Federal Prosecutor Closing In on Christie's future cell-mate, Scott Walker?
Prosecutors: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in criminal scheme
Fredreka Schouten and Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 4:45 p.m. EDT June 19, 2014
Prosecutors claim Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of a plan to illegally coordinate fundraising with an array of outside conservative groups to help him and several Republican senators survive a 2012 recall election, new court documents show.
In the documents unsealed Thursday, prosecutors spell out a "criminal scheme" by Walker and top aides to circumvent state law and raise money and plan spending by a dozen outside groups during the election.
The prosecutors' filings include an email in which Walker tells Republican strategist Karl Rove that a top campaign aide, R.J. Johnson, was leading the coordination effort and praises Johnson's work.
"Bottom line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin," Walker wrote in the May 4, 2011, email. "We are running nine recall elections and it will be like running nine congressional markets in every market in the state."
Johnson also was a top adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of organizations helping to fight the recall. Prosecutors say Johnson used the Club has a hub for coordinating political activities of Walker's campaign and other groups, including the Republican Governors Association and Americans for Prosperity, a national group tied to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
No charges have been filed against Walker or any of his staffers. The allegation may pose more political than legal problems for the governor, who is up for another term in November and has been considered a possible 2016 presidential contender.
Walker's reelection campaign tried to downplay the significance of the prosecutor's allegations.
"The Friends of Scott Walker campaign are not party to the federal suit and have no control over any documents in that suit," said Walker campaign spokeswoman Alleigh Marre. "Two judges have rejected the characterizations disclosed in those documents."
The documents became public Thursday as part of an ongoing lawsuit by Wisconsin Club for Growth that challenges the investigation. The group has said the probe violates its free-speech rights, and federal judge has twice issued an injunction to halt the criminal probe.
A federal appeals judge now is considering the lawsuit to determine whether to permanently stop the investigation and unsealed the documents as part of his review.
The Democratic National Committee immediately seized on the prosecutor's allegations Thursday, saying they show a "clear violation of the public's trust" by Walker.
Mordecai Lee, a professor of government affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has been following Walker's political career since his days in the Wisconsin assembly, said that he was surprised by the tone of the e-mail prosecutors say Walker wrote to Rove.
In 2011, during the midst of a budget battle, Walker was the victim of a prank call in which the caller posed as the oil billionaire David Koch. A recording of the call was later leaked and made headlines around the country.
While Walker thought he was having a private conversation with a sympathetic conservative ally, Lee noted what Walker didn't substantively deviate from how he was speaking publicly about his showdown with state employees. In contrast, Lee said the tone of the e-mail to Rove was brash.
"Even though he thought he was talking to a Koch brother, he was very restrained in what he was saying," Lee said. "That's what makes this e-mail so surprising."
Lee said even if no charges emerge against Walker as a result, the revelations in the filing may still cost the governor, who is in a close race for reelection against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mary Burke.
"I think this is a big deal," Lee said of the allegations. "Not for the 46 or 47% who will vote for him come hell or high water. Nor for the 46 or 47% that will vote against him hell or high water. But for that tiny fraction of the Wisconsin electorate that is authentically undecided, this is something that could throw the election one way or the other."
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