Is John Doe probe a case of a mini NSA in Wisconsin?

MADISON, Wis. — Conservatives long have likened Wisconsin’s Democrat-launched John Doe investigation to the IRS scandal.

---

Much like the Internal Revenue Service’s intense scrutiny of mostly conservative groups, the politically charged John Doe probe apparently has targeted only conservatives — on a legal theory that has been roundly dismissed by two judges. But documents obtained by Wisconsin Reporter suggest Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the Democrat who launched the ever-widening campaign finance probe in late summer 2012, and his fellow prosecutors were involved in a court-sanctioned sweep of Internet service providers and email operators that conservatives and others describe as a miniature domestic spying operation, akin to the National Security Agency, and run from Milwaukee using taxpayer dollars. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on police seizures of electronic devices, meanwhile, could put the John Doe prosecutors’ apparent national subpoena blitzkrieg of mega Internet portals in legal jeopardy. “I do believe that my email and computer were being monitored illegally,” one conservative target of the secret political probe told Wisconsin Reporter. “They were clearly collecting people’s emails throughout John Doe I … and all of that information was transferred into John Doe II,” said another target of the so-called John Doe II probe. More...