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Van Hollen should act fast on petition fraud case

An editorial  —  7/25/2008 5:26 am

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office has agreed to review questions about what appear to be inappropriate actions by an attorney involved in a dispute over a Milwaukee legislative race.

Van Hollen's office should move quickly to determine whether attorney Michael Maistelman and his firm engaged in wrongdoing in regard to the recent Government Accountability Board hearing on whether veteran state Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, filed too few valid signatures to qualify for the September Democratic primary ballot.

The GAB ruled for Colon.

But there are now serious concerns about how that favorable ruling was obtained.

Colon's Democratic primary challenger, Laura Manriquez -- the chair of the board of the Esperanza Unida job training agency -- and her supporters charged that the incumbent had filed nomination papers that did not include enough legitimate signatures. The most serious concern had to do with the issue of whether some of the signatures on petitions filed by Colon were fraudulent.

Before the Government Accountability Board hearing, supporters of Manriquez say they met with attorney Michael Maistelman, shared with him what they considered to be "privileged" information, consulted about hiring a handwriting expert, and made plans to retain Maistelman's firm. Manriquez backers have produced e-mails from Maistelman that appear to support their story.

But when the GAB met, a lawyer affiliated with Maistelman's small firm was there representing Colon. And the handwriting expert that Maistelman reportedly recommended to the Manriquez backers was also employed by Colon.

"He was acting as our lawyer," Sylvia Ortiz, a Manriquez backer, said of Maistelman. "He was telling us what to do. He was strategizing with us. He was helping us with the formulation of the challenge."

The question, of course, is whether Maistelman or his associates shared information obtained from the Maniquez camp with Colon and his supporters -- and if this chain of events gave Colon an inappropriate advantage in its dealings with the GAB.

That is a question that Van Hollen, the GAB and perhaps the courts will have to resolve.

This is an exceptionally serious matter, as it goes to the heart of whether the process is being gamed by lawyers who take advantage of what is, in all honesty, a weak regime for guarding against fraud.

The attorney general is right to be concerned.

But that concern will only have meaning if Van Hollen moves rapidly enough, and aggressively enough, to get to the bottom of the charges and countercharges -- and to ensure that the process is made to work in an equitable, responsible and democratic manner.

An editorial  —  7/25/2008 5:26 am