Walker’s Former Campaign Manager Talks About Doe

Governor Walker’s former campaign manager says he’s cooperating with the John Doe investigation in Milwaukee, and denies the campaign illegally coordinated with Walker’s county executive staff in 2010.

Milwaukee County prosecutors recently released e-mails showing correspondence in 2010 between Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes andCounty Executive staffer Kelly Rindfleisch, who may be going to jail for campaigning on taxpayer time. Gilkes was asked Thursday if the documents show illegal coordination between campaign and county staff, “I don’t believe that’s the case, but I’m cooperating with the DA so I can’t comment further.”

Gilkes told reporters they’ve only seen bits and pieces of various e-mails. Gilkes was also asked as to whether he ordered county staff to set up a separate computer network in the county office, to lessen the chance of public oversight, “I have no knowledge of it, and it’s not something I was involved in.”

But Gilkes admission that he’s still working with country prosecutors in the doe case, and the claim that the media have only seen small bits of the 2010 e-mails troubles state Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski, “Well obviously the investigation isn’t over. The public should see all the emails.”

Former Walker aide Gilkes contends the public understands what took place in 2010, and that Walker will continue to stress his cooperation with prosecutors.Gilkes says he isn’t working for the governor now, and hasn’t decided about working on Walker’s expected 2014 campaign.