be released, because it might be elevated to the Supreme Court.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Noneya beeswax, 26 Oct 2015 @ 5:11pm

    I am rubber you are glue any spying onto me will be done to you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 26 Oct 2015 @ 8:04pm

    Re: Re:

    At which point you call his bluff by pointing out that he is the reason the context isn't available, and if he wants to provide the context, he's welcome to allow the full video to be released.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Tanner Andrews (profile), 9 Nov 2015 @ 4:44am

    Re: The new novel argument


    Now, nothing can *ever* be released, because it might be elevated to the Supreme Court.

    Argument is neither new nor novel. It is fairly standard and in many cases well taken. Release client/atty discussions pending appeal, and you cannot put the cat back in the bag. Release pending investigation, same result.

    Neither can you punish publication of supposedly secret information. For instance, unlawfully publish victim name in sex crime, that is Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 397. Once the information is out, it is out.

    The difference here is that the official fears embarrasment, and this is probably a well founded fear. However we are not sympathetic to this case.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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