"Railroad line owner receives 2 felony counts after sending campaign funds through employees to Walker campaign"

"A major donor to Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign was charged Monday with two felonies after an investigation discovered he illegally contributed more than $50,000 to political campaigns throughout the state."

The Badger Herald has more. 

"Fervor of Wisconsin debate shifts to recall elections"

"Nearly a month after the Wisconsin standoff over union rights ended, some of the fervor from that debate has shifted to recall efforts targeting lawmakers in both parties - Republicans who voted to cut back collective bargaining and Democrats who fled the state to try to stop them."

The Chicago Tribune has more.

"Election turnout magnified divide in Wisconsin"

"The governor's argument, echoed by many Republicans, is that: The election did not reflect negatively on Walker, it merely confirmed the state's underlying 50/50 political makeup, and if there were any backlash against the governor and his policies, it was mainly a Madison phenomenon."

The Journal Sentinel has more. 

Debate over Wisconsin's new union law continues

"Democrats and union leaders, emboldened by the huge outpouring of protesters who have rallied for weeks at the Capitol to oppose what they called a politically motivated effort to weaken unions, pledged to redouble their political, legal and legislative efforts to block measures that the governor had described as necessary to balance the budget."

The NYT has more.

"Wis. Dems file ethics complaint against governor over prank-call conduct"

"The Wisconsin Democratic Party has filed an ethics complaint against Republican Gov. Scott Walker over statements he made during a recorded prank call."

Salon has more here. 

"Are Wisconsin Republicans preparing to break with Walker?"

"I don't know if these reports are true or not, and we should treat them with caution. But we now have two news outlets, one local and one national, claiming GOP defections from Governor Scott Walker may be in the works."

Greg Sargent of WaPo has more here.

What does David Koch have to say about the prank call to Gov. Scott Walker?

"More than a thousand miles from the labor tumult in Wisconsin — where his name shows up on the signs of protesters and a liberal blogger impersonating him got through to the governor on the phone and said 'gotta crush that union!' — the real David H. Koch was greeted rather more warmly here Friday when he officially opened a new cancer research institute bearing his name."

The NYT has more here.

Charles Koch speaks out on his family's much-maligned political spending

Charles Koch wrote this piece in the WSJ to, in part, defend his family's political spending. 


"For many years, I, my family and our company have contributed to a variety of intellectual and political causes working to solve these problems. Because of our activism, we've been vilified by various groups. Despite this criticism, we're determined to keep contributing and standing up for those politicians, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who are taking these challenges seriously."

Are the Koch brothers an anti-union force to be reckoned with?

"The billionaire Koch brothers -- whose deep pockets and small-government philosophy have made them conservative powerhouses -- are playing an influential role in the drive to strip public employee unions of their rights to bargain in several U.S. states."

Andrew Stern of Reuters has more here. 

Should AWOL Dem Senators in Wisconsin be recalled?

"An effort to recall state Sen. Dave Hansen kicked off Saturday with hundreds of supporters and opponents gathering on the far northwest side of Green Bay.

Hansen, assistant minority leader from Green Bay, is one of 14 Democratic senators who left the state on Feb. 17 to block a vote on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that would, among other things, discontinue collective bargaining for public-sector employees."

USA Today has this report.

"Mitt Romney donates to Wisconsin Republican Party as budget battle rages"

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a likely 2012 GOP presidential candidate, announced Thursday that his political action committee has donated $5,000 to the Wisconsin Republican Party as a sign of support for Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the state's ongoing budget fight. "


The Hill has this report. 

"Watchdog calls for criminal probe of Governor Walker over prank Koch call"

"A Washington-based campaign finance watchdog group is calling on Wisconsin prosecutors to launch an investigation of Governor Scott Walker, alleging potentially illegal fundraising activity in an exchange with the prankster who posed as billionaire David Koch, the group says."


Greg Sargent, of WaPo, has more here. 

"What do Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and California have in common? Public employee pension problems, minus the rancor"

"In California the Legislative Analyst Office pegs the estimated medium-term unfunded liabilities for government employee pensions at $136 billion—in the next 10 years taxpayers will be on the hook for somewhere between $325 - $500 billion to fill shortfalls in all pension funds."


KPCC has this report. 

"Wisconsin Gov. Walker's punk'd phone call is a viral hit"

"Really? A 20- to 25-minute conversation and he didn’t know he was being punk’d? The tale of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bogus phone conversation with a guy he thought was multi-billionaire conservative tycoon David H. Koch is making serious waves."


The Minnesota Post has more here. 

"Did Gov. Scott Walker Break the Law During Prank Call?"

"Did Wisconsin Scott Walker break the law during his phone conversation with a prank caller posing as right-wing billionaire David Koch?"

Mother Jones poses that question.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got large campaign donations from Tea Party supporters, David and Charles Koch

"The Wisconsin governor who sparked a massive uprising by going after public workers gobbled up big bucks from a Manhattan moneyman who got the Tea Party percolating.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker's campaign got a $43,000 campaign contribution last year from a political action committee controlled by brothers David and Charles Koch, several news outlets reported, citing Wisconsin campaign finance filings."

Cory Siemaszko, writing for the NY Daily News, has more here.

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Funded by the Koch Bros."

"Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, whose bill to kill collective bargaining rightsfor public-sector unions has caused an uproar among state employees, might not be where he is today without the Koch brothers."


Click here for more from one view, click on this piece in Mother Jones by Andy Kroll.