Patrick Marley, Jason Stein, and Madeleine Behr

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This story was originally published on Sept. 15, 2016

Edgerton — Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that he is no longer soliciting funds for a conservative group that got money from paint-makers and mining interests that benefited from the actions of Walker and lawmakers.

Thursday was the first time Walker faced reporters after a report in the Guardian U.S. about the GOP governor's fundraising for the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which provided crucial support to Walker and Republicans in the 2011 and 2012 recall elections. The Guardian, the American arm of the British newspaper, reported Wednesday that Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature approved a measure aimed at retroactively shielding paint makers from liability after a billionaire owner of a lead producer contributed $750,000 to the club.

Meanwhile, Republican officials leaped to demand an investigation into the leaks to the Guardian, with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) calling for a special prosecutor to look into the matter.

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In a stop in Dane County Thursday, Walker initially avoided a question about whether he had raised money for the club but at a second stop in Fox Crossing he said he isn't doing it now.

"I don't right now," Walker said. "And the bottom line with the story that came out yesterday is you’ve got folks who have apparently failed in the court of law multiple times trying to put out selected information in the court of public opinion."

The story was prompted by leaks to the Guardian, which Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has said violated the secrecy order in the now-defunct investigation. In response to the call from Vos, aides to Attorney General Brad Schimel tweeted that he is "currently reviewing available options to address serious legal questions raised by the leak and publication of these sealed documents."

Chisholm, a Democrat, has said he supports an investigation into leaks.

Meanwhile, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) announced he would hold a news conference Friday calling for a criminal investigation based on the Guardian report. It was unclear how a new investigation could be started after an earlier one was shut down.

Speaking at another event in Plover, Walker said he wouldn't weigh in on whether there should be an investigation.

"I’ll leave that up to the legal authorities. But it’s clear that somebody violated the law," the governor said.

Previous information about the investigation has been published by the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and by the conservative website Wisconsin Watchdog, with some of the information inconvenient for Republicans and other details difficult for prosecutors. But the calls from GOP lawmakers are particularly sharp at these latest disclosures, which have zeroed in on Republicans.

The governor told reporters he had campaigned on limiting lawsuits against businesses and had consistently held that position because he believes it will help create jobs. The governor could not point to any specific jobs that had been created as a result of the measures.

“If I did something different than what I said I was going to do, then voters would have a right to question," he said of the fundraising.

Documents leaked to the Guardian show Harold Simmons made three donations totaling $750,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth between April 2011 and January 2012.

Simmons, who died in 2013, was the owner of NL Industries, a producer of the lead formerly used in paint. The firm is one of several that is being sued by those who have been poisoned by lead.

Simmons' donations were made before and after Republicans approved two laws helpful to the industry — one in January 2011 and the other in June 2013. The 2013 measure was inserted in a budget bill in the middle of the night despite warnings about its constitutionality.

The documents confirm earlier reports that Walker solicited millions of dollars for Wisconsin Club for Growth, a group then run by R.J. Johnson, one of his top campaign advisers. The Guardian story says Walker was warned in an email about potential "red flags" with Simmons including a magazine story that described him as "Dallas' most evil genius."

While documents make clear Walker had raised money for the group, the governor at first declined to say if he had done so. One donor to the Wisconsin Club for Growth wrote in the memo line of his check that he had given to the group “because Scott Walker asked.”

Simmons' contributions mirror $1.2 million in donations from mining firm Gogebic Taconite to Wisconsin Club for Growth around the same time. Part of that donation was earlier disclosed in court records, with the remainder confirmed by the latest leak.

After receiving money, the GOP-controlled Legislature and Walker approved legislation aimed at streamlining regulations for an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin.

Among the documents released this week is an email between two Walker aides in July 2011 with the subject line “mining account.”

“Can you have someone on the policy staff research this with the Budget Office — we should find out exactly what is in our mining account,” wrote Keith Gilkes, who was then Walker’s chief of staff.

Gilkes sent the email to Ryan Murray, who at the time was Walker’s policy director. Both also worked on Walker’s campaign, with Gilkes serving as campaign manager in 2010 and the 2012 recall.

Murray said he did not recall that specific email but he and other top officials at the time had been discussing a state account used to help local governments offset the costs of having mines in their communities.

"It was in my mind pretty innocuous," Murray said in an interview.

Walker on Thursday said he knew nothing about the email — and even questioned whether it was authentic.

“I don’t know anything about that email off the top of my head,” Walker said. “I don’t even know if that’s an actual, real email.”

This story was written by Journal Sentinel reporters Patrick Marley in Madison and Jason Stein in Edgerton, and Madeleine Behr of the USA Today Network-Wisconsin in Fox Cross. Sari Lesk of the USA Today Network-Wisconsin contributed from Plover.