Joe Heim, UW-La Crosse political science professor, said he thinks Walker is avoiding answering questions about whether he knew about the private email system to be cautious.

“In my opinion, he’s very careful about deflecting the question because he doesn’t want to say he didn’t know about it, then be caught in a lie,” Heim said. “You can argue that given his hands-on approach he might have known about it, but I didn’t see a smoking gun that he knew.”

Melissa Baldauff, spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said, “It’s been seven days since the John Doe emails were released and so far we’ve heard zero real answers from Scott Walker about what he knew about the secret email network and when he knew it.”

She called it a “flimsy excuse” that Walker won’t answer questions because he doesn’t have time to read through all the messages.

“Pleading ignorance might make for better headlines than pleading the Fifth, but it’s time for Scott Walker to stop dodging accountability and answer the questions the public has,” Baldauff said.

The governor said the results of the John Doe investigation speak for themselves.