The state Supreme Court moved Wednesday to deny a request to restart an investigation of alleged violations committed by Gov. Scott Walker in the 2011 recall elections.
In a 4-1 ruling, the high court upheld a July decision ending the John Doe probe into whether Walker’s campaign violated campaign finance laws in working with conservative groups.
The court also ruled special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, who filed the petition, was improperly appointed, meaning he lacked legal basis to reopen the investigation.
In the ruling, the justices said Schmitz could still handle certain duties in the case but that his appointment “has the potential to create problems with respect to who may act on behalf of the prosecution in this court or elsewhere going forward."
In a statement, Schmitz panned the decision and said that he would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I am disappointed with the decision issued today and, if I have the resources, intend to pursue an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court," Schmitz said in the statement, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. "I continue to believe that the investigation was justified. The voters of Wisconsin have a right to know the identity of large donors, corporate and individual, which coordinate with campaign committees."
Justice Shirley Abrahamson was the lone jurist to oppose the ruling, with Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Rebecca Bradley abstaining.
In her dissent, Abrahamson said her colleagues neglected to address several key issues and that there is now no one to represent prosecutors on the investigation.
“Although professing to be even-handed in its treatment of the Special Prosecutor ... the [ruling] is anything but even-handed,” Abrahamson wrote. “What a mess this court has wrought!”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm launched the John Doe probe in 2012 to determine whether Walker’s campaign had coordinated fundraising efforts with the Wisconsin Club for Growth, a practice the state election board had previously ruled illegal.
In July, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that most coordination between interest groups and campaigns was legal.
