Advertisement
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals took the unusual step of ordering Georgia Thompson immediately freed from prison and acquitting her after hearing oral arguments April 5. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook spelled out the reasons Thompson is innocent in a 14-page opinion Friday, saying her actions were not criminal.
But he declined to criticize U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic for bringing the case, saying the anti-corruption statutes she was charged under were written so broadly that prosecutors can in good faith bring charges when crimes did not occur.
“This prosecution, which led to the conviction and imprisonment of a civil servant for conduct that, as far as this record shows, was designed to pursue the public interest as the employee understood it, may well induce Congress to take another look” at the statutes, Easterbrook wrote.
Congressional committees investigating the firing of U.S. attorneys are looking into whether politics influenced Biskupic’s decision to bring the case. Republicans used the conviction in television ads to allege Doyle’s administration was corrupt but he won re-election over former U.S. Rep. Mark Green in November.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified Thursday to the Senate Judiciary Committee that politics did not affect the Thompson prosecution. He acknowledged Biskupic was once on a list of U.S. attorneys being considered for removal but said he did not know why he was later allowed to stay.
Thompson, 57, served four months of an 18-month sentence in an Illinois prison before she was freed. She will resume her $77,300 job at the Department of Administration on Monday, spokesman Patrick Henderson said, and be awarded $67,100 in back pay. The state is considering how to reimburse her for legal fees.
“This court decision rights a terrible injustice,” said Doyle spokesman Matt Canter. “Georgia Thompson was an innocent woman who was simply doing her job.”
Prosecutors contend Thompson steered a contract for state travel to Adelman Travel Group for political reasons to improve her job security and please her bosses. Other members on a review panel favored another firm for the contract but Thompson took steps to ensure Adelman won, they say.
Easterbrook said Thompson likely used political considerations to help Adelman win because it was the lowest bidder or because it was a Wisconsin company but neither motive amounts to a crime.
“The idea that it is a federal crime for any official in state or local government to take account of political considerations when deciding how to spend public money is preposterous,” Easterbrook wrote, joined by Judges William Bauer and Diane Wood.
Thompson did not misapply funds because picking Adelman saved money and did not defraud the state, and she did not personally gain from helping Adelman, Easterbrook wrote. A routine $1,000 raise she received is not enough to qualify as personal gain, he wrote.
The court also rejected the notion that $10,000 in campaign donations from Adelman’s chief executive to Doyle’s re-election campaign before and after the contract was awarded improperly influenced her actions.
“There is not so much as a whiff of a kickback or any similar impropriety,” the court said.
Biskupic said in a statement that he was studying the ruling’s impact on other public corruption cases. He did not say if he would appeal but a spokeswoman has called that unlikely.
“Given the initial rhetoric surrounding the result, we are heartened that the opinion notes the good faith legal differences inherent in the case,” he said, noting two judges and a jury accepted his view of the charges.
Easterbrook said the fraud statutes were too broad, allowing prosecutors to believe and public employees to deny “that a crime has occurred, and for both sides to act in good faith with support in the case law.”
Biskupic has said he was unaware he was on the list of prosecutors whose performance and loyalty to Bush were questioned and that he did not receive pressure from his superiors to bring the case.
During testimony Thursday, Gonzales called Biskupic “a career prosecutor” and noted he consulted on the case with then-state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, both Democrats.
