Walker political aides, state appointees at same donor retreat

As long as we're having a discussion in Wisconsin politics and courtrooms about coordination of campaigns, outside financing and government transparency - -  take a look at the squadron of senior Walker-appointed public employees and Walker political aides listed by the Appleton Post-Crescent who attended a confidential retreat with GOP campaign funders.

Corporate donors paid up to $250,000 to attend, and dozens reportedly paid tabs of $100,000.

Details about the funders' retreat were accidentally put on line and reported first by The New York Times; the Wisconsin information below is from the Appleton Post-Crescent story:

Senior members of Gov. Scott Walker's administration and his top campaign and political advisers are listed as attendees at a Republican Governors conference along with corporate titans and lobbyists who donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Governors Association, according to documents published Wednesday by the New York Times. 

Invites to such retreats with high-level decision-makers are listed as a benefit for contributing to the RGA, according to the documents, leading some good-government groups to criticize it as a pay-for-access scheme. Among those who were slated to attend the conference and retreat in California in July 2013 were Walker's Chief of Staff Eric Schutt, Secretary of Administration Mike Huebsch, campaign manager Stephan Thompson and political adviser Keith Gilkes. 

Also listed were Deputy Chief of Staff Rich Zipperer, senior advisers Eileen Schoenfeldt and Waylon Hurlburt and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health Services Kevin Moore.

Note also in this list the presence of big donors from businesses and groups with a major presence in Wisconsin including Johnson Controls, MAXIMUS and the MMAC.