By Collin Roth
New documents obtained by Media Trackers reveal that the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office recently subpoenaed the national office of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) in Washington D.C. for the employment documents of a senior organizer currently under investigation for vote fraud in Wisconsin.
Clarence S. Haynes, along with two other SEIU organizers, were uncovered by Media Trackers in October 2011 after they registered to vote for the contentious April 5, 2011 election using out-of-state IDs and claiming residence at a Glendale hotel.
Following the Media Trackers story, the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office undertook an investigation, subpoenaing hotel records from the Glendale Residence Inn on November 4, 2011. The subpoena order and affidavit of Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf indicate that the subpoenaed documents are believed to “constitute evidence of Election Law crimes in violation of 12.13 (1), Wis. Stats.” 12.13 (1) of the Wisconsin Statutes details the qualifications for voting in Wisconsin.
Then, on December 19, 2011, ADA Landgraf issued both a search warrant and subpoena focusing the investigation of election law violations on Clarence S. Haynes, a Senior Organizer with SEIU who according to 2011 Labor Department documents earned a salary of $142,444 per year. A search warrant was submitted to Google for Hayne’s private Gmail account citing that “Haynes’ e-mail account is likely to contain information concerning his plans for residency.”
A separate subpoena was also issued in December 2011 to Sprint Nextel for the phone records of Clarence Haynes, a number that featured a 727 area-code native to the Clearwater, Florida address Haynes listed on his hotel records.
ADA Landgraf’s affidavit for both the search warrant and subpoena illustrates the extent of the investigation into Haynes as of December 2011. According to the affidavit, detectives interviewed both Austin Thompson and Todd Stoner, SEIU organizers who also voted from the Glendale hotel. According to Thompson and Stoner, they saw Haynes voting on April 5, 2011, even though Haynes was not promised a job in Milwaukee. Thompson and Stoner were offered jobs in Milwaukee and cast valid ballots in 2011, but neither Stoner nor Thompson had any information on the whereabouts of Clarence Haynes. The December 2011 affidavit concludes:
In April 2012, ADA Landgraf issued another subpoena, this time to the SEIU “for records relating to the employment of Clarence Haynes, including home address, wage and tax statements, work assignments and communications and correspondence between SEIU and Mr. Haynes.” The SEIU provided the District Attorney’s office with these documents on April 23, just three days after the subpoena was issued. According to ADA Landgraf’s affidavit, the District Attorney’s office appears to be trying to determine whether Clarence Haynes made a false statement to an election official at the time of casting a ballot when he declared he had “no present intent to move.” It is the belief of the District Attorney’s office that the documents from the SEIU would “reveal information concerning Haynes’ intent to remain – or not remain – in Milwaukee.”
Since April, no public records have been filed with the Clerk of Circuit Court concerning the investigation of Clarence Haynes. A portion of the records requested by Media Trackers were denied by the District Attorney’s office because “the case remains under review and release of the records could hinder the ongoing investigation.”
If convicted, senior SEIU organizer Clarence Haynes could face a Class I Felony, the penalty being a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 3-1/2 years, or both.
DOCUMENTS
November 2011 Subpoena For Marriott Hotel Records
December 2011 Subpoena For Phone Records
December 2011 Search Warrant For Haynes’ Email
April 2012 Milwaukee District Attorney Affidavit For SEIU Subpoena
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