Wisconsin’s elections and ethics agency refuted in a court filing on Monday claims that it had improperly participated in a campaign finance investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and conservative groups that supported him. The Government Accountability Board’s filing comes after the Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the groups targeted in the probe, alleged in a complaint unsealed earlier this month that top GAB officials launched the investigation without first getting approval from the agency’s six-member board. The GAB then continued with the investigation, even after the board voted to end its involvement in July, the group’s complaint alleges.
In the GAB’s response, filed Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court, the agency said its board voted to authorize the probe after staff participation in it became “substantial.”
The GAB wrote that many of the Club for Growth’s allegations are based on inaccurate interpretations of the board’s authority. It also called the group’s claim that the probe continued after the board voted to stop it “groundless and frivolous and preposterous,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Full Article: State elections board defends role in Walker probe.