A group of public employees paid
a less-than-friendly visit to the home of one of Scott Walker's top former aides:
About a dozen law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, visited the home of a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday as part of a growing John Doe investigation.
The home on Dunning St. on Madison's east side is listed in property records as belonging to Cynthia A. Archer, who was until recently deputy administration secretary to the Republican governor.
"We're doing a law enforcement action," one of the FBI agents told a reporter.
Authorities did not comment on the substance of law enforcement action or the ongoing investigation that led to the action. However, it is worth noting that when Walker became governor, Archer was given a key administration job with a massive raise compared to her processor:
Archer, who abruptly left her top post with Walker's administration last month for "personal family matters," had another politically appointed job under the governor already lined up.
She took a $25,000 pay cut in moving to a position at the Department of Children and Families, but the nearly $100,000 salary in that job is still tens of thousands of dollars more than the pay of others who have had the job.
State officials have said Archer remained on leave. Department spokeswoman Stephanie Hayden has not answered whether Archer was being paid while on leave, saying that was confidential.
This sort of cronyism has been on display before in the Walker administration. Republican political appointments, including girlfriends of state senators and sons of major donors, are given state jobs with massive raises even as other public employees are forced to take large cuts in salaries, benefits and collective bargaining rights.
With the window for gathering recall signatures opening in only two months, if this develops into a major criminal scandal it could sink the Walker administration for good.
