CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker participated in a "criminal scheme" to illegally coordinate fundraising and campaign activity among conservative groups fighting recall elections that targeted him and Republican state senators, state prosecutors allege in newly unsealed court documents.
Walker has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Prosecutors allege in the documents, unsealed by a federal appellate court, that Walker, his campaign, and top deputies violated state election law in allegedly coordinating the activities with Republican organizations.
Walker and Republican senators were targeted for recall in 2011 after pushing through a budget bill and legislation that sharply curtailed collective bargaining rights for public employees. Democratic senators temporarily fled the state to hold off a vote, but the Republican majority eventually pushed through the package, prompting protests.
Walker faced a recall election in 2012 but he beat opponent Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
The accusations are laid out in documents related to a so-called confidential "John Doe" probe that prosecutors from five counties were conducting on coordination of the campaign efforts on the recall elections.
A state judge initially granted prosecutors' request for subpoenas but another judge quashed them earlier this year.
The Wisconsin Club for Growth filed a lawsuit to halt the ongoing probe arguing it violated rights of free expression. Last month, a federal judge in Milwaukee agreed, saying it violated federal rules protecting political activity.
"It's pretty clear, you've got two judges, both a state judge and a federal judge, who said that they didn't buy into the argument that has been presented at this point. I think their words speak pretty strongly both at the federal and state level," Walker said during a public appearance Thursday.
"The investigation focuses on a wide-ranging scheme to coordinate activities of several organizations with various candidate committees to thwart attempts to recall Wisconsin senate and gubernatorial candidates," the documents said. "That coordination included a nationwide effort to raise undisclosed funds for an organization which then funded the activities of other organizations supporting or opposing candidates subject to recall."
The documents detail a 2011 an email in which Walker tells top national Republican fundraiser Karl Rove that R.J. Johnson, a chief advisor to Wisconsin Club for Growth and advisor on Walker campaigns, would lead the coordination campaign.
Wisconsin campaign laws don't permit candidates to work directly with outside political groups, but the Wisconsin Club for Growth argues that the rules don't apply to it or the groups named in the probe because they did not tell people in advertisements how to vote. Instead, they focus their advertisements on issues.
The documents released by Judge Frank Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago were filed by the prosecutors who appealed the district court judge's decision.
"The materials released today are all ones that we asked the district court to unseal because the public has a right to know about the John Doe prosecutors' abuse of government power," the Wisconsin Club for Growth said in a statement.
Prosecutors argue for their probe to continue saying evidence "provides the state strong reason to believe that coordination occurred" in a "criminal scheme" by R.J. Johnson, Walker, and Friends of Scott Walker "to utilize and direct 501(c)(4) organizations, as well as other political committees."
The prosecutors allege that multiple election laws have been violated including the Filing a False Campaign Report or Statement and Conspiracy to File a False Campaign Report or Statement. As part of the alleged illegal coordination of activities, significant in-kind or direct contributions to the recall candidates were not disclosed on campaign finance reports, the documents read. Some contributions also exceeded limits.
Wisconsin carries ratings in the mid-double A range and recently held investor outreach meetings. The budget bill that was overshadowed by the collective bargaining rights bill helped improve the state's structural budget imbalance although local governments said it came at their expense.
