Milwaukee Mayor Asks Walker To Veto Restrictions On Early Voting

Milwaukee officials are asking Gov. Scott Walker to veto a bill that would limit early voting if the measure reaches his desk. At least one prominent Democrat is mentioning the Walker-related John Doe investigations in his argument.

The first “John Doe” probe led to the convictions of several former Walker aides and friends. The second “Doe” investigation reportedly looks at whether there was illegal collaboration between Walker, third party groups, and perhaps other Republican candidates during the 2012 recall elections.

As Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett urged Walker on Wednesday to veto the early voting bill, he mentioned things like the 2011 legislative redistricting and the John Doe investigations:

“What’s happened here is you’ve had the gerrymandering that took place, you’ve got the John Doe investigations, and now you’ve got this,” Barrett said. “At some point people are going to have to say, ‘Look, every single time you look at this, it is to try to have a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ scenario.’”

The state Democratic Party also put out a press release on Wednesday, again calling on Walker to answer more questions raised by recent emails from the first John Doe probe.

But Marquette University political science Professor John McAdams said going after Scott Walker via John Doe still seems to be a failing strategy.

“Voters do seem to care more about performance than they care about a scandal, unless the scandal, first, is real,” McAdams said. “Number two, it has to seem like it’s important enough such the politician in question really can’t govern.”

McAdams said he believes the typical voter thinks politics is sort of dirty anyway. McAdams notes Richard Nixon didn’t resign as president until it became clear to the public that Watergate had deprived Nixon of his ability to run the nation.

Walker’s office did not respond to an email asking about Walker’s position on the early voting bill.