The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Thursday it will not take up the investigation of a former aide of Gov. Scott Walker, a decision which political opponents have charged as motivated by partisanship.
While items were recently seized from the house of Cindy Archer, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Administration and an aide for Walker while he was the Milwaukee County Executive, the motives behind the Federal Bureau of Investigation raid remain murky.
In a statement from the DOJ, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said the department made the decision not to seek participation in the federal investigation.
Cullen Werwie, spokesperson for Walker, declined to comment on the issue.
DOJ spokesperson Dana Brueck said in a statement information concerning the investigation would not be made available for the public from the organization until it is deemed necessary to do so.
“We understand your interest in wanting to know more, and when appropriate, any interaction between the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s office will be made available,” she said.
They gave no further comment.
Van Hollen’s political affiliations, a statement from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin said, have frequently colored his decision-making while serving as attorney general.
The statement credited the decision not to involve itself as ruling based primarily on party lines, and said the attorney general has not distributed an even weight to Democratic and Republican legal issues.
The investigation of former Milwaukee Democratic Ald. Michael McGee Jr., District 6, was a case which Van Hollen eagerly pursued, the statement said, which vastly contrasts to the attorney general’s approach to the Archer case, saying he does not take on cases where his “Tea Party ally [Walker]” is under scrutiny.
“J.B. Van Hollen has been close to Scott Walker and committed to operating the Department of Justice as an adjunct to Walker’s radical Tea Party agenda,” Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate said in a statement.
Van Hollen, the statement said, is not performing his duty as attorney general by letting his partisanship interfere with what should be a fair justice process.
“Justice should be blind, regardless of whether one is a cheerleader for the Koch Brothers agenda or not,” the statement said.
Walker said in a recent stop in Milwaukee that his office had not received any information on the raid and that he knew no more details on the ongoing investigation than he had received from media coverage from around the state.
Archer also told the Associated Press she was instructed by law enforcement not to comment on any of the items that had been taken from her home.
Archer submitted a court affidavit in June, explaining her involvement with the bill against collective bargaining rights and her opinions on that matter.
Van Hollen, currently acting as Archer’s attorney, has asked the affidavit be withdrawn as this would prevent the plaintiff from reading further into Archer’s claims and also prevent Archer’s possible deposition.
Democratic Chairman Mike Tate expressed incredulity from the Wisconsin Democrats at multiple investigations involving members of Walker’s administration, calling them “disturbing.”
The investigation against Cindy Archer began around the time that another of Walker’s aides, a former county official, resigned after making politically pro-Walker comments on a news blog.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In the original article, it mistakenly said the DOJ announced its position on the investigation. The DOJ never announced its position on the investigation publicly. We regret the error.
