The Government Accountability Board is investigating a complaint filed Monday by GOP delegate Kathy Kiernan regarding a phone call on behalf of the Mark Neumann gubernatorial campaign that allegedly violated campaign law.
Kiernan, who plans to support Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign at the state convention, said after multiple requests that he identify himself, the caller said he was polling on behalf of the Republican Party.
""[The Republican Party] would not do that,"" she said. ""I have been actively involved for a long time … so I had red flags right away.""
According to Wisconsin law, if a candidate is requesting people's opinions, they must identify the party on whose behalf they are calling only if asked.
Kiernan's complaint stated the caller asked her about her status as a delegate, the likelihood she would attend the convention, whether the convention should endorse a gubernatorial candidate and who she would endorse.
According to Jill Bader, spokesperson for the Walker campaign, other callers asked delegates whether they had seen the St. Norbert College poll released earlier this month that placed Walker and Neumann neck and neck.
Bader said the calls were ""threatening"" and gave ""misleading"" information about Walker. She estimated as of Tuesday night, the Walker campaign had received about 25 calls from supporters in 12 counties throughout the state.
""We had concerned volunteers who were disturbed to be getting phone calls that were pressuring them to cease their endorsement at the convention,"" she said.
According to Chris Lato, a Neumann campaign spokesperson, if those being polled asked, callers were instructed to identify the source of their calls.
""This campaign and these callers followed the law,"" he said. ""What would we possibly have to hide? This poll is a simple series of six questions. It is not suppression, it is not intimidation.""
Lato said the Walker campaign's reaction to these calls is an attempt to create a problem that does not exist.
""[These are] polling questions that the Mark Neumann campaign has been doing, will continue doing,"" Lato said. ""We're making thousands of calls a week; we're going to continue to make thousands of calls per week and quite frankly, this is what campaigns do.""
