(Headline USA) Wisconsin‘s Democrat Gov. Tony Evers was directly responsible for many of the efforts to revise election rules, permitting looser restrictions on mail-in ballots, outdated voter rolls and late deadline.
But after evidence has emerged increasing the likelihood of a forensic audit led by the state’s GOP legislature, Evers is now complaining about the price tag.
Evers claimed Monday that it was “outrageous” that Republicans planned to spend $680,000 on an investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin, accusing Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of “drinking the Kool-Aid” after meeting with former President Donald Trump.
A Republican-controlled Assembly committee gave approval Monday, on a 5-3 party-line vote, to designating former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman as special counsel to lead the investigation ordered by Vos, assist the Assembly Elections Committee and hire investigators and others as needed.
Vos said on Friday that the contract will allow for spending up to $680,000 on the probe. That is more than nine times as much as the original contract with Gableman.
The vote comes a week after Vos flew with Trump to a campaign rally in Alabama where the two discussed the Wisconsin investigation. Vos suggested that the emergence of new evidence had prompted him to reverse his course.
“I think it’s outrageous,” Evers said of the GOP election probe, saying the money would be wasted.
“Things changed a bit when Robin Vos went down and visited Donald Trump and got that nice picture on the plane,” Evers said. “Apparently they’re all drinking the Kool-Aid. But I think it was really, really unfortunate. What it tells me is that this is going to be wide-ranging and probably $680,000 at a minimum and they’re going to be coming up with all kinds of things that frankly aren’t true.”
Following a series of extraordinarily suspicious circumstances, Democrat Joe Biden was declared victor in Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes.
Previous recounts have focused on Dane and Milwaukee counties, and and several lawsuits have stalled.
But the Public Interest Legal Foundation recently noted that the number of ballots lost in the mail alone was nearly four times Biden’s alleged margin of victory.
“We had a fair election this last time,” Evers insisted.
“Joe Biden is president and the continued attack on our democracy is just absolutely ridiculous,” he continued. “In my wildest dreams, when I decided to run for this office, I never thought protecting democracy would be one of the key things we do.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
