This "probe" was an attempt by Democrats to intimidate Walker and his supporters after he handily overcame their recall campaign. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, launched the probe in mid-2012, shortly after the conclusion of the recall elections sparked by Act 10, which curbed collective bargaining for public workers. In the most prominent race, Walker became the first governor in the country's history to survive a recall election. A federal judge has recognized the actual nature of this inquiry and put an end to it.

A federal judge ordered a halt Tuesday to the John Doe investigation into campaign spending and fundraising by Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and conservative groups, saying the effort appeared to violate one of the group's free speech rights.

In his 26-page decision, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa in Milwaukee told prosecutors to immediately stop the long-running, five-county probe into possible illegal coordination between Walker's campaign, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and a host of others during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections.

"The (Wisconsin Club for Growth and its treasurer) have found a way to circumvent campaign finance laws, and that circumvention should not and cannot be condemned or restricted. Instead, it should be recognized as promoting political speech, an activity that is 'ingrained in our culture,'" Randa wrote, quoting from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

He ordered an immediate halt to the investigation, the return of all property seized during it, and the destruction of any information and materials gained in the investigation. He told the Wisconsin Club for Growth it did not need to cooperate with prosecutors in any way...

Shades of the IRS: The investigation's focus on Walker and the Wisconsin Club for Growth has been clear for some time, but Randa revealed investigators also were probing candidates for state Senate and that "all or nearly all right-of-center groups and individuals in Wisconsin who engaged in issue advocacy from 2010 to the present are targets of the investigation."

Imagine if the "investigation" was being conducted by Walker and the Republicans and was targeting "all or nearly all left-of-center groups and individuals in Wisconsin who engaged in issue advocacy from 2010 to the present." Do you think maybe we would have heard more about it?

In any case in typical Liberal fashion the members of this Leftist Inquisition are showing a most cooperative attitude with this judicial ruling. Special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, who was leading the investigation, said late Tuesday he expects to challenge the decision by appealing to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. I imagine, too, the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" is just heartbroken over this given it is one of the most Liberal rags in the nation.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepoliti...-258209431.html