La Crosse GOP chair facing allegations of fraud around the election

The complaint, which was filed on Feb. 15 to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, claims Feehan and others falsely claimed to be electors for Wisconsin during the presidential election and attempted to cast the state’s 10 votes for former President Donald Trump.

The complaint was filed on behalf of Service Employees International Union Wisconsin State Council, by Law Forward, a firm out of Madison.

The Tribune reached out to Feehan for comment on the allegations, but did not immediately receive a response.

The groups behind the complaint also sent a letter to the Milwaukee County District Attorney, where a partial recount in Wisconsin took place, urging an investigation into matters of forgery, falsely acting as a public officer, conspiracy and more related to the actions laid out in the complaint.

On Dec. 14, the complaint alleges that while the valid state electors were convening in the Wisconsin State Capitol building to certify the Wisconsin election results, the 10 Republicans in question met elsewhere in the building in an attempt to certify the results in Trump’s favor.

“At their meeting, the fraudulent electors executed documents that they would later hold out as official documents casting Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes for candidates who lost Wisconsin’s statewide November 2020 election and therefore had no legal entitlement to those electoral votes,” the complaint reads, noting it obtained copies of said documents from the Secretary of State’s office.

Feehan was chosen in advance as one of the state Republican Party’s 10 electors that would ceremoniously certify the results if their party’s candidates had won, a practice each party does ahead of every presidential election, one elector for each Electoral College votes the state has.

Also included on the complaint were state GOP chair Andrew Hitt, WEC commissioner Robert Spindell, Dane County GOP chair Scott Grabins, De Pere alderperson Kelly Ruh, former Sheboygan City Council member Darryl Carlson, as well as Carol Brunner, Mary Buestrin and Kathy Kiernan.

All but Kiernan were previously selected GOP electors, the complaint states, and the group reportedly used false power to “‘fill a vacancy’ in the Electoral College,” adding her to their ranks.

After signing their names to the fraudulent documents, the complaint alleges, the group of 10 sent them to “several federal and state officials,” including the Wisconsin Secretary of State and the President of the U.S. Senate, among others.

“The only reasonable inference that can be drawn from these documents is that the fraudulent electors created and delivered these documents for the purpose, and with the intent, that they be received as valid documentation for the purpose of inducing the United States Congress to credit the wrong candidates with having earned Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes,” the complaint reads.

In addition, exhibits included in the complaint show a Facebook post from Feehan on Dec. 15 that shows photos of him and others saying, “Yesterday I traveled to the state capitol to cast my electoral votes for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Just keeping our legal options open.”

In a comment under the post, per the complaint, Feehan responds to supporters saying, “I urge everyone who loves our country to keep fighting. I am certain that our President will fight to the end.”

A screenshot of a news release included in the complaint also shows Hitt making a statement that Republican electors met to certify results.

This complaint was filed with the WEC as an alleged election law violation, which the commission will then investigate and if probable cause is found, will then turn the complaint over the DA, which could lead to a criminal investigation.

The WEC had five days to acknowledge the complaint after it was filed, and the accused has 15 days to respond. After that, there is an indefinite amount of time for the commission to investigate the claims.

This story was updated at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 26 to include more details about the complaint.