Post by Logan on Apr 30, 2016 11:39:01 GMT -6
Prosecutors: Walker campaign, conservative group 'one and the same'
Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and a supposedly independent conservative group were "one and the same," prosecutors told the U.S. Supreme Court in a filing this week seeking to reopen a probe of the governor's campaign that state courts shut down.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court last year halted the investigation in a ruling that concluded candidates and political groups can freely work together. That ruling "is the very undoing of campaign disclosure requirements," Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and two other prosecutors wrote in their filing.
"This petition presents the opportunity to plainly state candidate-controlled issue ads are not truly 'independent' and not worthy of First Amendment strict scrutiny protection," they wrote. "Expenditures for such ads must be disclosed as 'disguised contributions.'"
Spokesmen for Walker's campaign did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Attorneys for others involved in the now-ended investigation also did not comment on the effort to revive the probe.
Read more: www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/prosecutors-walker-campaign-conservative-group-one-and-the-same-b99715959z1-377631481.html
Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and a supposedly independent conservative group were "one and the same," prosecutors told the U.S. Supreme Court in a filing this week seeking to reopen a probe of the governor's campaign that state courts shut down.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court last year halted the investigation in a ruling that concluded candidates and political groups can freely work together. That ruling "is the very undoing of campaign disclosure requirements," Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and two other prosecutors wrote in their filing.
"This petition presents the opportunity to plainly state candidate-controlled issue ads are not truly 'independent' and not worthy of First Amendment strict scrutiny protection," they wrote. "Expenditures for such ads must be disclosed as 'disguised contributions.'"
Spokesmen for Walker's campaign did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Attorneys for others involved in the now-ended investigation also did not comment on the effort to revive the probe.
Read more: www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/prosecutors-walker-campaign-conservative-group-one-and-the-same-b99715959z1-377631481.html