Prosecutor wants to restart Scott Walker investigation

CHICAGO, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Prosecutors asked a federal appeals court in Wisconsin to allow them to restart the investigation into possible campaign violations by Gov. Scott Walker's campaign.

A three-judge panel of the 7th District of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard arguments Tuesday to relaunch the investigation, begun in 2012, as to whether Walker's campaign advisors illegally controlled the funding and strategy of ostensibly independent groups in 2011 and 2012.

The original investigation was stopped in May after the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth filed a lawsuit claiming the secret nature of the probe violated its its rights to free speech, association and equal protection.

Prosecutors said they should be able to continue their probe because they have immunity from being sued and because the interests of the public in the case outweighed the interests of the investigated group.

Walker, who was first re-elected in 2010 and became the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall in 2012, has not been charged in the investigation.

The court also heard a media request to release all the records in the investigation, since more of the information is already out.