MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Taxpayers paid out more than $577,000 to nine current and former members of Gov. Scott Walker’s security team last year after a federal agency found the state had wrongly withheld overtime pay from them. According to the State Patrol, the payouts cover a period of time, from May 2013 to May 2015, when Walker was frequently traveling for his presidential run. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Walker’s campaign and political organizations paid the airfare and hotel costs of the security team during that time, but not the state troopers’ salaries. Democratic state senator Jon Erpenbach criticizes Walker for the additional security costs, but says he doesn’t hold the state troopers who protect Walker responsible for the big payouts.
