One Wisconsin Now to Gov. Scott Walker: Wrap Up Sunshine Week With a Bang, End 1,799-Day Stonewall and Reveal Donors to Legal Defense

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker is never one to miss an opportunity for political pandering. So in honor of Sunshine Week, a media-sponsored event celebrating the public’s right to know, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross suggested that Walker end the week by revealing the identities of the donors to his criminal legal defense fund.

“Gov. Walker can cap off sunshine week with a bang by, after 1,799 days, ending the mystery of who footed the nearly one half million dollars in fees he paid his team of criminal defense lawyers,” commented Ross. “It would be a masterstroke for a career politician who rarely fails to take the opportunity for a politically-motivated pander.”

For several years, Gov. Walker and his campaign were involved in investigations of political corruption, the John Doe I and John Doe II probes. In March 2012, the Wisconsin media reported that Gov. Walker established a legal defense fund, the Scott Walker Trust, to accept funds to pay for criminal defense lawyers retained by Gov. Walker.

Public disclosures indicate Walker’s legal defense fund spent over $440,000 on a team of lawyers but, over five years later, the names of the donors remain secret from the public.