John Doe documents link Walker to ‘questionable’ donations

The newspaper obtained more than 1,000 pages of leaked documents from a secret investigation into whether Walker’s campaign illegally coordinated with Wisconsin Club for Growth and other outside groups as he was fighting a bid to oust him from office over his signature law stripping most public employee unions of almost all of their bargaining rights. It outlines how Walker and his fundraising staff sought donations for Wisconsin Club for Growth, which backed Walker in his 2012 recall campaign.

The documents also provide new insight into the relationship between Walker allies and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. Walker sought money from the head of a company that produced lead used in paint, and after the owner gave $750,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth, Republicans passed legislation granting lead manufacturers immunity from paint-poisoning lawsuits.

The release comes weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider a petition by the prosecutors to overturn a Wisconsin Supreme Court 4-2 decision quashing the investigation. “They want to make sure our system is taken care of and a few key areas like I’m standing in here no it’s important for us to move forward with this projects”, said Gov. Scott Walker. In the lead paint case, the evidence is clear that the legislative wheels began moving almost a decade before the contribution.

“How many more bills passed right before or right after hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations went to the Club for Growth on – what appears to be – the behest of Scott Walker?”, asked Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point). They, along with Governor Walker, benefited greatly from WCFG’s efforts to keep them in office during the 2011 and 2012 recalls.

The judge joined a majority of four conservative justices who voted to terminate the investigation and destroy all the documents now leaked to the Guardian. The Guardian story says Walker was warned in an email about potential “red flags” with Simmons, who died in 2013, including a magazine story that described him as “Dallas’ most evil genius”. Those senators were Alberta Darling, the panel’s co-chairman; Luther Olsen; and Sheila Harsdorf – none responded immediately to requests for comment.

“This is old news”, the governor said.

The 2017-19 budget proposal from the GOP governor’s Department of Transportation would cut $447.4 million over two years from state highway programs, but the I-90/39 project from the IL state line to Madison is still on track.

“As I mentioned, in this case, the worst part about it is, they’ve lost in the court of law because several courts have said this is a baseless investigation, and yet, now, they’re trying to leak bits and pieces of it in the court of opinion, without people knowing all the facts”.

Prosecutors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let them re-start the investigation.