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In 1997, Block was the campaign manager for Jon Wilcox, a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court who was running for another term in office. The Wilcox campaign faced a tough challenger, well-known Wisconsin lawyer Walt Kelly, and in its final get-out-the-vote efforts, the Wilcox camp allegedly coordinated activities with "independent" special interests, which would have been a violation of campaign finance law.<ref name=Nichols>John Nichols, [http://www.thenation.com/blog/164306/herman-cains-next-scandal-his-smoking-campaign-manager# Herman Cain’s Next Scandal: His Smoking Campaign Manager], The Nation, November 1, 2011.</ref>
Following the election, the Kelly campaign, as well as the Madison newspaper ''Capital Times'', called for an investigation into the Wilcox campaign’s election activities, and specifically into a last-minute mailer to 354,000 voters whose authorship was undisclosed. In 2001, the Wisconsin Elections Board investigated the matter and formally alleged the campaign, including Block, violated state election law.<ref name=Nichols /> Wilcox paid a $10,000 fine, Block paid a $15,000 fine and was barred from Wisconsin politics for three years. In total, Wilcox associates paid $60,000, the largest fine in Wisconsin election law history. <ref> Ryan J. Foley and Shannon McCaffrey, <ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/mark-block-herman-cain-chief-of-staff_n_1063425.html Mark Block, Herman Cain Chief Of Staff, Has Checkered Past]. FN </ref> <ref>[http://journaltimes.com/news/state-and-regional/elections-board-settles-wilcox-case-for-record-fine/article_73fdd24a-e9ec-5f4a-9016-1d2324e58812.html</ref>
Block sued the elections board, but was ultimately forced to settle in a case WISCONSIN COALITION FOR VOTER PARTICIPATION INC v. STATE ELECTIONS BOARD. The case established that that coordination between third party, dark money groups and candidates was prohibited under Wisconsin law. This was the guiding legal precedent implicated by the [[Scott Walker John Doe]] investigation into alleged coordination between Walker and another dark money group[[Wisconsin Club for Growth]] during the 2012 recall period. In September 2015, the right-wing majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the Wilcox precedent in a footnote, and legalized candidate coordination with unlimited dark money groups becoming the first court in the nation to do so. Two Wisconsin justices, who were elected after large expenditures by [[Wisconsin Club for Growth]], were asked to recuse in the case by a state appointed special prosecutor, but declined to do so. Learn more on the [[Scott Walker John Doe]] page in Sourcewatch.