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December 7, 2017 Rep. Chris Taylor, 608-266-5342
MADISON – Yesterday, state Attorney General Brad Schimel released his narrative of the events leading up to The Guardian’s expose on Governor Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republican’s unprecedented political scheme to circumvent Wisconsin’s long-standing campaign finance laws and other ethics rules. In response, Speaker Robin Vos issued a press release applauding the Republican destruction of nonpartisan accountability systems holding elected officials to long-standing campaign finance and ethics laws. In response, Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) released the following statement:
“The John Doe investigations not only resulted in six criminal convictions, but as The Guardian exposé revealed, came very close to uncovering a corrupt scheme by Governor Walker, during the recall campaigns, to circumvent long-standing campaign finance laws and ethical rules. With a less partisan majority on the state Supreme Court, who in an unprecedented decision stopped the most damaging investigation, I have no doubt that the corrupt activities of Governor Walker and his associates would have been exposed.
“In response, it is no wonder Speaker Vos and the Republican majority got to quick work dismantling our campaign finance laws, allowing more corporate money into our elections in more ways, disassembling, rather than improving, a nonpartisan, independent government watchdog in favor of an ineffective partisan model that never worked and exempting legislators from secret corruption investigations. Few people besides Robin Vos and his Republican colleagues would consider this a success. Instead, it is a travesty for the people of Wisconsin and our democracy.”
