As first reported by WKBT, gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker failed to list occupations for donors who gave more than $172,000 in contributions to Walker’s campaign, in violation of state election law, which mandates any donation over $100 is required to include the donor’s occupation. This latest news regarding the Walker campaign’s difficulty in complying with election law is no shock, given previous reports of difficulties with their financial reports.
What’s most disturbing about the Walker campaign’s unwillingness (or inability) to comply with campaign finance law in this case is the fact that this isn’t about missing records for one or two (or even a few dozen) contributors. As Cory Liebmann notes, the number of contributors for whom incomplete records were found is 267. That’s not an honest oversight; it’s a complete and total lack of regard for the rules.
So here’s the thing…if Scott Walker can’t manage to stay on top of campaign’s financial statements, and if his campaign can’t be bothered to follow the rules, how can anyone expect him to stay on top of the state’s financial situation or follow the rules as governor?
H/T to Cory Liebmann.
I would have to assume that Scott Walker has thousands of different contributors to his campaign. How many of those failed to list their occupation?
DMS, only contributors who give $100 or more are required to list an occupation, so those folks who contributed less aren’t the issue. The issue is the fact that the Walker campaign couldn’t be bothered to keep records that were accurate and in keeping with the law, and given the fact that Walker attacked Gov. Doyle for not keeping accurate travel records, it seems a lot like the pot calling the kettle black.
I heard a little bit of an interview with Walker this morning. He said there were only a couple of contributions that the employer didn’t get pulled into the GAB reporting system – but that they were filled out in the hard copy forms they had. He took a shot at the reporting system, saying the GAB still didn’t have things working very well. I’ll admit, there’s a long list of things the GAB has done that are partisan, immoral or idiotic and they’ve been an embarrassment to the the state. But blaming the technology isn’t exactly something new.
I have no idea if this is true or not. I will take Walker’s response with the same very large grain of salt that it take the press release from One Wisconsin Now as they both have about the same degree of bias – just in opposite directions.
The timing – just in time to try and take attention away from the “Doyle hiring a chief legal counsel who was not licensed to practice law in Wisconsin” stories does seem awfully curious to me. But that doesn’t make it untrue.
“So here’s the thing…if Scott Walker can’t manage to stay on top of campaign’s financial statements, and if his campaign can’t be bothered to follow the rules, how can anyone expect him to stay on top of the state’s financial situation or follow the rules as governor?”
Well, he can’t do worse than the current governor. His ability to follow GAB rules re: the use of campaign credit cards or his ability to actually track the use of tax dollars is far from stellar and which is nothing to say of the annual budget repair bills the Legislature has to pass since he’s been in office.