Elections board doesn't buy Walker's story

The state Elections Board has asked Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's campaign to pony up $5,000 to settle a complaint filed by two county supervisors over phone calls placed by Walker's campaign without identifying who paid for them.

Walker's campaign made 40,000 recorded calls in November to urge people to call their county supervisors and ask them to support Walker's budget. (I had it wrong earlier, and said the calls asked for a "yes" vote in a referendum on a pension borrowing scheme Walker was promoting. He did that with taxpayer-paid e-mail, and his county election commission said it was OK.)

Walker had tried to claim the County Elections Commission had already dismissed the matter, which turned out not to be true.

Walker's campaign said it corrected the error after some of the calls had already gone out, and tried to blame the vendor for failing to include the disclaimer, but the Elections Board didn't buy that, either.

The board's counsel, George Dunst, laid out the issue in a memo discussed here on Tuesday. The complaint was filed in May by Milwaukee County Supervisors John Weishan, Jr. and Gerry Broderick. The settlement offer came on a 5-3 vote.

UPDATE: Journal Sentinel headline calls it a fine; story says it's a forfeiture. Walker's campaign doesn't say if it will pay, whatever it is.

UPDATE 2: Jessica McBride/Bucher admits Walker's had a bad month, but minimizes the Elections Board issue because -- gasp! -- her investigation has found that the people who filed the complaint, their lawyer, and some members of the board are Democrats who don't like Walker. Who else would file and pursue a complaint? Of course it's political, but that doesn't change the basic fact that Walker broke the state law. What really hurt him wasn't failing to put a disclaimer on a phone call; it was the denial and attempted coverup. (Why do I add Bucher to her name? I think it's relevant that she is married to DA and would-be AG Paul Bucher. Among other things, Bucher sponsored a Walker fund-raiser in April. If I were married to Peg Lautenschlager, do you think my readers should know that? (I'm not, just for the record. I am married to Hillary Clinton, as many of you have suspected for some time.)