The Milwaukee County District Attorney is going after a group calling themselves Franklin Citizens for Responsible Leadership whose treasurer, James Seymer, allegedly lied on the groups campaign finance report.

James Seymer is the son of Orville Seymer, a founder of the Franklin group and one of the less than savory founders of the Republican shill group, Citizens for Responsible Government.  CRG, as they're known, is the local smear front group similar in style to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth which dishonestly attacked Presidential candidate John Kerry.  Incidentally Swift Boat Veterans also got in trouble this month and will have to pay a big fine.

Seymer apparently lied when he was filling out the paperwork explaining how the Franklin group is financed.  He said they weren't going to spend more than $1000 yet they spent more than $1000 (raised from business interests) on just one printing bill. 

How did this come to light?

The printing firm that printed the CRG affiliate smear fliers against former Franklin Alderman Basil Ryan were printed by Republican State Representative Jeff Stone who has to disclose the amounts on his own campaign statements.

NOTE: CRG had their Foley and Lardner Attorney send me a letter threatening a lawsuit a few years ago after I published a graphic they had on the CRG website showing that part of their web graphics were tied to the Republican party.  Now with the realization that Stone is tied in with this shady group and with the connection being published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, will this CRG affiliate threaten to sue the JS?

Ending on a happy note, we're pleased to see that reporter Anyssa Johnson wrote a good column on this.  While we hope she stays away from covering election stories, she did a nice job on this one.