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Feb 10, 2012
Perhaps Gov. Scott Walker's rich out-of-state donors should read the local news before writing those millions of dollars worth of checks to his recall campaign. If it's political favors they're after, Walker could have a hard time delivering them from a prison cell.
According to recent indictments from the ongoing John Doe probe of Walker's days as Milwaukee County executive, the evidence is getting closer to his door. Within 20 feet, in fact.
Prosecutors have uncovered evidence that Walker's county staff was hard at work on the taxpayer's dime organizing fundraisers and conducting nefarious campaign activities for his 2010 gubernatorial race. To conceal those criminal activities, staffers utilized a clandestine network of laptops and wireless routers hidden in an armoire 20 feet from Walker's office.
In 2005, two Senate Democrats and the Republican Assembly Speaker were sentenced to prison for similar crimes in what's known as the "Caucus Scandal." Kelly Rindfleisch, a Walker staffer recently charged with four felony counts, was granted immunity in that scandal but apparently learned nothing from the experience.
Walker denies knowledge of the illegal activities occurring on his behalf down the corridor from his office. But a smoking gun has already been found linking Walker to the crime, and prosecutors have demanded a meeting. The governor has hired two criminal defense attorneys.
After the story broke about staffer Darlene Wink's illegal fundraising using county equipment on county time, Walker sent an e-mail to his close associate Tim Russell saying, "We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc."
In that e-mail, which prosecutors released recently, Walker was clearly acknowledging the illicit network of laptops and routers as well as the illegal campaigning. Wink has plea-bargained her way down to misdemeanor charges in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors,
Some years ago, Walker was apparently asked to leave Marquette University because of unethical acts he committed during his campaign for student body president. The episode left a stain on his academic record that seems to have prevented him from applying to another school, forcing him to embark on his ambitious political career without the requisite college degree. Like Rindfleisch, he might have learned a lesson from his experience. But he appears to have made no effort to reform.
If Walker hadn't handed financial control of a veterans fundraising group to Russell, who'd been fired from a previous state job for misusing public money, his illegal shadow campaign might never have been exposed. Russell's embezzlement of money from that group sparked the current probe.
In a chat session with Russell that was found by investigators, Wink asked how to delete and destroy documents. "How do I get rid of the PDF from my IM?" she inquired. "I don't want to go to jail for this, ha ha."
Thanks to her plea-bargaining, she probably won't. But Walker should soon learn that performing illegal dirty tricks on the taxpayers' dime is no laughing matter.
