MADISON (WKOW) — State Senator Kelda Roys is calling on Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to prosecute billionaire Elon Musk for election bribery.
In a letter addressed to Ozanne and distributed to the media on Election Day, April 1, Roys highlighted several social media posts by Musk where he or his political action committee, American PAC, offered money to Wisconsinites in relation to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
The first post was March 28, where Musk posted he would “personally hand over” $1 million each to two voters who have already cast their ballots in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Musk said he would do that at an event in Wisconsin.
After many questioned whether that was a felony under Wisconsin law, Musk deleted that post and replaced it with one that clarified the money would go to people who become “spokesmen” for an online petition against “activist” judges.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit trying to stop Musk and America PAC from handing out the money. Both the circuit court and an appellate court would not hear Kaul’s motion. The state appeals court said in its ruling it did not have jurisdiction to require or stop any of Musk’s or America PAC’s actions.
Musk did hand out two $1 million payments Sunday night in Green Bay, declaring the two Wisconsinites “spokespeople” for his political group.
This week, Musk offered more money to anyone who signed up to be a “block captain” in support of Supreme Court Candidate Brad Schimel ahead of the election.
Roys then sent her letter to D.A. Ozanne, asking him to charge Musk and issue a warrant for his arrest.
“Musk’s post is as clear an example of illegal election bribery under Wis. Stat. 12.11 as one could imagine,” Roys said in her letter to Ozanne.
“If I stood on State Street and offered Culver’s Free Scoop tokens to people for voting, I would expect to be quickly arrested and charged, and I would deserve it. Why should someone who does this on a far bigger and more nefarious scale escape legal accountability?” Roys said.
27 News reached out to Ozanne to ask whether he is considering filing charges against Musk or if he has any comment on Roys’ letter.
He wrote back:
“I have received a letter from State Senator Kelda Roys regarding Mr. Musk. We are all very concerned with the integrity of our elections. At this time, I have not received any referral/investigation from law enforcement into this activity. Issues related to elections many times are not referred to this office until the election date has passed.”
