Posted on 05/13/2015 5:04:01 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
An effort to investigate Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's political fundraising during his 2012 recall election cost Badger State voters $1.1 million, recently released court documents show. The investigation was halted last year after a judge determined that the activities alleged in the probe were not in fact illegal.
The figures may grow higher. At least seven lawsuits relating to the "John Doe" probe, a secret investigative procedure available to state prosecutors, have been filed and litigation remains ongoing, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley. The Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the targets of the probe, has appealed for a dismissal of its lawsuit to the Supreme Court.
The state will have to foot the bill for all it. In a supremely ironic turn, the governor's office is also responsible for hiring the attorneys that will defend the prosecutors from the lawsuits relating to their probe of Walker's fundraising.
The "John Doe" probe began in 2012 when Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and special prosecutor Francis Schmitz began to investigate alleged illegal fundraising coordination by Walker's recall campaign and conservative groups that supported him.
Those groups have derided the probe as a partisan witch-hunt. In January 2014, a judge quashed the subpoenas issued as part of the investigation, stating that they "do not show probable cause that the moving parties committed any violations of the campaign finance laws."
It was the second "John Doe" probe Walker has faced. The first one was launched in 2010 when Walker, then Milwaukee County executive, alerted the district attorney to apparent misappropriation by individuals in his office of funds intended for a veterans' program. The probe resulted in the convictions of three staffers and closed in March 2013. Walker was never implicated.
The taxpayers are aways left with the bill.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
So put out the defense for a bid, lowest cost wins the contract. Any problem with that?
This type of activity against Delay, Palin, and Walker... should not be able to take place.
If people make clearly false claims to unseat a sitting office holder, it’s tantamount to nullifying an election result.
It verges on being terrorism is some ways. It’s a false accusation seeking to destroy the viability of a person who has done no wrong.
We need new leadership in all levels of government, business and academia.
Lefties don’t care. It may be their hate and intolerance, but it isn’t their money.
Gee, at least he could have just taken a vacation. obama does.
Chisolm should be punished, som.
And Obama really showed his ignorance and contempt by calling people who are successful-” America’s Lottery Winners.” I about puked as the two fiends of mine who are extremely wealthy have earned every cent they have and are 70 and 71 and both still work 50-60 plus hour weeks.
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