Gov. Walker Leaves For GOP Debate Without Answering Questions
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker left Thursday for the first Republican presidential debate without answering questions about whether he knew he was suspected in 2011 of committing felony misconduct in office.
Walker took part in the opening ceremony of the Wisconsin State Fair outside of Milwaukee. He appeared relaxed, laughing often and wearing a state fair polo shirt, jeans and sneakers.
After speaking for less than five minutes, Walker left the stage without responding to questions shouted by reporters about a federal court filing Wednesday showing investigators had once suspected him of a felony related to a lease deal that happened while he was Milwaukee County executive. Walker was not charged, and the probe closed two years ago.
As he left the fair, supporters cheered for Walker and shouted out encouragement for the evening debate.
"Go get 'em, Scott!" one backer yelled.
Walker, 47, avoided the latest questions over the long-closed John Doe investigation, and instead made a point of mentioning another candidate who visited the fair more than 150 years ago.
"It wasn't lost on me that Abe Lincoln was here in 1859, the year before he was elected president," Walker said to applause from the crowd.
"A lot of people are wondering, 'Why are you not in Cleveland?'" Walker continued. "Because I love to go to the state fair. Tonette and I have been here so often. We've been here since we were kids."
Walker's wife, Tonette, grew up in Milwaukee, and Walker's family moved to Delavan, about 50 miles southwest of Milwaukee, when he was in third grade.
After the presidential debate, Walker is planning campaign stops Friday in Ohio and Atlanta and South Carolina over the weekend. He said he will return to the fair next week to participate in a meat auction, a livestock auction and to take his two nieces on the potato sack slide.
Walker's campaign spokeswoman AshLee Strong on Wednesday criticized the court filing as an attempt to influence public opinion leading up to the debate where Walker will share the stage with nine other Republican White House hopefuls. Strong noted that the case has been closed for more than two years.
"It is another example of the politics involved in this process as people who could not prove things in a court of law are attempting to win in the court of public opinion," Strong said.
The court document was a search warrant issued in a John Doe probe that resulted in six Walker aides and associates being convicted on a number of charges, including misconduct in office.
Walker has long maintained that he did nothing wrong and that he was not a target of the investigation.
But the search warrant shows that investigators in 2011 believed there was probable cause that Walker, longtime Walker friend and campaign treasurer John Hiller and real estate broker Andrew Jensen committed felony misconduct in office in relation to the negotiation of a lease to house the county's Department of Aging.
All three of the bids under consideration for the department were ultimately rejected, and no one involved with the bids was ever charged with any wrongdoing.
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