The Wisconsin state agency charged with enforcing ethics laws for government officials denied that it had violated its own statute by joining in the so-called “John Doe” probe of Gov. Scott Walker, according to court documents filed Monday.
The state’s Government Accountability Board conceded it had coordinated with the probe, but said that was not improper because it was running its own separate, parallel probe at the time.
The board’s previously undisclosed probe was concluded on Aug. 19, the court document said. No charges related to that probe appear to have been filed.
The Monday filing was the latest twist in the long-running probe of Walker, a leading potential Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential race. Despite extensive investigations, little has emerged, and Walker has never been charged.
The Government Accountability Board’s revelations spurred efforts by statehouse Republicans to dissolve the board and replace it with a new agency. “There is a complete structural failure at the GAB,” said a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Monday filing was in response to a lawsuit filed last week by the state branch of the Club for Growth, a nonprofit conservative group. The club’s lawsuit charged that the Government Accountability Board had exceeded its statutory authority by joining in the “John Doe” probe of Walker’s campaign finance activities being conducted through the Milwaukee district attorney’s office. The club had also been targeted by that probe.
Among the claims made in the Club for Growth’s lawsuit was that the Government Accountability Board lacked the authority to participate in a criminal probe, that its investigators did not properly inform the board of their involvement, and that they continued to work after they no longer had authorization to do so.
The Government Accountability Board, which is overseen by six retired judges, rejected those claims, calling them “groundless and frivolous” in the Monday court filing, according to the Journal Sentinel.
A “John Doe” probe refers to a provision of the Wisconsin state code that allows judges to authorize secret, independent probes into possible criminal activities. Walker has been subject to two of them.
The first one was launched in 2010 when Walker, then Milwaukee County executive, alerted the district attorney to apparent misappropriation 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 second John Doe probe grew out of the investigation into the first. It involved alleged illegal coordination between Walker and conservative groups such as the Club for Growth during state elections in 2011 and 2012, including Walker’s recall election.
In January, the judge overseeing the probe quashed subpoenas relating to it, stating that the prosecutors had not shown that any illegal activity had occurred. The probe, while technically ongoing, has been stalled since then. Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear three cases relating to it.
The Government Accountability Board had begun its own investigation in 2010 into illegal campaign funding activity by a railroad whose owner had made donations to Walker’s campaign fund. The board subsequently joined in the second John Doe probe, pooling information and manpower with the probe’s investigators.
The Club for Growth’s lawsuit says the Government Accountability Board has the authority to investigate only civil, not criminal, activity. Any such evidence obtained from an investigation must be turned over prosecutors. The Government Accountability Board investigator’s actions were therefore improper, the suit argues.
“For 10 months, the GAB participated in the John Doe II proceeding without opening an investigation as required by its Enabling Statute. During that time, the GAB committed substantial resources in furtherance of John Doe II, including helping with numerous search warrants for telephone records, bank records, and e-mail accounts,” according to the lawsuit.
The Club for Growth also says the Government Accountability Board investigators joined the John Doe probe without the knowledge or assent of the six judges who oversee the board, another violation. Finally, the lawsuit alleges that the while the Government Accountability Board probes must be reauthorized every 90 days, the board once missed that requirement by a week in September 2013.
In a Dec. 20 press release, the Government Accountability Board countered: “[T]he Board through its Chair was apprised of District Attorney contacts with Government Accountability Board staff concerning the developing John Doe from the beginning.” In the Monday filing, it claimed that it had not missed any deadlines to continue the probe.
