On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late September, Wausau Mayor Doug Diny moved the unsecured, empty locked dropbox from outside of City Hall into his office. The mayor’s wife took a photo of him as he moved the box into the building for safekeeping. The Friday prior, the unelected city clerk had the dropbox located outside the building without first ensuring all required and necessary security measures had been implemented. The camera was low quality and the lighting inadequate. 

What ensued thereafter has been a gross overreaction by handwringing City Aldermen, the City Clerk and leftists around the state of Wisconsin. After the city clerk referred the incident to the Marathon County District Attorney, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, led by far-left Attorney General Josh Kaul opened an investigation into Mayor Diny.

One week later, on September 29, 2024, the mayor moved the dropbox into storage at city hall and informed the city clerk. The clerk returned the dropbox outside city hall and has since relabeled the box while it was in use (after absentee voting had already begun), indicating that in addition to absentee ballots, residents can use it to co-mingle payments and correspondence to the city.

On October 16, 2024, the Wisconsin Department of Justice led concurrent raids of the Mayor’s office and home. Five armed agents descended upon the mayor’s home while his wife was babysitting their grandchild. The agents seized his cellphone, personal computer and his wife’s cellphone. The raid and a simultaneous one at his office were executed under a warrant for election fraud.

The Wall Street Journal writes:

“…The ability to wheel away a ballot box on a hand trolley should itself prove that the drop box wasn’t appropriately secured. But Mr. Diny’s action was greeted with suspicion and pique, including a question from Wausau Alderman Lisa Rasmussen who demanded why he had moved the box while “wearing a disguise.” 

Enter state Attorney General Josh Kaul, who unleashed his prosecutors and obtained the warrant against Mr. Diny. Marathon County Supervisor Randy Radtke also signed a letter to U.S. Attorney Timothy O’Shea to allege Mr. Diny had “broken federal law by using his official position to interfere with citizens’ right to vote.” 

The warrant and raid are all out of proportion to Mr. Diny’s action, and Mr. Kaul has succeeded if his goal is to stir partisan suspicion and passions. Mr. Diny tells us he’s had more than a hundred voice messages and emails, including several death threats against him and his family.

“What I did was not dishonest, it was done in broad daylight,” he said, while noting he had “grossly underestimated” the political forces that would be unleashed.

Mr. Kaul’s lawfare assault fits with the progressive election priority of using drop boxes to boost Democratic turnout. The state Supreme Court’s new progressive majority relaxed rules for ballot drop boxes this summer, overturning a 2022 decision by the previous conservative majority. Progressives view drop boxes as essential to winning the Senate and presidential races in two weeks, and whether the boxes abide by state rules doesn’t matter. 

Mr. Diny’s mistake was daring to care about the integrity of ballots, and Mr. Kaul wants to punish him for it. The search warrant lets Mr. Kaul’s agents go spelunking through the Dinys’ texts and emails to see if they can turn up anything negative. Watch for partisan leaks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.”

Mayor Doug Diny has retained an attorney for his defense. The partisan Wisconsin Department of Justice is using lawfare in an attempt to intimidate the mayor, drain him of his resources and send a message to any conservative that dare challenge the tactics of the left. Please donate generously to support the Mayor's legal fund. You will help support an honest man of integrity that was elected by the hardworking taxpayers of Wausau to represent them and preserve and uphold election integrity in our community.