Aug 24, 2014

Scott Walker Criminality Seen in Black and White

Penokee Hills in northern Wisconsin -
Gogebic Taconite LLC shelled out money
to Wisconsin GOP candidates and the GOP
to gain permission to rip a massive
open pit mine in this pristine region.
Gogebic Taconite LLC (GTac) wants to build the largest open iron ore pit mine in North America, ripping a 1,000-foot pit in the center in the lush Penokee Hills in far-northern Wisconsin in Iron and Ashland counties, and Scott Walker illegally coordinated with at least one group to help GTac inflict this environmental catastrophe onto this region that would "fill in pristine streams and ponds with mine waste" (Kaufman, NYT).

Scott Walker and the Republican Party allies want the GTac mine to proceed for the money, their money--their monetary gain.

Wisconsin law enforcement documents released by court
show Scott Walker illegally sought millions of
dollars in campaign financing
[see Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel].
"According to documents released [August 22, 2014]in a John Doe probe, Wisconsin Club for Growth bank records indicate that Gogebic Taconite LLC gave $700,000 to [R.J.] Johnson's [of the Scott Walker campaign] group in 2011-12. Shortly after the recall elections, Republican lawmakers and Walker approved legislation that will make it easier for Gogebic to construct an iron-ore mine in northern Wisconsin." (John Doe documents released Friday also show a secret $700,000 donation from Gogebic to a pro-Gov. Scott Walker group (Marley, Bice and Bergquist, Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel)). ...

"The Governor is encouraging all to invest in the Wisconsin Club for Growth," said an April 28, 2011, email from Kate Doner, a Walker campaign consultant, to R.J. Johnson, an adviser to Walker's campaign and the advocacy group. "Wisconsin Club for Growth can accept corporate and personal donations without limitations and no donors disclosure."

In the email, Doner wrote to Johnson that Walker wanted Wisconsin Club for Growth exclusively to coordinate campaign themes. "As the Governor discussed ... he wants all the issue advocacy efforts run thru one group to ensure correct messaging," she wrote.

These documents demonstrate the prosecution's theory of illegal campaign finance coordination committed by the Walker campaign and by Walker himself. This is the smoking gun.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has been all over this story from the beginning as probes by Wisconsin Constitutional law enforcement officers looking into possible criminality have caused panic in Wisconsin GOP circles. See Wisconsin John Doe I (2010-2013) DA: Scott Walker's stonewalling and stalling caused John Doe probe (Bice); and John Doe II: Secret probe spreads to five Wisconsin counties - Possible violations during recall elections among issues (Bice).

Scott Walker refuses to engage any facts or released documents, leaving spokespersons to state: Scott Walker is not a targeta non sequitur since no one is a target in a Wisconsin John Doe probe that is empowered by Wisconsin stature to determine if and by whom (the nature and the extant) crimes may have been committed.

I asked a well-informed law enforcement jurist if anyone ever becomes a "target" in Wisconsin John Doe probes. "Sure, [the jurist said], if that someone is charged with a crime."

Then the criminal justice system begins, and the John Doe probe closes.

Being subpoenaed in a John Doe probe is indicative of nothing, other than the fact that a John Doe investigative team, overseen by a judge, wants sworn testimony or evidence that assists an investigative team into looking at possible criminality.

In the John Doe II case, Scott Walker appears to be at the center of possible criminality in illegally coordinating contributions in violation of Wisconsin campaign finance law.

So, a corrupt federal judge and member of the Federalist Society, Rudolph Randa, halted the John Doe probe in May 2014 (Marley, Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) in a stunning move, ordering the destruction of all evidence gathered to shield Scott Walker and his campaign funding team from being exposed in an election year. Randa's destruction-of-evidence order was stayed by a Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's panel's order of May 7, 2014.

"We hereby stay the return-and-destroy portions of [Judge Randa's] injunction and order defendants not to disclose or use the information they have gathered, and that is within the scope of the injunction, pending further order of this court," reads the opinion and order (footnote omitted).

The Seventh Circuit's panel is composed of Diane Wood, William J. Bauer, and Frank Easterbrook.

Judge Randa is a frequent attendee of privately-funded all-expenses paid trips for judges at Koch-backed judicial junkets (Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy). Randa has also made corrupt rulings protecting the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from survivors of molestation and rape, shielding $10s of millions from bankruptcy proceedings, (Goodstein, NYT) after the archdiocese sought to shield their assets when Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan (now Bishop of New York) was Milwaukee's archbishop.

The Seventh Circuit's panel has set a September 9 hearing date for oral arguments after which Randa's incredible ruling is expected to be overruled, and the Club for Growth will then ask for a hearing (en banc) before the full Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit members or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a continued injunction of the Wisconsin Consitional law enforcement official doing their jobs [see Question and Answer on John Doe Probe in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, (Patrick Marley) for more background].

The case is Eric O'Keefe and Wisconsin Club for Growth Inc. v. John T. Chisholm, Bruce J. Landgraf and David Robles et al.

---

A reader asked who represents the area targeted by the GTac mine in the Wisconsin legislature.

The answer is: In the Wisconsin State Senate, an election is being held this November featuring state Rep. Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) and Dane Deutsch (a typical rightwing Republican Party nominee from Rice Lake who refuses to take a public position on the proposed GTac mine) for the 25th Senate District [to fill the seat of the retiring State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) who complained that special interests and lack of transparency now define the Wisconsin Legislature under Republican control, so naturally Jauch is taking his pension and quitting, instead of fighting right in the middle of the battle against GTac].

In the State Assembly, an election is being held to fill the seat for Assembly District 74 held by State Rep. Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) who is running for Jauch's seat. The race features Beth Meyers (D-Town of Russell, Bayfield County Board Supervisor), and a shady character named Jamey L. Francis, Republican City Councilman from Hurley, Wisconsin, and chair of the Iron County Republican Party.

Be very afraid, the sparsely populated Iron County is rife with political and judicial corruption. More on this Jamey Francis to come.

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