You know this was going to be held as late as possible on a Friday (it was added to an already existing article on Walkers $5 million campaign donation haul in the last quarter):
Gov. Scott Walker raised more than $5 million in the last half of 2013 — nearly triple what his Democratic opponent raised — and shifted more than $86,000 of that to defense attorneys, according to a Friday filing with state election officials.
The disclosure of the payment to the Mequon-based Biskupic & Jacobs (Steven Biskupic was a George W. Bush appointee to US Attorney - one of the Bush appointees that didn't resign when PBO was sworn in) law firm came a day after information spilled out in court records about a secret John Doe investigation into campaign fundraising and spending surrounding Wisconsin's recent recall elections.
The payments — labeled as "legal fees — compliance/administrative" — were paid to a firm headed by former U.S. Attorneys Steven Biskupic and Michelle Jacobs.
(bolding and italics are mine)
Okeedokee! That must mean that Scott Walkers Legal Defense Fund, set up after the original John Doe, is still in business.
But why does Walker still need to pay criminal defense lawyers?
Asked about the payments, Walker campaign spokesman Jonathan Wetzel said the campaign "relies on Biskupic & Jacobs for a variety of legal services." The two attorneys did not immediately return calls late Friday.
In an earlier John Doe probe, Walker's campaign paid nearly $650,000 for lawyers representing the governor and his campaign committee.
That's a whole lot of green for someone who claimed to be innocent, not a target, son of a preacherman, and former Eagle Scout.
Walker may not be creating jobs here in Wisconsin, but he's sure creating a whole lot of business for lawyers with over $400,000 going to a Chicago criminal defense law firm (and a Chicago based public relations firm, too, last year).
We only know about the legal fees because campaign funds were shifted to pay them. And the disclosure is part of a mandatory disclosure required before midnight tonight.
Republicans, of course, lead the way with massive donations reported this quarter.
"Raising campaign cash from wealthy, out-of-state special interests has never been Walker's problem," Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki said in a statement. "His problem is his approach — that if those at the very top are doing OK everyone else will feel the effects of trickle down — doesn't work.
And Walker donors have been richly rewarded for their "investment" in him. In 2010 his largest donors were out of state charter school corporations and Walker has done his utmost to ensure that charter schools are taxpayer funded, in many areas of the state, and expanding into others despite their miserable performance and recent dead-of-night closure of one school with a corporate headquarters in Florida.
So, stay tuned.