Elections Chair Says Attorney General Is Clamming Him Up

The head of the state Elections Commission says Attorney General Brad Schimel is stopping him from speaking with others at a forum on the gerrymandering case before the U-S Supreme Court. Mark Thomson tells the Journal Sentinel he’ll speak separately at Friday’s program at U-W Milwaukee. Thomson is a Democrat who was invited to be on the same stage with lawyers challenging the state Legislature’s district maps as drawn by Republicans in 2011. But because Thomson is named in the suit, the Republican Schimel says he cannot join opposing lawyers at the same discussion table without the state’s counsel present. A Justice spokesman tells the Journal Sentinel, “Find me an attorney in Wisconsin who will allow their client to speak to opposing counsel without being present.”