Times have changed and sometimes cases are overturned. The case of Georgia Thompson was even weaker than most circumstantial cases and the court of appeals released her alluding that US Attorney Steven Biskupic’s case was flimsy and a stretch at best.

Well Thompson is out, having had her conviction overturned and Biskupic got a reprieve from the spate of US Attorney firings. We’ll note that it appears that the mass firings of US Attorney’s were due to them not injecting enough partisanship into their job by prosecuting democrats at times which would have benefitted Republicans. Since Biskupic prosecuted Thompson and attempted to connect her trumped up improprieties to Democratic Governor Jim Doyle in an election year, it’s no surprise that Biskupic’s name was removed from the “must fire” list.

All the same, Thompson is out a boatload of cash — what would be a life savings for most people. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sums it up like this:

Thompson asked the state Claims Board to reimburse her $359,048. About $206,000 of that is for legal fees, and about $130,000 would cover taxes if she were to be reimbursed by the state. The remainder includes $4,200 in criminal fines and miscellaneous expenses.

So should Thompson be reimbursed? Of course. Thompson claims no partisan connections but whether she favors republicans or democrats, she was the pawn that was used in what very nearly can be called a “plot” to discredit a member of the opposite party of Biskupic.

Yes, it has the same ring to it that the (Senator Joseph) McCarthy trials had during the time of the red scare but this incident wasn’t motivated by a fear of communism — this appears to be pure politics and Biskupic’s overzealousness cost Thompson many months in jail, undue stress and the loss of her good reputation. Someone needs to ask Biskupic, ‘have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?’

This may come as a surprise to remember that it was not that long ago that another high profile case was overturned. State Assemblyman Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin) came to the rescue and asked for that person to receive compensation. Where is Gundrum now?