The election investigator hired by Vos wrote a police report that spawned partisan fight over voting rules in 2008

Patrick Marley Molly Beck
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - A former cop Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is hiring to investigate last fall's election became a lightning rod more than a decade ago when he wrote a report about voter fraud in Milwaukee that recommended changing state election laws.

The 2008 report by then-Milwaukee Police Detective Mike Sandvick prompted a partisan brawl over voting policies. His supporters used his findings to highlight the threat of voter fraud, while his detractors noted his report was disavowed by prosecutors. A federal judge said it wasn't trustworthy.

Sandvick retired from the department soon after his bosses barred him from visiting the polls on Election Day in 2008. He went on to do work for the state Republican Party and True the Vote, a tea party-aligned Texas group focused on voter fraud. 

Now, Vos is hiring Sandvick and two other retired law enforcement officers to look into how Wisconsin's presidential election was conducted last year. Recounts and a spate of lawsuits determined Joe Biden narrowly won the state. 

Vos said he isn't seeking to overturn the election results but is launching his investigation to determine whether Republicans who control the Legislature should change any voting laws.

Republicans have cheered the probe while Democrats have called it a waste of taxpayer funds that will undermine public confidence in the state's voting system. 

The hiring of Sandvick comes as Democrats question Vos's authority to form an investigative unit.

"He wants to have a shadow Department of Investigations running out of his office," said Madison attorney Lester Pines.

Pines last month won a lawsuit that found Vos didn't have the authority to hire redistricting attorneys. Pines said he was looking closely at Vos' authority to hire Sandvick and the others. 

In an interview this week, Vos portrayed his election investigation as a way to try to get Democrats and the general public to support overhauling Wisconsin's voting laws.

"I want to build public support for these election reforms," Vos told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

With the hiring of Sandvick, Vos is not persuading Democrats, who have long questioned his report on the 2004 election that identified uncounted absentee ballots and instances of people from outside Milwaukee being allowed to vote in the city.

Vos on Thursday told conservative talk radio show host Dan O'Donnell he is hiring Sandvick and a retired Brown County sheriff's deputy he did not name who investigated former Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt over election law violations. A third former officer is from Eau Claire, Vos said.

He is also hiring an attorney to oversee the three investigators. The investigators and the attorney will be paid flat monthly fees. Vos said he expected the investigation to take about three months but could last longer. 

"Robin Vos just chose Milwaukee’s foremost election conspiracy theorist to investigate the 2020 election — that should tell Wisconsinites everything they need to know about the unseriousness of this investigation," said a statement from Kayla Anderson, the state Democratic Party's rapid response director.

Sandvick declined to talk about his work Friday. 

"I'm doing good, but I'm busy, buddy. Nice talking to you," Sandvick said before abruptly hanging up on a reporter. 

2008 report stirred controversy

Sandvick's report, which was released more than three years after the 2004 election, determined there were more votes than voters in Milwaukee. It contended political workers who didn't live in the city improperly voted and found some people were registered to vote at improper addresses, such as homeless shelters that aren't open overnight.

A 30-year veteran, Sandvick worked with others on the unsigned report. The report called for establishing a voter ID law and ending a policy that allows people to register to vote at the polls. Republican legislators later approved a voter ID law but left in place the voter registration rule.

Police reports don't typically include policy recommendations and Sandvick's work led to criticism from Edward Flynn, who was police chief at the time.

"We're not the Department of Making Policy Recommendations," Flynn said then. "That's where this thing got out of control."

The report was made public just hours after a copy was provided to Flynn, who was new to the job. Flynn at the time said the distribution of the report was mishandled, which he attributed to "chain-of-command failures."

Sandvick used his own funds to pay for copying and binding some copies of the report and delivered them himself to the heads of the state Democratic and Republican parties. Flynn said Sandvick admitted he made a mistake but was not disciplined.

Flynn in the fall of 2008 ordered Sandvick not to go to the polls because he said he needed to preserve the department’s image as an objective agency.

Sandvick took Election Day off and challenged absentee ballots on his own time, according to court testimony. Sandvick retired soon afterward and then went to work for the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office.

In 2011, Sandvick took a position on an "election integrity" committee put together by the state Republican Party. He briefly served as state director for True the Vote. 

Sandvick's report was disclaimed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI. 

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in 2013 declined to allow the report to be admitted as evidence in a lawsuit over the voter ID law.

"It's not trustworthy," said Adelman, a former Democratic state senator.

A committee of Assembly leaders on Friday gave Vos broad authority to make the hires. The measure passed 5-3, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats opposed. 

The investigative unit is meant to assist the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee, but Vos this week said the attorney and investigators would report to him. 

The authorization the leaders gave Vos put him in charge of "financial costs and contractual arrangements" for the investigative unit. Vos has not said how much the attorney and investigators will be paid. 

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.