Eric Kleefeld September 30, 2011, 2:30 PM

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) is gearing up for a potential recall election in 2012, with his chief of staff, Keith Gilkes, now departing in order to become a lead adviser to Walker’s campaign.

It’s a return of sorts to Gilkes’ previous role as campaign manager in the regularly scheduled election that Walker won in 2010.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Gilkes disclosed his plans to top Walker aides during a cabinet meeting Friday at a Madison hotel. In an interview, he said he would serve as lead adviser to Walker’s campaign, but also take on other clients for campaign work. He said he would not go into lobbying.

His departure comes at a time of strain for the administration, with Democrats poised to try to recall the governor next year and a widening John Doe investigation of current and former Walker aides.

The paper reports that Gilkes has said his departure from the Capitol is not connected to the secret “John Doe” investigation of possible political work by Walker aides during his name was Milwaukee County Executive. Moreover, the paper says that top Republican had previously been saying for some time in private that Gilkes would leave the administration in order to prepare for the possible recall.

Corroborating that point, Gilkes’ previous experience has mainly been on campaigns for the state legislative Republicans, before he joined Walker’s campaign team in 2009.

The state has achieved national fame (or infamy) this year for Walker’s legislation stripping public employee unions of most collective bargaining rights, and for the waves of protests that filled the state Capitol and other locations.

Wisconsin Democrats, faced with a 19-14 Republican majority in the state Senate, attempted to mount a backlash against Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-public employee union legislation, by recalling their way to a majority. However, they were also hampered by the fact that the only recall-eligible districts — state law requires that officials have held office for at least one year before being recalled, and half the Senate and Walker himself were just elected in 2010 — were ones where the incumbent had won their terms in 2008, even during that year’s Democratic wave.

In the end, Democrats were only able to pick up two seats, for a narrow 17-16 Republican majority. Four incumbent Republicans and three Democrats retained their seats, while two Republicans lost to Democratic challengers. However, the Dems have still kept the door wide open to trying to recall Walker, and polling data has shown the state closely divided on Walker’s approval and whether to recall him.

2012, 2012 elections, Scott Walker, WI-GOV, Wisconsin , Wisconsin Protests, Wisconsin Recalls