Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm filed a motionwith the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday asking to intervene in court proceedings involving John Doe 2. It was investigating whether Gov. Walker's 2012 recall campaign illegally coordinated with issue advocacy groups.
The state high court ordered an end to the probe in July, ruling that prosecutors had turned up no evidence of campaign finance violations. This month, the court, in effect, fired special prosecutor Francis Schmitz and gave the other five prosecutors until today to decide whether to apply to intervene.
Chisholm filed that motion ostensibly on behalf of two other Democratic DAs, Dane County's Ismael Ozanne and Iowa County's Larry Nelson. The other two prosecutors, both Republicans, Columbia County DA Jane Kohlwey and Dodge County DA Kurt Klomberg have opted to back away from the case.
If the state high court allows the three remaining prosecutors to intervene, they could appeal several facets of John Doe 2 to the U.S. Supreme Court. Schmitz reportedly wanted to take the case to the nation's high court to perhaps determine the constitutionality of coordination limits on campaigns and issue advocacy groups.
Critics of John Doe 2 insist that several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and Wisconsin Supreme Court have spoken, deciding that the two camps can coordinate activities, as long as the issue advocacy groups don't tell people to vote for or against a candidate.