Scott Walker Breaks the Law, Again, Campaigning While Flying on Taxpayer Dime

MADISON, Wis. — New flight records released late Friday by Scott Walker to One Wisconsin Now reveal Walker again broke the law with his use of the state airplane. On September 21 Walker flew from Madison to Milwaukee and then on to Wausau, at a cost billed to taxpayers of $2,690.75, and attended events in both cities. Based on video and media reports of his comments at the event Walker was clearly promoting his own campaign and, by name, criticizing his election opponent.

“Scott Walker has broken the law again with his use of the state plane,” said One Wisconsin Executive Director Scot Ross. “Public officials absolutely cannot use state resources to benefit their campaigns. Yet the record shows that on September 21 Scott Walker both flew at taxpayer expense to Milwaukee and Wausau and was campaigning at both stops.”

Video filmed in Milwaukee on September 21 by the MacIver Institute, a right-wing organization which has received nearly $1.4 million from the Bradley Foundation, run for 15 years by Walker’s political campaign chair, has Walker criticizing his campaign opponent repeatedly (starts 44 seconds in). After flying the state plane from Madison to Milwaukee where he conducted the interview with MacIver, Walker then flew the state plane to Wausau.

There, according to a report from WSAU television Walker delivered a speech in which he, “… criticized his opponent Tony Evers for his comments on raising the gas tax in the state and raising property taxes.”

“Scott Walker drug his feet and held these records the longest that he could before facing legal action,” said Ross. “Now we see why. Once again, Scott Walker broke the law and we caught him red handed.”

This is not the first illegal misconduct Scott Walker has engaged in with his $1 million misuse and abuse of the state plane since exiting the Republican presidential primary in September 2015. Walker admitted to a radio host in July he set out on a three-year campaign traveling Wisconsin on 1,000 flights on the state plane to rehabilitate his political standing, which stood at 37 percent in a poll released shortly after his presidential campaign collapsed.

Records previously obtained by One Wisconsin Now, showed that in July 2018 Scott Walker broke the state law prohibiting politicians from using taxpayer resources to benefit their campaigns, flying to Rhinelander on a state plane to film a television commercial for his campaign at a cost to taxpayers of over $2,000 for the day.

Evidence obtained by One Wisconsin Now as part of their investigation of Scott Walker’s serial misuse and abuse of state planes reveals how Walker flew to Rhinelander at taxpayer expense on the same day he filmed a television ad for his campaign in nearby Three Lakes. In an attempted cover up, Walker’s state office scheduled a public event in Rhinelander, weeks after his campaign lined up the ad shoot in the area. Walker is refusing to reimburse taxpayers the $2,017.66 bill they footed for the flight because of the public event.

A timeline of Scott Walker’s illegal use of the state plane to film a campaign ad is available here and a previously-released accounting of the serial misuse and abuse of the state plane by Scott Walker since he ended his run for president is available here.

One Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.