Wisconsin Justices To Decide On Criminal Probe Involving Their Own Campaign Donors
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/24/3319661/wisconsin-justices-decide-criminal-criminal-probe-involving-campaign-donors/#
A criminal probe in Wisconsin targets several major spenders on state supreme court races. Yet the justices who benefited from that spending will likely get to decide whether this probe moves forward. Wisconsin prosecutors have been conducting a 2011-2012 campaign finance investigation targeting Republican candidates in the 2011 and 2012 recall elections and interest groups that spent money to support them. Though some targets of the investigation have not been publicly named, two business groups and a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker (R) have been named as targets.
State campaign finance law prohibits independent spenders—many of which can accept unlimited, secret contributions for political ads—from “coordinating” with candidates’ campaigns. According to the Wall Street Journal, the trial court judge found that the groups did not cross the line into “coordinating” with Republican candidates because the groups’ ads did not explicitly ask voters to “vote for” or “against” candidates. After the court of appeals allowed the investigation to move forward, the groups on Wednesday asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear the case and potentially end the investigation.
Two of the targets of the investigation — Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for a Strong America — are also big spenders on judicial races. Indeed, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, the two groups spent $1.8 million in 2011 on just one candidate — conservative Justice David Prosser.
Yet, despite the potential conflict of interest presented by Prosser and some of his colleagues sitting on a case that concerns his donors, they are under no obligation to recuse. The court’s recusal rule was co-written by a third business group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, that reportedly spent more than $5 million supporting conservative members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Under this rule, justices are free to sit on cases involving their donors.
