Andy Gronik drops out of race against Scott Walker

MADISON - Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik ended his campaign against Gov. Scott Walker Thursday.

His announcement comes a day after the release of a Marquette University Law School poll that revealed Gronik continued to struggle to make an impact with voters and had received just 4 percent support from Democratic voters polled.

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Gronik is the first of 10 Democratic candidates with serious campaigns to drop out of the race ahead of an Aug. 14 primary. He was one of the first Democratic candidates to announce a bid to unseat Walker and has spent a considerable amount of his own money to challenge the two-term governor.

"The response to my candidacy has been incredible, and we’ve been picking up momentum and supporters every day, but just not fast enough,” Gronik said in a statement. “I will be forever grateful to the tens of thousands of people from throughout the state and country who supported my efforts to become the next governor of Wisconsin."

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Last year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Gronik was paid at least $6.1 million to settle court cases in which he claimed his brief move into a mold-infested house likely cut short his business career and, possibly, his life.

The paper also reported that Gronik's much-touted business career had ended in a secret settlement with his longtime business partner

Gronik said he would be endorsing one of his previous Democratic opponents soon and suggested Democrats should seek to clear the field of candidates and "coalesce around the Democratic candidate they believe will beat Scott Walker."

In response to Gronik's departure from the race, a spokesman for the state Republican Party said the remaining Democratic challengers are continuing "their dangerous race to the left."

In his announcement, Gronik cited trailing far behind state schools Superintendent Tony Evers in the latest poll as a factor in his decision.

Evers received 25 percent support among Democratic voters polled, far more than any of the other candidates who all received single-digit support.

On Thursday, Evers released a new ad featuring former Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall who says Walker "completely mismanaged" troubles and allegations of abuse surfacing at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls before Wall left the department in 2016.

In the ad, Wall said Walker ignored plans to address troubles at the youth prison and "strongly suggested" cabinet secretaries not create written records or leave a "paper trail."

Amy Hasenberg, a spokeswoman for Walker, called Wall's claims "blatantly false."

"These false claims are being made by someone who was fired for asking a state employee to destroy records and violate Wisconsin’s open records laws," she said.

Wall is endorsing Evers. Wall stepped down as corrections secretary as details of the Lincoln Hills probe became public. Before that, he headed the criminal investigation unit at the state Department of Justice.

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Wall briefly returned to DOJ after he resigned as corrections secretary, but was quickly fired by Attorney General Brad Schimel because of a dispute over a letter he wrote that mentioned shredding records. Wall later unsuccessfully appealed his firing and is now writing a book about his time as DOC secretary.

Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau, for more than three years have been the subject of a criminal investigation into prisoner abuse and child neglect. Two former guards have been notified they could be charged.

Walker was first notified of potential trouble at the prison in 2012 when a county judge wrote his office a letter to say prison officials had waited hours to take an inmate who had been sexually assaulted to a hospital. Walker and other lawmakers earlier this year passed a law to close the facility by 2021 and open smaller facilities around the state.

Reporter Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.