State GAB vote launched probe into Walker recall

Madison — The six judges on the state Government Accountability Board voted unanimously to authorize the investigation of fundraising and spending by Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and his allies during the recent recall elections, according to a Tuesday court filing.

Dean Nickel, an investigator hired by the accountability board to assist with the investigation, said in the 10-page filing that he believes the substantial evidence gathered in the probe "coupled with the GAB's unanimous approval of the investigation directly refutes plaintiffs' witch-hunt theory."

Nickel's brief is one of a series filed with the federal court on Tuesday in a bid by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and his aides to get a federal appeals court to intervene in the high-profile John Doe probe.

Chisholm and two other prosecutors filed paperwork Tuesday to have the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals review a decision last week by U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa in Milwaukee refusing to dismiss the lawsuit against them. The prosecutors need Randa's approval to get their case before the appeals court.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/john-doe-prosecutors-ask-federal-appeals-court-to-intervene-b99248930z1-255409721.html