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In 2013, the [[Franklin Center]]'s "Wisconsin Reporter" website published over a dozen articles aggressively attacking Wisconsin's "John Doe" probe into possible campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's 2011 and 2012 recall elections, and broke stories about the investigation. The Center for Media and Democracy (publishers of Sourcewatch.org) uncovered in December 2013 that the news outlet may have a conflict of interest, as "Franklin Center has close ties to individuals and groups that may be caught up in the John Doe."
Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter called its series on the John Doe "Wisconsin's Secret War," and cited "unnamed sources to reveal that [[Wisconsin Club for Growth]], [[Americans for Prosperity]], and [[Republican Governors Association]] had received subpoenas, and describing details about "after-hours visits to homes and offices" and prosecutors' "demands for phone, email and other records." <ref name="WCFG Franklin">Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12344/why-franklin-center-wisconsin-reporter-attacking-john-doe Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?], PRwatch.org, Dec. 19, 2013. </ref>
Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter described the John Doe investigation as "an abuse of prosecutorial powers" with "the apparent goal of bringing down Gov. Scott Walker." However, the news outlet had what journalism professors called "a conflict of interest that minimally ought to be disclosed, whenever stories are written."
===[https://www.sourcewatch.org/images/2/20/Assault_on_Clean_Election_Laws_final.pdf The Assault on Clean Election Laws: The Well-Funded Campaign to Legalize Coordination in Wisconsin and Nationwide]===
According to the press release relating to a report published by the Center for Media and Democracy in January 2015:<ref>Brendan Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy, [https://www.sourcewatch.org/images/2/20/Assault_on_Clean_Election_Laws_final.pdf The Assault on Clean Election Laws: The Well-Funded Campaign to Legalize Coordination in Wisconsin and Nationwide], organizational report, January 13, 2015.</ref><ref>Center for Media and Democracy, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/01/12711/cmd-issues-new-report-latest-assault-clean-election-laws CMD Issues New Report on Latest Assault on Clean Election Laws], organizational press release, January 13, 2015.</ref>
A bipartisan effort to enforce Wisconsin's longstanding laws governing coordination between campaigns and independent groups has been mislabeled a "partisan witch hunt" by a well-funded legal and media campaign, with the ultimate goal of undermining what remains of limits on big money in politics, according to a new report from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD):
==Ties to the the Coalition for American Values==
The [[Coalition for American Values]] (CAV) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit whose only major activities have been spending $400,080 on ads supporting Wisconsin Governor [[Scott Walker]] in the final weeks of the 2012 recall elections. While the CAV did not disclose its funders at the time, tax filings later revealed that almost all of its funding in 2012 came from the Koch-tied [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]], run by Koch operative [[Sean Noble]].<ref name="koch network funded">Brendan Fischer, "[httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/01/12354/exclusive-koch-network-funded-ads-telling-voters-recall-not-wisconsin-way Exclusive: Ads Telling Voters 'Recall Is Not the Wisconsin Way' Funded by Out-of-State Koch Network]," Center for Media and Democracy's ''PRWatch.org'', January 8, 2014.</ref>
CAV's lawyer, James D. Skyles, was previously General Counsel and Director of Operations at the [[Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity]], which runs Wisconsin Reporter.<ref>Andy Kroll, "[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/wisconsin-recall-coalition-american-values-scott-walker Could this Pro-Walker Dark-Money Group Torpedo Recall Turnout?]," ''Mother Jones'', June 5, 2012.</ref>
The CAV's federal PAC has also paid money to a consulting firm run by John Connors, a leader of operations at the Franklin Center, and president of the group "[[Citizens for a Strong America]]," which was also active in the Wisconsin recall elections and kept its donors hidden, while operating out of a UPS drop box.<ref name="koch network funded"/> <ref name="graves csa">Lisa Graves, "[httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad Group Called "Citizens for a Strong America" Operates out of a UPS Mail Drop but Runs Expensive Ads in Supreme Court Race?]," Center for Media and Democracy, ''PR Watch'', April 2, 2011.</ref>
Additionally, as the Center for Media and Democracy reported,<ref>Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12344/why-franklin-center-wisconsin-reporter-attacking-john-doe Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?], ''PRWatch.org'', December 19, 2013.</ref> "[t]he 'treasurer' listed on Coalition for American Values' FEC filings and the contact on its filings with Wisconsin's election board is Brent Downs. In 2008, when Connors chaired the Marquette College Republicans, Downs was his treasurer. Both were both students at Marquette University at the same time, and Downs, like Connors, also chaired the Students for Prosperity chapter of [[David Koch]]'s [[Americans for Prosperity]] at Marquette University."
Connors' Citizens for a Strong America was entirely funded by Wisconsin Club for Growth and has been under investigation in the [[Scott Walker#Second John Doe Investigation, February 2012-Present|"John Doe" campaign finance investigation]]. The Franklin Center was founded in part by Koch operative [[Eric O'Keefe]], head of the [[Wisconsin Club for Growth]].
