"Judge who signed Walker recall petition to stay on John Doe case."

"Milwaukee County Judge Dennis Cimpl said Wednesday he would not step aside from hearing a criminal case against a county appointee of Gov. Scott Walker, arguing his signing of a recall petition against Walker wasn't evidence of bias."

The embezzlement case against Kevin Kavanaugh has nothing to do with Walker, Cimpl said, who nonetheless argued that his support for making Walker face voters in a recall didn't mean the judge held any animosity toward the governor.

"It has nothing to do with Scott Walker as a person," Cimpl said in court. "I voted for Scott Walker as county executive two times. I thought he did a decent job as county executive.