Walker spent $10,000 for public relations

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A filing with the Internal Revenue Service shows that Gov. Scott Walker paid nearly $10,000 to a public relations firm out of $160,000 set aside for a legal defense fund.

The payment was first reported Tuesday by the government watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Walker created the legal defense fund to handle expenses related to an ongoing criminal investigation in Milwaukee County that’s focused on associates and former Walker aides. Walker has said he is not the focus of the probe.

The IRS filing shows public relations firm APCO Worldwide Inc. in Chicago was paid $9,988 on May 15, just weeks before the June 5 recall.

Walker campaign spokesman Tom Evenson says the firm “provided assistance on legal and media issues.”