Wisconsin's Walker part of criminal scheme

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a potential 2016 repugican presidential candidate, took part in a nationwide criminal scheme to coordinate fundraising with wingnut groups, prosecutors said in court documents unsealed Thursday.

No charges have been filed against Walker or any member of his staff. The documents were filed in December as part of an investigation into alleged illegal fundraising and campaign coordination by Walker and his campaign, the Wisconsin Club for Growth, the state chamber of commerce and other groups.

The investigation began in 2012 as Walker, who rose to fame by passing a bill that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers, was facing a recall election. But the probe has been on hold since May, when a federal judge ruled it was a breach of Wisconsin Club for Growth's free-speech rights and temporarily halted it.

State prosecutors said in the December filing that Walker, former chief of staff Keith Gilkes, top adviser R.J. Johnson and campaign operative Deborah Jordahl were discussing illegal fundraising and coordination with national political groups and prominent Republican figures, including repugican cabal strategist Karl Rove.

"The scope of the criminal scheme under investigation is expansive," lead prosecutor Francis Schmitz wrote in a Dec. 9 court filing objecting to an attempt by Walker's campaign and other wingnut groups to quash subpoenas. "It includes criminal violations of multiple elections laws" including filing false campaign finance reports, Schmitz wrote.

Walker's campaign suggested that the documents mean little or nothing, given that their position has already prevailed twice in court.

"Two judges have rejected the characterizations disclosed in those documents," campaign spokeswoman Alleigh Marre said in a statement.

Under Wisconsin law, third-party political groups are allowed to work together on campaign activity, but they are barred from coordinating that work with actual candidates. Wisconsin Club for Growth has argued the prohibition does not apply to them because they do not specifically tell people how to vote, or run ads with phrases like "vote for" a certain candidate. The federal judge who halted the investigation and the judge overseeing it both agreed with that argument.

Prosecutors, including Schmitz and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, have appealed the matter to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The evidence shows an extensive coordination scheme that pervaded nearly every aspect of the campaign activities during the historic 2011 and 2012 Wisconsin Senate and gubernatorial recall elections," Schmitz said in the December filing.

Prosecutors also say that the national Club for Growth raised concerns about potential illegal coordination with the Wisconsin group and Walker's campaign as early as 2009. A spokesman for the national group declined to comment.

Johnson, in addition to being Walker's top campaign strategist, was also an adviser for Wisconsin Club for Growth. He did not immediately return a message left on his cellphone.

Gilkes did not return a message placed on his cellphone. While he eyes a run for president in 2016, Walker is seeking re-election this year against likely Democratic nominee Mary Burke. Both Gilkes and Johnson are working on his re-election campaign.

Jordahl did not immediately return a message left on her home phone.

It's been known for months that the investigation focused on allegations of illegal coordination between the Wisconsin Club for Growth, Walker's campaign and other conservative groups in 2011 and 2012. But until Thursday it wasn't clear that prosecutors saw Walker as having a central role.

Wisconsin Club for Growth attorney Andrew Grossman argued the public has the right to see the documents.

The papers show how prosecutors "adopted a blatantly unconstitutional interpretation of Wisconsin law that they used to launch a secret criminal investigation targeting conservatives throughout Wisconsin," Grossman said Thursday in an email. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and this is a story that needs to be told to prevent more abuses and to hold ... prosecutors accountable for violating the rights of Wisconsinites."

An attorney for prosecutors, Sam Leib, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Prosecutors have defended the investigation as a legitimate probe into whether Wisconsin's campaign finance laws were violated and deny that they were on a partisan witch hunt.