La Crosse County Republican chair named in $2.4 million lawsuit over 2020 election
Suit alleges illegal meeting to cast electoral ballots for former President Trump
MADISON, Wis. (WKBT) — A lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks $2.4 million from Republicans who attempted to cast electoral ballots for former President Donald Trump in 2020.
One of the 12 defendants named in the suit is La Crosse County Republican Chair Bill Feehan. News 8 Now tried to contact Feehan. He has not responded to our request for comment.
“The lawsuit we filed today is seeking accountability,” said Mel Barnes, staff counsel for Law Forward.
A meeting at the state Capitol on Dec, 14, 2020, violated Wisconsin law, Barnes said.
“In fact, the day the fraudulent electors met in the state Capitol, the state Supreme Court had already confirmed that Biden had won the election,” Barnes said.
Wisconsin voters vote for electors who then cast their vote for president. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes.
After President Joe Biden’s 21,000-vote victory in Wisconsin, a Wisconsin Justice Department analysis showed 10 Republicans, including Feehan, gathered in the Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020. They cast their votes for Trump and sent them to the Senate as Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes.
“Mr. Feehan has played an active role in Wisconsin politics for years, so this really matters here in our state,” Barnes said.
Wisconsin GOP Chairman Paul Farrow told News 8 Now that the lawsuit is “frivolous.” Farrow’s statement reads in part, that the lawsuit “is yet another Democrat attempt to resurrect a baseless story from two years ago. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to dismiss a complaint alleging the GOP electors acted illegally. Law Forward’s lawsuit argues that the actions from that December meeting behind closed doors placed pressure on Congress that led up to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Barnes said this lawsuit aims to ensure the doors stay open and the actions of these electors don’t happen again.
“We all can agree that the voters decide who wins elections in our states,” she said.
Law Forward expects this lawsuit to play out in the court system for at least the next two months.
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