‘Corrosive to our democracy:’ Madison mayor responds to election investigation subpoena
MADISON, Wis. — The mayors of Wisconsin’s five largest and most Democrat-leaning cities are starting to receive a subpoena as part of a Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Retired state supreme court justice Michael Gableman is leading the investigation and began issuing subpoenas to the mayors of several cities — including Madison — Wednesday. Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway says she received her subpoena just after 1 p.m.
Subpoenas are also being served to the mayors of Milwaukee, Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha.
Rhodes-Conway said she was called to testify in front of Gableman behind closed doors at his office in a strip mall in Brookfield, and is being tasked with producing thousands of pages of documents.
She says any legitimate investigation should be taking place in public at the State Capitol, not behind closed doors.
“If we are going to have an investigation into our elections here in Wisconsin, it should be in that building,” the mayor said, referring to the Capitol. “It should be open to the public, and it should be open to the press.”
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Rhodes-Conway criticized the investigation as partisan and says constantly relitigating an election that happened nearly a year ago and had results confirmed through recounts across the state does nothing but harm.
“Our poll workers and clerk do an incredible job and they should be thanked, not harassed,” Rhodes-Conway said. “This constant rehashing of the 2020 election is not only demoralizing for our clerks, it is corrosive to our democracy.”
The subpoena delivered to Rhodes-Conway orders her to appear in front of Gableman on Friday, October 22 at 9 a.m. It also orders the city to bring original documents or copies of all documents pertaining to the election — a request Rhodes-Conway says may be physically impossible to fulfill by October 22 because there are so many.
“I understand that attorney Gableman said yesterday that he does not know how elections work. On that, we can agree,” Rhodes-Conway said.
You can read the full subpoena delivered to the mayor’s office below.
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