Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Scott Walker Broke The Law? Imagine That

The good folks at One Wisconsin Now pored through Scott Walker's campaign finance reform and found that it was like Walker's management style: faulty, shoddy and illegal. What they found was that Walker failed, probably willfully, the necessary information on donations over $100, including:
According to Walker's finance report for the January to June 30 filing period, Walker reported $1.4 million in contributions. Over $172,000 in contributions over $100 fails to include the lawfully required employer information for the donors.

Walkers widespread reporting negligence includes:

•Two contributions of $10,000, the maximum contribution allowed under the law;

•30 contributions between $2,500 and $1,000 totaling more than $38,000;

•235 contributions between $750 and $200 totaling more than $71,000.
Scot Ross, NOW Executive Director, made me more than a little jealous with this zinger:
"Scott Walker is running his campaign as poorly as he runs Milwaukee County," said Ross. "Looks like Scott Walker treats campaign finance laws the same way he treats Milwaukee's seniors, working people and people with disabilities -- with no respect."
Cory Liebmann then picks up the charge and reminds us of still unanswered questions about Walker's campaign finance report as well as Walker's previous campaign violations, including having the distinct title of being the owner of one of the biggest campaign violation fines in state history.

Xoff also takes on this issue and calls BS on Walker's stunts.

Meanwhile, the local Walker apologist daily paper* sat on the story until they found a spin that would work for their favorite candidate. Their spin? Well, it's all perfectly legal:

Candidates must make good-faith efforts to get employer information from donors who give more than $100, according to the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees campaign finance laws.

Walker's campaign manager, Keith Gilkes, said the campaign has met that requirement. The campaign asks for employer information when it solicits contributions and asks for it again multiple times if it is not provided, Gilkes said.

The campaign released a copy of a standard letter it mails seeking that information.

Much of Walker's fund raising is done through the mail, which makes it harder to collect employer information because some people don't fill out all the information, Gilkes said.

As unsurprising that Walker was caught cheating in an election campaign, it is also unsurprising that they paper omits some very important details. Fortunately, Cory was able to provide those details to us in an addendum to his post. Cory links to WKBT, which points out that it is not all as snuff as the local paper would lead us to believe:

Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney says if the information isn't provided, the campaign must show what it's doing to track it down.

Walker spokesman Keith Gilkes says the campaign is working on getting the missing information. He did not know how many of the missing addresses had been found so far.

If things were on the up and up, why would they be trying to fix it?

But this isn't the only time that Walker has had problems with following the law. There was the recent issue with Walker using both tax payer dollars and corporate sponsorship for his campaign bike ride, not to mention Air Tran's corporate sponsorship came just have Walker gave them a big plus of extra space at the airport.

Campaigning isn't the only area that Walker regularly runs afoul of the law. He has also made it a wont of his during the budget process, often proposing to illegally remove state-mandated positions and services.

Walker also seems to have problems following federal laws, like HIPAA. (Funny how Walker has no problems illegally releasing other people's private information, but won't release the things he is supposed to.)

You know, for someone that wants to be the state's top executive, you would think Walker would have at least a little comprehension, understanding and respect for the laws that he would be enforcing.

*Both Walker and the local paper seem to have problems with reality as well. Really, is it so hard for them to be honest with the people?

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