Tea Party candidate for attorney general, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel, continues to come under fire for his refusal to even consider investigating a blatant case of pay-to-play politics involving a top donor to Wisconsin Republicans, to include Scott Walker.
Fox 6 in Milwaukee is reporting that Schimel is skirting questions on his refusal to investigate a request by One Wisconsin Now to investigate a pay-to-play scheme orchestrated between Rep. Joel Kleefisch and Republican donor Michael Eisenga. Check out the can’t-miss video here.
Eisenga, a right-wing multimillionaire, has given $15,000 to Scott Walker through his private business, where he happened to find a job for Kelly Rindfleisch, a key figure in the John Doe criminal corruption probe who was convicted of a felony for misconduct in public office. The Kleefisch family also received political donations from Eisenga — $7,500 to Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and $3,500 to her husband, Representative Joel Kleefisch. Earlier this year, a pay-to-play scheme between Eisenga and Rep. Kleefisch emerged showing that Eisenga bought influence in the Capitol, steering Kleefisch into writing a bill that would change child-support payments in a way that benefits Eisenga personally. Incredibly, Eisenga claimed he wouldn’t benefit from the proposed changes to the child-support laws.
Investigative reporter Mike Lowe comments of Eisenga that “it looks like he was able to buy influence — at least that’s the perception.”
In declining to investigate Kleefisch, Brad Schimel wrote to OWN that a legislator pressing for legislation that personally benefits one of their campaign contributors is “the essence of representative government.”
When asked for comment by Fox 6 on the apparent pay-to-play scheme, Schimel got up and abruptly left the interview.
“Refusing to answer questions about his apparent endorsement of pay-to-play corruption won’t disappear this political scandal for Brad Schimel,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. “The more people learn about Schimel’s role in perpetuating schemes against the public trust, the more they’ll want to vote for a Democratic attorney general come November.”
View the Fox 6 report here.
