Paul Sickel v. WEC et al.

We filed this petition to enforce Wisconsin’s Open Records Law on April 14, 2022, after filing multiple public records requests related to our Complaint naming Wisconsin’s ten fraudulent electors in the 2020 presidential election. We requested certain records related to WEC’s consideration of that complaint, which the public is entitled to under state Open Records Law. This case alleges that WEC and Commissioner Spindell did not produce all the responsive records, and asks the Court to order them to comply with Wisconsin’s Open Records Law, which guarantees the public access to government records, with very limited exceptions.

Read more about the original complaint filed with WEC, in which we asked the Commission to hold Wisconsin’s ten fraudulent electors in the 2020 election accountable for violations of election law.

On Aug. 8, 2023 Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frost ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) to release records related to fraudulent elector and WEC member Robert Spindell. Most of us believe in open and transparent government – this is doubly true as we seek to gather more information about those who sought to undermine the will of the people.

On April 16, 2024, this case reached its full conclusion when Judge Frost signed off on the parties’ stipulation to dismiss the case. Over the previous several months, Law Forward’s efforts on behalf of Mr. Sickel have paid off in increased transparency around WEC’s consideration of Mr. Sickel’s complaint. In particular, although Commissioner Spindell attempted to evade the open records law, the Court ruled that he remained subject to it, and ultimately compelled him to produce documents he had previously tried to withhold.

Through open records requests and litigation, we learned that WEC’s lawyers advised Commissioner Spindell to recuse himself, but he refused. We also learned that election denier Michael Gableman, the former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice who conducted a taxpayer-funded sham investigation of the 2020 election, advised and encouraged Spindell as he refused to recuse himself. Read our ethics complaint against Gableman. and review key documents in this case.

Mr. Sickel’s complaint to WEC, and the lawsuits that arose from it, were part of Law Forward’s efforts to obtain accountability and transparency around the fake elector scheme in 2020. When WEC failed to act—due in no small part to Spindell’s inappropriate participation in considering the complaint, Law Forward filed a first-in-the-nation civil lawsuit against those responsible for the scheme. That case, Penebaker v. Hitt, settled in March 2024.