Wisconsin: NRA put big money on Walker campaign [View all]

[Scuba]

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/nra-put-big-money-on-walker-campaign-te84d8e-184580771.html

Gov. Scott Walker has been quick with symbolic measures after the massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut earlier this month. Walker has called for a moment of silence, a day of mourning and a possible mental health summit.

But don't expect to hear anything from the first-term Republican governor that rankles the National Rifle Association. Not after the gun-rights group bet on the Wauwatosa Republican in an especially big way this year.

The NRA's political and corporate arms dropped $815,660 in independent expenditures in Wisconsin to help Walker defeat Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in an unprecedented recall election in June, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Some of those NRA funds went for a TV spot that told voters: "Barrett has a rating of F from the NRA. Don't let Tom Barrett recall your gun rights." By contrast, the governor was awarded an A-plus grade from the group. He was also a key speaker at the NRA's national convention and the winner of its Defender of Freedom award.