Contact: TJ Helmstetter, tjh@wisdems.org
“Scott Walker’s own corrections secretary blasted him for mismanagement of prisons. Instead of reviewing plans to fix the problem, Walker’s chief of staff discouraged a paper trail. Walker was more worried about bad headlines and lousy fundraising than he was about juveniles being abused. Meanwhile, Walker’s close ally Brad Schimel botched a probe looking into the prison abuse while at the same time failing to test rape kits that could actually solve crimes and help victims. At every turn, Walker has put his own political ambitions ahead of doing his job. No wonder Wisconsin voters are ready for a change.” — TJ Helmstetter, DPW spokesperson for 2018 gubernatorial election.
Previous statements from Ed Wall, former corrections secretary:
- “It was strongly suggested to cabinet secretaries that we not create written records — no paper trails.”
- “Scott Walker completely mismanaged the issues at Lincoln Hills.”
- “When things started to go bad at Lincoln Hills, and I went to the chief of staff, and he was very frustrated and told me, ‘The governor is having trouble raising campaign money and this story won’t get off the front page of the paper.'”
- “We put multiple plans in front of Governor Scott Walker’s staff on how to address the issues at Lincoln Hills and they didn’t want to deal with it.”
- The DOJ was “dragging their feet unbearably” on the Lincoln Hills investigation. “It had been completely botched.”
