From WBAY May 15
The Wisconsin Attorney General's office confirms to Action 2 News that
the FBI is investigating Winnebago County District Attorney Joe Paulus.
Reliable sources tell us the FBI is investigating Joe Paulus concerning
the possibility his office may have accepted bribes in return for reduced
or dismissed charges.
Paulus denies any wrongdoing, and the FBI refuses to confirm it is
investigating Paulus.
Attorney Milt Schierland is at the center of the investigation. So far, two
people have stepped forward to say they paid him money to have
charges against them reduced or dismissed. This happened when
Schierland was a defense attorney. He has since been hired as an
assistant district attorney in Winnebago County.
Tuesday, Paulus fired two of his assistant prosecutors, Ed "E.J." Jelinski
and Tom Chalcoff. The D.A. says his political opponents are responsible
for the claims of wrongdoing, which he calls a smear campaign. Jelinski is
running for the district attorney's office in the upcoming election and
Chalcoff is Jelinski's campaign manager.
The two men tell Action 2 News anyone who goes up against Joe Paulus
can expect this type of behavior. We were not able to speak to Paulus
on Thursday but we did see the letter of termination for Jelinski. Overall,
it says his performance as a prosecutor is poor. It also says Jelinski
engaged in insubordinate and inappropriate behavior, undermined
Paulus's authority, and endangered the D.A.'s working relationship with
the public and courts.
All of which the two men fired deny.
"Somebody had to stand up and say that's enough, it shouldn't go on
any more," Jelinski told us.
The former assistant district attorney said he is that somebody. He said
when he started working in the Winnebago County District Attorney's
office June of last year, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
"I had to choose whether or not to 'not' speak out and keep my
employment, or stand up and do what I thought was the right thing," he
said.
Former assistant D.A. Thomas Chalchoff says he was right there with
him, also concerned with how the D.A.'s office was run.
The claim in their letters of termination that their "record as a prosecutor
is poor," they say, is simply wrong-- or worse still, a lie.
"I haven't made any mistakes that were major or seriously jeopardized
the successful prosecution of any defendant."
But when pressed about what exactly is wrong with the district
attorney's office they would not say, citing the current FBI investigation.
Action 2 News tried to talk to Joe Paulus about why he fired the
men. We were told he was out of the office all day.
Tuesday night he briefly explained his decision to a local radio station.
He said, "My first obligation is to the D.A.'s office, and I thought it was in
the best interest of the D.A.'s office. But because it's a personnel
matter, I have been advised by the [attorney general's] office that I
cannot discuss the details of the termination."
But the attorney general's office told Action 2 News Wednesday that it is
completely up to Paulus whether he publicly discusses his decision.
Jelinski says he doesn't know what impact this will have on his election
chances, especially since Paulus has not said whether he will seek
re-election.
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