"Democrats attack Wis. leader over e-mails; Try to link him to scandal over campaign work" by Scott Bauer | Associated Press February 21, 2014
MADISON, Wis. — For more than three years Governor Scott Walker avoided political fallout from a criminal investigation that ensnared six of his former aides and associates, winning a recall election even as his opponent ran ads attacking him on the scandal.
But with the Republican up for reelection this year and considering a run for president in 2016, questions are intensifying over how much he knew about illegal campaign activity going on in his county executive office as he launched his bid for governor.
Democrats are trying to use embarrassing e-mails, which were part of 28,000 pages of documents released Wednesday, to liken his woes to those faced by other embattled Republicans like Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.
Related: Christie Had Concern About Bridge Traffic
The liberal political action group American Bridge 21st Century, launched a website to coincide with the document release that highlights problematic e-mails and blasts Walker’s role. And Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz went after Walker hours after the release, trying to tie Walker’s troubles to Christie’s.
Need I even type it?
The e-mails are a gold mine for Walker’s opponents, said Democratic consultant Chris Lehane....
But Walker’s allies say given that Walker was never charged in the investigation, which is now closed, all the attention is much ado about nothing.
‘‘At the end of the day the media’s going to overplay their hand, like they did with Chris Christie, and it’s going to embolden the grass roots to rally around Scott Walker,’’ said Rick Wiley, a former Republican National Committee political director.
The crux of the issue around Walker is far less sexy than the George Washington Bridge lane closures that appeared to be ordered by members of Christie’s administration. The investigation in Wisconsin centered on whether employees in Walker’s county executive office were doing campaign work on the taxpayer dime, which is illegal....
A court transcript of a secret hearing the day before Walker was elected governor in 2010 showed that the lead investigator thought Walker knew about a secret wireless network his aides had installed in the county executive office that they used to do campaign work....
Walker’s Democratic opponent in the 2012 recall used that e-mail as the basis of an attack ad in that campaign, which Walker won by 7 percentage points....
See: Wisconsin Recall Recall
Walker was traveling to Washington for a National Governors Association meeting on Thursday and wasn’t available for comment.
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"Foes study Wis. governor’s e-mails" by Scott Bauer | Associated Press February 24, 2014
MADISON, Wis. — Political operatives from across the spectrum are scouring the thousands of e-mails exchanged by Governor Scott Walker’s campaign staff and those who worked for him when he was Milwaukee County executive, trying to find items they can use to attack or defend the state’s most polarizing figure.
Liberals and conservatives alike have been hunting through the 28,000 pages of documents for their names, as well as the names of political friends and enemies.
Democratic strategist Chris Lehane said it was “like winning the lottery” for people doing opposition research on Walker. American Bridge 21st Century, a political action committee funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, said it assembled a team of researchers to pore over the e-mails and post what it finds on a specially created website.
Oh, little Georgie Sorrows is involved?
Joe Fadness, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party and one of those named in the e-mails, criticized American Bridge while refusing to say whether the GOP was undertaking its own review of the documents.
The e-mails were collected during a criminal investigation into whether Walker’s aides were illegally doing campaign work for the 2010 election while being paid as county employees.
Walker wasn’t charged in the investigation, but it continues to shadow him. The e-mail release is proving to be an unwanted distraction as he mounts his reelection campaign and eyes a possible 2016 run for president.
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Related: McDonnell's Mischief
He got knocked out early.
