Confirmed, Walker in back pocket of Industry. Corporate Polluter Bypasses Legislature.

It’s really something when a corporation in trouble over pollution bypasses the legislature to seek favors from the governor. So let’s stop pretending. I hope Walker’s opponent in 2014 will use this tidbit as a major issue in their campaign.

WSJ-Mary Spicuzza: Madison-Kipp Corp. asked Gov. Scott Walker’s office to intervene in an ongoing investigation at the company’s plant on the East Side of Madison, and to interfere with a lawsuit filed by its neighbors, according to testimony from a state official in a federal lawsuit.

The Wisconsin DNR official charged with overseeing testing and cleanup at the Madison-Kipp site said that in 30 years of working at the DNR he “could recall no instance where a company went to the governor’s office complaining” about his decisions, according to court documents filed last week in a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the site.

Michael Schmoller, DNR project manager at the Madison-Kipp facility, testified that he had never before heard of a DNR-regulated company asking the state to sue it in order to block a citizens’ lawsuit. The state Department of Justice, on behalf of the DNR, ultimately sued Madison-Kipp. But it’s unclear if it did so because of the company’s request.

Yeah, it's "unclear." Are you kidding?

State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, who represents the area, said she is concerned about Madison-Kipp cleanup efforts and Michael Best & Friedrich attorney Ray Taffora approached Walker’s chief legal counsel, Brian Hagedorn, and asked for the state to take legal action that would pre-empt or prevent neighboring families from pursuing a claim against Madison-Kipp under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

“MKC would prefer to spend its resources defending allegations against the state of Wisconsin and restoring the environment than paying out-of-state plaintiffs’ counsel given that the federal statute provides for the plaintiffs’ attempted recovery of their fees and costs,” Taffora wrote in an email

State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, who represents the area, said she is concerned about Madison-Kipp cleanup efforts and Taffora’s contact with the governor’s office.

“It certainly looks like he may be using his influence to get preferential treatment for his clients,” Taylor said. “That’s unconscionable.”