Scott Walker

Prosecutors accuse Scott Walker of running 'criminal scheme'

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33 minutes ago • By Mary Spicuzza | Wisconsin State Journal, Matthew DeFour | Wisconsin State Journal
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Prosecutors accuse Gov. Scott Walker of personally overseeing a sweeping "criminal scheme" to illegally coordinate fundraising and campaign activity among conservative groups in a broad effort to help him -- as well as Republican senators -- fend off recalls targeting them in 2011 and 2012, court documents unsealed Thursday show.
In the documents, which were unsealed by a federal appeals court judge Thursday morning, prosecutors described what they called a "criminal scheme" to circumvent state campaign finance and election laws.
They said the coordinated effort involved conservative groups, Walker, his campaign and top allies of the governor, including R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl.
The prosecutors allege that Walker and those allies raised money and coordinated spending with about a dozen conservative groups during the recall elections.
In the newly released documents, thee prosecutors cite a May 2011 email sent by Walker, he tells prominent national conservative Karl Rove that Johnson would lead coordinated efforts to beat the recall efforts.
"Bottom-line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin. We are running 9 recall elections and it will be like 9 congressional markets in every market in the state (and Twin Cities)," Walker wrote to Rove on May 4, 2011, the documents say.
Johnson is also top adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a prominent conservative group that was active in the recall elections. In the documents, prosecutors write that Johnson has said, "We own CFG."
But on Thursday, attorneys for Wisconsin Club for Growth said it was prosecutors who had violated the state's election laws.
"These documents show how the John Doe prosecutors adopted a blatantly unconstitutional interpretation of Wisconsin law that they used to launch a secret criminal investigation targeting conservatives throughout Wisconsin. That legal theory has now been rejected by two courts," said Andrew Grossman of Baker Hostetler, the law firm representing Club for Growth. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and this is a story that needs to be told to prevent more abuses and to hold the John Doe prosecutors accountable for violating the rights of Wisconsinites."
A federal appeals court released full copies of more than 250 pages of previously edited documents filed in the legal battle over the John Doe investigation.
Seventh U.S. Circuit Court Judge Frank H. Easterbrook on Thursday morning denied a motion from two unnamed people to block the release of the documents, and ordered the unredacted copies — totaling 266 pages — be placed in the public court docket.
The two unknown people had tried to intervene, arguing that making the documents public could reveal their identities and invade their privacy, essentially infringing on their free speech rights.
The documents include portions of orders, briefs and entire exhibits that were previously shielded from public view.
Among them is a state's response to attempts to quash subpoenas, which were filed by Friends of Scott Walker as well as conservative groups including Wisconsin Club for Growth, Citizens for a Strong America, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. In it, prosecutors detail an alleged scheme to do fundraising nationally and funnel cash to other conservative groups.
"The investigation focuses on a wide-ranging scheme to coordinate activities of several organizations with various candidate committees to thwart attempts to recall Wisconsinte Senate and Gubernatorial candidates," the response reads. "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."
It adds, "The purpose of this investigation is to ensure the integrity of the electoral process in Wisconsin."
Prosecutors and attorneys for the Wisconsin Club for Growth did not object to the release of the documents. But Club for Growth has attempted to block some court exhibits from being released.
The investigation began in 2012 in the wake of the efforts to recall Walker and other Republican officials. It focused on alleged illegal coordination and campaign activity between conservative groups like the Wisconsin Club for Growth, Walker's campaign and others.
Judge Rudolph Randa, a federal judge, has temporarily put the John Doe investigation on hold. But his ruling is under appeal.

If a Liberal had done this, it would be "rallying grassroots support" and not given a second glance. :rolleyes:

Maybe Scott Walker can just claim he was community organizing...

He was doing what all of them do. Getting people together to help him fight the dumbass liberals who wanted to recall him. Nothing more.

Scott Walker fights ‘criminal scheme’ story

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By KENDALL BREITMAN | 6/20/14 8:09 AM EDT
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, defending himself against allegations that he was involved in a “criminal scheme” saying that there is no case against him.


“Don’t just take my word for it, look at the facts and the facts are pretty clear,” Walker said. “Both judges said they didn’t buy the argument, they didn’t think that anything had been done that was illegal and so they’ve gone forward and not only said ‘we don’t buy it’ but actually shut the case down.”

Court documents that exposed a possible “criminal scheme” to coordinate fundraising for Republicans during recall elections in 2011 and 2012 were released Thursday that were tied to the governor. Walker, his chief of staff and others were included in documents as taking part in the alleged coordination effort with “a number of national groups and prominent figures” including Karl Rove, according to special prosecutor Francis Schmitz.


“Many of the national media and even some here in Wisconsin are looking at this thing backwards,” Walker said. “This is a case that’s been resolved, that not one, but two judges said is over and we’re just learning about it because it became open in a document yesterday. But there is no argument there.”


Since the documents were revealed, Walker has reserved $250,000 worth of TV air time according to what two media-buying sources told POLITICO. His ad flight will last 12 days as a way to combat growing media attention, which he said on Friday shows that the media “are willing accomplices,” trying to form a story when “the facts are clear.”
Walker even compared his experience with the media on this issue to the scandal that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie experienced after evidence showed that his team was involved in shutting down traffic on the George Washington Bridge as a form of political retribution.


“I think there’s no doubt this is one of those times where the media jumps on this, some on the left spin this,” Walker said. “They’re trying to claim an order here. If you’re just reading this for the first time you might think there’s something there without knowing the courts already looked at this … and said there’s just not an arugment there. So what you see is the left and others trying to stir things up.”

Witchhunt

Scott Walker Tweets Response To Partisan Witchhunt

by Dan Riehl 19 Jun 2014 33 post a comment
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While newly unsealed court documents reveal Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker "had been accused by prosecutors of allegedly being part of a "scheme" to illegally coordinate the activities of multiple campaign organizations," Walker himself was quick to take to Twitter to point out the partisan nature of the accusations and that two judges have already called for an end to the investigation.

The accusation of any wrongdoing written in the complaint by the office of a partisan Dem DA by me or by my campaign is categorically false. In fact two judges, in both state and federal courts, have ruled that no laws were broken. This is nothing more than a partisan investigation with no basis in state law.


It’s time for the prosecutors to acknowledge both judge’s orders to end this investigation.


Now my Democratic opponents will use these false accusations to distract from the issues important to the voters of Wisconsin.

Posted on June 19, 2014 by John Hinderaker in Campaign finance regulation, Scott Walker
The Latest Scott Walker Smear, Debunked

Democrats are giddy over the unsealing of “secret” documents that charge Scott Walker’s recall campaign with illegal coordination with outside conservative groups. To name just a few: USA Today: “Prosecutors: Wis. Gov. Scott Walker in criminal scheme.” Associated Press: “Prosecutors: Gov. Walker part of criminal scheme.” Washington Post: “How the State of Wisconsin alleges Scott Walker aides violated the law, in 1 chart.”


If you didn’t know better, you might think this is a big story, highly damaging to one of America’s most successful governors. In fact, the current frenzy merely demonstrates the laziness and bias of reporters who don’t understand the events they write about.


Here is what is going on: a group of partisan local prosecutors launched a never-ending “John Doe investigation” into essentially every conservative group in the state of Wisconsin. The “investigation” is a scandal, a naked effort to shut down conservative speech. Federal Judge Rudolph Randa described how the investigation proceeded in an Order dated May 6, 2014:

Early in the morning of October 3, 2013, armed officers raided the homes of R.J. Johnson, WCFG advisor Deborah Jordahl, and several other targets across the state. ECF No. 5-15, O‘Keefe Declaration, ¶ 46. Sheriff deputy vehicles used bright floodlights to illuminate the targets‘ homes. Deputies executed the search warrants, seizing business papers, computer equipment, phones, and other devices, while their targets were restrained under police supervision and denied the ability to contact their attorneys. Among the materials seized were many of the Club‘s records that were in the possession of Ms. Jordahl and Mr. Johnson. The warrants indicate that they were executed at the request of GAB investigator Dean Nickel.


On the same day, the Club‘s accountants and directors, including O‘Keefe, received subpoenas demanding that they turn over more or less all of the Club‘s records from March 1, 2009 to the present. The subpoenas indicated that their recipients were subject to a Secrecy Order, and that their contents and existence could not be disclosed other than to counsel, under penalty of perjury. The subpoenas’ list of advocacy groups indicates that all or nearly all right-of-center groups and individuals in Wisconsin who engaged in issue advocacy from 2010 to the present are targets of the investigation.

The case in which Judge Randa ruled was brought by the Club For Growth and Eric O’Keefe. Plaintiffs alleged that the purported investigation was in reality an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights, intended to deter the expression of conservative speech. Judge Randa agreed. In his May 6 Order, he found that the partisan “investigation” had no legal basis:

The defendants are pursuing criminal charges through a secret John Doe investigation against the plaintiffs for exercising issue advocacy speech rights that on their face are not subject to the regulations or statutes the defendants seek to enforce. This legitimate exercise of O‘Keefe‘s rights as an individual, and WCFG‘s rights as a 501(c)(4) corporation, to speak on the issues has been characterized by the defendants as political activity covered by Chapter 11 of the Wisconsin Statutes, rendering the plaintiffs a subcommittee of the Friends of Scott Walker and requiring that money spent on such speech be reported as an in-kind campaign contribution. This interpretation is simply wrong.

Judge Randa analyzed the law as it relates to campaign finance. He noted that the conservative groups denied any coordination, and their denials appear to be well-founded. But, in any event, their activities were constitutionally protected and cannot be the basis of a criminal investigation:

It is undisputed that O‘Keefe and the Club engage in issue advocacy, not express advocacy or its functional equivalent. Since § 11.01(16)’s definition of “political purposes” must be confined to express advocacy, the plaintiffs cannot be and are not subject to Wisconsin‘s campaign finance laws by virtue of their expenditures on issue advocacy.


However, the defendants argue that issue advocacy does not create a free-speech “safe harbor” when expenditures are coordinated between a candidate and a third-party organization. Barland at 155 (citing Fed. Election Comm’n v. Colo. Republican Fed. Campaign Comm., 533 U.S. 431, 465 (2001)); see also Republican Party of N.M. v. King, 741 F.3d 1089, 1103 (10th Cir. 2013). O‘Keefe and the Club maintain that they did not coordinate any aspect of their communications with Governor Walker, Friends of Scott Walker, or any other candidate or campaign, and the record seems to validate that assertion. However, the Court need not make that type of factual finding because — once again — the phrase “political purposes” under Wisconsin law means express advocacy and coordination of expenditures for issue advocacy with a political candidate does not change the character of the speech. Coordination does not add the threat of quid pro quo corruption that accompanies express advocacy speech and in turn express advocacy money. Issue advocacy money, like express advocacy money, does not go directly to a political candidate or political committee for the purpose of supporting his or her candidacy. Issue advocacy money goes to the issue advocacy organization to provide issue advocacy speech. A candidate‘s coordination with and approval of issue advocacy speech, along with the fact that the speech may benefit his or her campaign because the position taken on the issues coincides with his or her own, does not rise to the level of “favors for cash.” Logic instructs that there is no room for a quid pro quo arrangement when the views of the candidate and the issue advocacy organization coincide.

Judge Randa concluded that the Club For Growth was likely to prevail on the merits, and he issued an order directing the partisan prosecutors to cease their unconstitutional investigation:

Therefore, for all of the foregoing reasons, the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the defendants’ investigation violates their rights under the First Amendment, such that the investigation was commenced and conducted “without a reasonable expectation of obtaining a valid conviction.” Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 126 n.6 (1975); see also Collins v. Kendall Cnty., Ill., 807 F.2d 95, 101 (7th Cir. 1986); Wilson v. Thompson, 593 F.2d 1375, 1387 n.22 (5th Cir. 1979).

Judge Randa’s conclusion is politely phrased, but understand what he is saying: the partisan prosecutors are so obviously wrong on the law that they could not have had a reasonable expectation of convicting anyone of anything. Their so-called investigation was in fact mere harassment, intended to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights by conservatives.


The next stage involved procedural maneuvering that I won’t try to explain. The prosecutor defendants appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and argued that Judge Randa lacked jurisdiction to order them to terminate their faux investigation. The Court of Appeals issued an order to the effect that Judge Randa would need to make a finding that the defendants’ appeal was frivolous in order to retain jurisdiction. That resulted in another Order, dated May 8, 2014, in which Judge Randa described the discredited prosecutors’ appeal as “the height of frivolousness.” He continued:

To be clear, the Court is absolutely convinced that the defendants’ attempt to appeal this issue is a frivolous effort to deprive the Court of its jurisdiction to enter an injunction.

An appellate judge has now ordered certain pleadings in the case to be unsealed, an order to which the Club For Growth did not object. The hysterical accusations against Scott Walker that the Associated Press, the Washington Post and others are now gleefully celebrating are simply the unfounded assertions that the prosecutors made in a failed effort to justify their partisan investigation. They are precisely the allegations that have been resoundingly rejected by the federal judge who has presided over the case and who has found the defendants’ investigation to be a naked violation of the conservative groups’ constitutional rights.


So the reporters who are now trumpeting the discredited prosecutors’ assertions either have no understanding of the case, or they are part of the partisan witch hunt that gave rise to the unconstitutional investigation in the first place.

Contentions
Liberals Are Afraid of Scott Walker
Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 06.19.2014 - 9:00 PM

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has made no secret of the fact that he’s thinking about running for president in 2016. But before that happens, he’s got to win a reelection fight in a polarized state where his opponents have been gunning for him since he took office. He’ll also have to navigate a crowded Republican field including several candidates who will have a head start on him, higher national name recognition, and higher numbers in early poll. But there’s something about the Wisconsin governor that drives liberals bonkers.

That’s the only explanation for the New Republic‘s atrocious hit piece on him this week that sought to label him as a racist. The problem with the piece wasn’t just the false premise. As even many of the magazine’s liberal faithful soon realized as they plowed through the 7,000-plus word effort, that the inflammatory headline—”The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker: A journey through the poisonous, racially divided world that produced a Republican star”—there was absolutely nothing there to prove that Walker was a racist. The best takedown of the article comes—as is only fitting—from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, whose Christian Schneider rightly dismisses Alec MacGillis’s work as the kind of a baloney that smacked of a Google-aided tourist rather than knowledge of the state’s politics.

But the liberal campaign to discredit Walker isn’t limited to TNR’s inflammatory trash. As the New York Times reported this afternoon, there was an attempt by some Wisconsin prosecutors to tie Walker’s recall campaign to illegal contributions. But you have to click on the piece that was trumpeted on the paper’s home page to learn that the case was unproven and, in fact, dismissed by a federal judge and that the story is based on a federal suit that sought to reveal the unsubstantiated allegations in the records of this cold case. In fact, you have to read down to the end of the sixth paragraph of the piece to read, in a quote from Walker’s camp, that “two judges have rejected the characterizations [of the Walker campaign’s alleged illegal activity] contained in these documents.” The Times only mentions the pertinent fact that a federal judge halted the investigation as a politicized fishing expedition in the last sentence of the article.

In other words, there may be as little to this “scandal” as there was to previous efforts to nail Walker via Wisconsin’s draconian campaign finance laws or hit pieces like that published in TNR. All of which must cause political observers to wonder why it is that liberals are expending so much effort to knock off Walker. Could it be that they sense he is exactly the sort of candidate that could give Democrats a run for their money in 2016?

To be fair, no Republican governor in the country challenged liberal orthodoxy and Democrat interest groups the way Walker did after he took office in 2011. By seeking to reform the state’s finances and prevent state worker unions from continuing to blackmail the taxpayers, Walker stepped on what has always been the third rail of American politics. Yet he won that political battle despite thuggish efforts by Democrats and unions to intimidate Walker and other Republicans as well as an attempt to shut down the Wisconsin legislature (not surprisingly liberals who were outraged at last year’s federal government shutdown had no problem with what Democrats did in that instance). Not satisfied with that fiasco, the unions and Democrats wasted a year of effort and millions of dollars in precious campaign funds on a futile recall election the following year that only served to solidify his status as a GOP star.

While past efforts failed, the coverage in liberal publications of today’s allegations read as if the left thinks they’ve found gold here. The substance of the story is that a senior official of Walker’s recall defense campaign illegally coordinated with outside groups. The laws that this activity allegedly violates are so complicated that not even several paragraphs of prose and Venn diagrams serve to provide a clear explanation of just why this was so terrible. Some, like TIME’s Michael Scherer, are also claiming that Walker “tacitly admitted” guilt in the case in an email in which he boasted that campaign consultant R.J. Johnson was successfully running 9 recall elections and it will be like 9 congressional markets in every market in the state.” But only a rabid anti-Walker partisan can read that statement as anything but applause for an effort in which the local GOP campaigns in the state’s congressional districts were acting in concert. Not even Wisconsin’s absurd maze of campaign finance laws makes that illegal. Nor does another email that refers to Johnson’s work in coordinating spending from various groups prove that he broke any law. It’s little wonder that courts have halted this politicized charade. Scherer admits the law is unclear and that every judge who has ruled on the case has tossed it out. But his point is that “from a distance” the charges will still look bad and besmirch Walker’s reputation.

Though Walker has maintained a steady lead in polls against a Democratic challenger, he has his hands full in a close race in what remains a rare example of a true swing state. But Democrats seem to sense that, despite his lack of experience on the national stage, Walker is exactly the sort of candidate who could give them trouble. He not only is well liked by the entire spectrum of Republican constituencies including Tea Partiers, business groups, and the so-called establishment. His lack of a Washington resume positions him perfectly against a member of the permanent government in Hillary Clinton. His middle class origins also will enable him to appeal to working and middle class Americans who have, as Rick Santorum has rightly pointed out, felt left out by recent GOP campaigns.

But neither Hillary nor any other Democrat will have to worry further about Walker if scurrilous charges of racism or more stray allegations about law breaking help beat him in 2014. As far as Democrats are concerned, it doesn’t really matter whether these stories are based on substance or innuendo. All that counts is if they can put a dent in Walker’s well-earned image as a hard-working reform-minded governor. But they should be wary of overreaching as they did in the 2012 recall. So far, Walker has proved that the more liberals try to destroy him, the stronger he gets. It also strengthens Walker’s popularity among Republicans, which is the last thing that liberals want, since they hope the GOP nominates a candidate who, unlike Walker, will be easily branded as a right-wing extremist.

It’s hard to say whether this latest charge will stick. But the disproportionate effort the left has invested in destroying Walker illustrates how much they fear him.

by xbradtc | June 26, 2014 · 12:03 pm


Scott Walker not a target, John Doe special prosecutor says : Wsj

We argued here that the liberal wing of Wisconsin politics organized a smear campaign against popular Republican Governor Scott Walker. Further evidence that we were right comes from the mouth of the prosecutors who ginned up the controversy.

Crocker said no conclusions have been made about whether there is enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime.



“Contained in these documents is a reference to the request for production of documents that relates to an alleged criminal scheme. Gov. Walker’s name was included in this reference,” Crocker said. “While these documents outlined the prosecutor’s legal theory, they did not establish the existence of a crime; rather, they were arguments in support of further investigation to determine if criminal charges against any person or entity are warranted.”

via Scott Walker not a target, John Doe special prosecutor says : Wsj.


“…rather, they were arguments in support of further investigation to determine if criminal charges against any person or entity are warranted.”


That’s why the state judge, and later the federal district court, shut down the witch hunt. The lack of any probable cause to believe a crime has been committed is not grounds for further investigation. It’s a clear bright line that restricts prosecutors and investigators. To do otherwise is a travesty of justice, and ensures that the process becomes the punishment.