Newly Released Documents Put Scott Walker in the Hot Seat

Newly Released Documents Put Scott Walker in the Hot Seat

Documents unsealed Thursday by a federal appeals court in Chicago suggest that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign in the 2012 recall election worked hand-in-glove – perhaps illegally – with special interest groups.

Documents unsealed Thursday by a federal appeals court in Chicago suggest that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign in the 2012 recall election worked hand-in-glove – perhaps illegally – with special interest groups supporting Walker and/or attacking Democrats.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the documents, gathered as part of a two-year-old “John Doe” investigation undertaken by prosecution team that included three Democrats and three Republicans, lay out what the prosecutors call an extensive “criminal scheme” by Walker, his campaign and two top Republican political operatives — R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl — to bypass state election laws.

The papers include an email message in which Gov. Walker advises prominent GOP strategist Karl Rove, the former top political aide to President George W. Bush, about how R.J. Johnson would lead efforts to coordinate the work of the Walker campaign with that of Walker supporters in ostensibly “independent” groups supporting the governor.

In Wisconsin, such coordination is illegal — even if it does not involve express advocacy and only issue advocacy — because it is considered a political contribution to a candidate.  This has been state law for many years; it’s the issue at the heart of the investigation.

Today’s revelations are the first that directly implicate Governor Walker and the Walker campaign.