Court documents were unsealed today in Wisconsin that reveal prosecutors alleging that Scott Walker, the state’s Republican Governor, was at the center of a “criminal scheme” to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups – including Karl Rove – during 2011 and 2012.
Patrick Marley and Daniel Bice reporting for the Journal Sentinel wrote, “John Doe prosecutors allege Scott Walker at center of ‘criminal scheme'”:
Prosecutors allege that Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican senators fend off recall elections during 2011 and ’12, according to documents unsealed Thursday.
In the documents, prosecutors lay out what they call a “criminal scheme” to bypass state election laws by Walker, his campaign and two top deputies — R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl.
The governor and his close confidants helped raise money and control spending through 12 conservative groups during the recall elections, according to the prosecutors’ filings.
The documents include an email in which Walker tells Karl Rove, former top adviser to President George W. Bush, that Johnson would lead the coordination campaign. Johnson is also chief adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a conservative group active in the recall elections.
On April 11, 2011 I wrote that, “Wisconsin Titanic: Criminal Probe Heading Scott Walker’s Way”. It’s been a long journey since then of the Governor paying a lot of money to lawyers who specialize in criminal activities while claiming he wasn’t even a target of the John Doe on-going investigation. Gov. Walker (R-WI) even won a recall campaign while his campaigns and administrations were under investigation,
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This should help explain why the IRS looks into ventures like Karl Rove’s tax exempt status, and it exposes the vast network of shady fundraising that the Supreme Court opened up with their Citizens United ruling.
Scott Walker has long been making eyes at the Oval Office as many Republicans had him pegged as either a dark horse candidate the 2016 nomination or a trendy choice for VP. 2016. But even his reelection campaign in November has to be the last thing on the governor’s mind right now.
On another note, fellow Wisconsin Republican and current RNC Chairman Reince Preibus has to be getting nervous. The illegal dark money coordination scheme that Republicans have long been suspected of running has taken a significant step towards being exposed. The influx of Citizens United dark money is the only thing keeping the teetering Republican Party propped up. If it falls, the Republican Party will crumble.
Walker has not been formally charged yet, as federal Judge Rudolph Randa has temporarily put the John Doe investigation on hold, but it looking more and more like it is only a matter of time until the hammer falls and corrupt reign of Scott Walker comes to an end in Wisconsin.
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