-By Warner Todd Huston
When most of you woke up today you saw media coverage all across the country breathlessly “reporting” that Republican Governor Scott Walker was facing “new” charges that he engaged in a “criminal scheme” to illegally coordinate with outside groups during his 2011/2012 recall election. But the fact is, the allegations were all dismissed and this isn’t anything “new” at all.
The “news” that occurred on Thursday is that groups suing the state for its unfair and illicit investigation asked a judge to release documents pertaining to the invalidated “John doe” investigation. So, the “charges” that were reported as if they were new on Thursday night and all day Friday are not “new” charges at all. They are just old charges being made public for the first time.
The initial series of far-reaching investigations were declared at an end on March 2 of last year. It resulted in no charges being filed against the governor.
Despite the purported end of the investigation, though, prosecutors continued their attacks on Walker and his associates until by May of 2014 U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa issued an injunction calling into question the legitimacy of the whole operation.
The information released Thursday came at the behest of the conservative groups suing officials for using the prosecutor’s office to launch a political campaign against them in violation of their rights to free speech.
So, as you see, these documents were released at the request of people who support Gov. Walker so that they can show the public how the state violated the law.
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Media Malpractice on ‘New’ (Actually Old) Scott Walker Charges”