Wisconsin’s Tea Party Attorney General-elect Brad Schimel is making clear right from the start that justice is up for sale, naming a business lobbyist as his top aide.
In a statement released yesterday, Schimel announced that Andrew Cook, a top adviser to his campaign and a lobbyist for Walmart, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, and more than a dozen other organizations, would serve as the deputy secretary at the Department of Justice. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce was the primary outside group that ran ads on behalf of Schimel and now they’ve been rewarded them by Schimel making their lobbyist in charge at DOJ.
WMC also has spent millions in support of Scott Walker’s campaigns and is a named party in the second John Doe criminal corruption probe that is investigating illegal coordination between the Walker campaign and outside interest groups.
Cook’s biography touts his “significant role” in shaping Scott Walker’s civil liability legislation in the 2011-2012 session, when Republicans passed a series of bills that rolled back corporate liability and limited the rights of Wisconsinites harmed by corporations.
Cook also serves as the head of Madison’s chapter of the Federalist Society, a right-wing judicial and legislative advocacy organization. The Center for Media and Democracy reports that the Federalist Society has received millions of dollars in funding from the Koch brothers and the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which is chaired by Scott Walker’s campaign chairman, Michael Grebe.
“As if we needed any more proof that Wisconsin is for sale to the highest bidder, Brad Schimel removes all doubt by installing as his second-in-command a bought and paid for shill for the Koch brothers,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Wednesday. “Big business and special interest groups have a lot to be thankful for this year with Brad Schimel taking over at the Department of Justice. But then again, they are getting from Brad Schimel exactly what they paid for.“
