Did Supreme Court drop Scott Walker probe because it’s shorthanded?

Decision comes three weeks after leaked documents showing 
link between “independent” groups and campaign

The John Doe investigation of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is apparently dead now.

That’s what University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political scientist Joe Heim concludes from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to reopen a probe into Walker’s recall campaign of 2012.

The Wisconsin Club for Growth said again that the investigation was a politically-motivated attack on Walker. 

The order was issued less than three weeks after documents were leaked that showed the governor and his aides worked closely with the Wisconsin Club for Growth and other supposedly independent groups on recall elections. The documents included details about large donations up to $750,000 from those who benefited from laws approved by Walker and GOP lawmakers.

“I read a lot of this stuff and I’m thinking ‘Wow this is a far more complicated issue,'” Heim said. “I think that’s why the Supreme Court didn’t deal with it. It is very complex. It would require a lot of time and effort and may end up in a 4-4 tie, anyways.

“To my understanding, they’ve been passing up hundreds, if not thousands, of cases because they anticipate they wouldn’t get anywhere with them anyway. So, why spend a lot of time on something you’re not going to get done?”

Then again, if the case were to take so much time, it may come when the Supreme Court is again at nine justices.

Heim, however, says future complaints about Walker probably should go to the state ethics board, instead of being pursued by district attorneys. An ethics board that is now bipartisan, made up of three Democrats and three Republicans.