Bartley v. Thompson

Douglass Bartley, a former member of the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission, sued Tommy G. Thompson, Governor of Wisconsin, when Thompson failed to nominate him to another term on the commission. He claimed that he had a "binding contract" for renomination, that the failure to renominate him violated his right to free speech, and that Thompson conspired with others to "obstruct" Bartley in the performance of his duties by threatening to deny him renomination after Bartley voted to allow a large income-tax refund claim brought by several thousand federal pensioners to proceed before the…