Two Democratic lawmakers are asking election and UW System officials to determine if an event for Milwaukee County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker violated state fundraising laws.
Walker supporters gathered Nov. 2 in the Dreyfus Center, a property owned by UW-Stevens Point. State statutes prohibit candidates from fundraising in state-owned buildings. State Reps. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, and Amy Sue Vruwink, D-Milladore, have asked the Government Accountability Board and the UW System Board of Regents to investigate.
""In order to protect the integrity of state facilities from political meddling, even those minor kinds of things you have to call the check on,"" Schneider said. ""You can bet if I were doing it they'd be screaming bloody murder.""
Student supporters organized the event on the same day as the campaign's ""Rally to Victory"" fundraising push. According to Walker's official campaign Website, the campaign raised $25, 581. Linda Bader, communications director for Friends of Scott Walker, said all donations raised during the ""Rally to Victory"" were raised online.
Bader said the event at UW-Stevens Point was not a fundraiser, but an opportunity for student supporters to share Walker's message. She said the campaign was ""in compliance"" with state law and that the student volunteers received permission from the school to hold a rally. No representatives from the campaign were at the event, and Walker was speaking in Milwaukee at the time.
""It's sad the Democrats find it necessary to go after college kids who are volunteering and sharing Scott's message with other students,"" Bader said in a statement.
Walker also spoke at a UW-Madison event Nov. 3 at Grainger Hall. According to Stephen Duerst, the public relations chair for the College Republicans, the event was not a fundraiser.
""It was just simply educating students about his platform,"" he said. ""There was absolutely no contact with students about donating money.""
