Civil rights suit filed against DA in Scott Walker 'John Doe' probe

By Sean Higgins, Sean Higgins

Published December 20, 2015

A former top aide to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, charging that its long-running "John Doe" probe into Walker's political activities was a partisan witch hunt that violated the aide's constitutional rights.

Cindy Archer, formerly Walker's deputy administration secretary, filed the suit in federal court Wednesday. It names District Attorney John Chisholm and four other officials in his office as defendants.

Chisholm started a special probe of Walker in 2010, initially to investigate financial improprieties by his staff when he was Milwaukee County executive. The probe was expanded several times before being shut down by a judge in 2013. Archer became one of its targets, and law enforcement officials, including FBI agents, acting under Chisholm's authority, raided her home in 2011. The lawsuit says the probe was an abuse of authority done because Chisholm was a Democrat who opposed Walker's political agenda.

"This is America, and in America we don't let the authorities raid people's homes and treat them like criminals because of their political beliefs and associations," said Archer's counsel, David B. Rivkin Jr. of the law firm Baker & Hostetler. "That's why we have a Bill of Rights: to stop things like this John Doe investigation from happening."