After taking a two-week hiatus, I dove back into research this weekend and - once again, by chance - ran across an eye-catching procurement on July 30, 2012, by Governor Walker's office for legal services...from a law firm in Washington D.C. with some very high-level, politically-experienced lawyers.
The law firm in question is Dow Lohnes, a firm which provides a range of legal services from aviation to tax law. What I found most interesting - at least, in relation to what's currently happening in Wisconsin - are the services they categorize as "Government Relations & Legislation".
These services include strategic planning, drafting legislation, preparing witness testimony, and "the identification, analysis, and early warning of Congressional and administrative actions affecting client interests, including the outlook for passage and impact of proposed legislation on a contemplated transaction." Considering that this was just ahead of WI Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen petitioning the WI Supreme Court to bypass the lower courts and consider unblocking the voter ID law that has been blocked by two judges, I can't help but wonder if theses unspecified legal services procured by our governor fall under this category. It makes sense that Walker and his buddies would seek out a powerful D.C. firm to help fight what is clearly a national effort to require photo ID's to vote (which really means, to suppress votes). It is, at least, note-worthy.