There's some news about U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic in Milwaukee who was not purged. Thursday a Federal court of appeals overturned the conviction of a state worker accused of getting a contract to a company that donated to the Democratic governor's campaign saying the "evidence was beyond thin".
[Georgia] Thompson, a former purchasing supervisor for the Department of Administration, was convicted of fraud charges last summer for steering a state travel contract to [Adelman Travel Group] a company whose executives donated $20,000 to [WI Gov. Jim] Doyle’s re-election campaign. Republicans repeatedly cited the case in television ads and on the campaign trail to question Doyle’s ethics during last fall’s campaign in which he defeated Republican Mark Green. But the governor said he never met Thompson and neither he nor his aides pressured her. Prosecutors said Thompson rigged the bidding process to ensure a contract to book travel for state employees went to Adelman Travel Group."
Thompson was on a 7 member committee to find a travel agent for a state contract worth $750,000. Other members testified that another firm had won by 21 out of 1,200 but Thompson pushed for a tiebreaker. Thompson says this is routine and resulted in lower bids and she knew nothing about the campaign contributions. Thompson was indicted by a grand jury and then convicted by a jury last June and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Thursday, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Georgia Thompson’s convictions saying the charges were unfounded. "It strikes me that your evidence is beyond thin," Judge Diane Wood told prosecutors. "I’m not sure what your actual theory in this case is."
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