Have you noticed in the past few days the big media campaign against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker? As we have seen here in Newsbusters, the New Republic even attempted a race baiting smear with "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker." We also have many media sources salivating over what they think is the prospect of Walker being prosecuted over campaign violations such as the Washington Post and the Huffington Post (notice the "coincidental" similarity of the wording in both articles). In addition, Time magazine has declared that ‘Criminal Scheme’ Will Haunt Scott Walker.
Well, I hate to break the sad news to these and the other media outlets lusting for Scott Walker's blood but some very cold water has just been tossed on their fervent desires from an very unexpected source: Vox. Yes, it is that liberal Vox with those annoying mulititudes of explanatory cards except in this case it surprisingly makes refreshing sense:
For nearly two years, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been dogged by an investigation into activities surrounding the contested recall elections of 2011 and 2012. Yet many details of the investigation have been kept secret. On Thursday, however, a federal appeals court released 268 pages of documents that help shed some light on what's been going on.
If you got the impression from some early coverage that prosecutors were newly closing in on Walker — that's wrong. Instead, prosecutors are fighting for court permission to use the evidence they think they need to build a case. And so far, two judges have refused their requests.
So are we at least near a prosecution? Bloodthirsty liberals need to know.
Importantly, no charges have been filed against anyone, and none appear imminent. Most of the legal wrangling so far has focused instead on whether prosecutors had probable cause to raid and subpoena documents from the consultants and nonprofit groups they believe to be involved.
But wait...it gets even worse from the liberal POV:
In February 2014, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and its director Eric O'Keefe filed a federal lawsuit. They alleged that the prosecutors' unjustified investigation and subpoenas had violated their First Amendment rights to free speech — chilling their group's fundraising and crippling its ability to advocate in this year's elections.
In May, federal district court judge Rudolph Randa agreed. "The plaintiffs have been shut out of the political process, merely by association with conservative politicians," Randa wrote, in a fiery opinion. "This cannot square with the First Amendment and what it was meant to protect." He agreed with Judge Peterson's ruling that the subpoenas were unjustified, because the groups only aired perfectly legal issue ads. Furthermore, Randa wrote, "The theory of 'coordination' forming the basis of the investigation... is not supported under Wisconsin law, and, if it were, would violate the United States Constitution."
So Randa ordered that the state investigation be halted. He even ruled that all documents collected from the subpoenas and raids must be returned or destroyed, though a federal appeals court panel stayed that latter ruling.
The final paragraph offers little hope for liberals attempting to get Scott Walker's scalp:
Overall, the documents released Thursday provide new information on the case prosecutors sought to make, and what evidence they initially had. But they don't indicate any new substantive development in the investigation. Until prosecutors get permission from both federal and state courts to use the documents they subpoenaed, charges seem unlikely to be filed.
So why all the effort by liberals to demonize Scott Walker? Commentary magazine has an excellent analysis on why Liberals Are Afraid of Scott Walker:
...no Republican governor in the country challenged liberal orthodoxy and Democrat interest groups the way Walker did after he took office in 2011. By seeking to reform the state’s finances and prevent state worker unions from continuing to blackmail the taxpayers, Walker stepped on what has always been the third rail of American politics. Yet he won that political battle despite thuggish efforts by Democrats and unions to intimidate Walker and other Republicans as well as an attempt to shut down the Wisconsin legislature (not surprisingly liberals who were outraged at last year’s federal government shutdown had no problem with what Democrats did in that instance). Not satisfied with that fiasco, the unions and Democrats wasted a year of effort and millions of dollars in precious campaign funds on a futile recall election the following year that only served to solidify his status as a GOP star.
