Scott Walker Upset More Proof of Corruption Released Near Election Day

Scott Walker had a lot to say about the latest batch of emails revealing corruption when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive.

No fair showing Scott Walker's office was crooked this close to Election Day, says Walker.

Several emails show Walker's campaign treasurer received inside information on a real-estate deal. Public office for private benefit of Walker's cronies, that's Scott Walker in a nutshell.

"Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday declined to answer specific questions about why he helped his campaign treasurer in an ultimately unsuccessful bid in 2010 to provide office space for Milwaukee County, where Walker was the county executive," report Dee J. Hall, Matthew DeFour, Mary Spicuzza and Steven Verburg report in the Wisconsin State Journal.

"Most voters can see through the smoke screen. It's pretty obvious this was done for partisan political reasons. If it was for any other reason it would have been done a lot sooner," said Walker. (Glauber, Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Walker may call his office's emails a smokescreen but what is revealed is more corruption from the man asking Wisconsin citizens to trust him for four more years.

Note Glauber and Bice:

The new emails do shed light on the part of the John Doe investigation focused on competition to house the county's Department on Aging in private office space.

Cynthia Archer, who was the county's administration director, offered inside financial information to John Hiller, then Walker's campaign treasurer and a consultant for RAIT Financial Trust, owner of the Reuss Federal Plaza downtown. The owners of the Reuss building were one of the three final bidders on the lease deal.

"I understand the timeframe is short due to when final and best offers are due, so I will get you something ASAP," Archer wrote on Aug. 20, 2010, to Hiller and Jim Villa, a former Walker county aide who at the time was president of the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin.

Hiller wrote in response, "I am very sensitive to the situation and I work pretty hard not to leave fingerprints."

The next day, Archer sent a private email to Walker and Villa — but not Hiller — critical of the Reuss proposal, saying it wasn't the best deal for the county.

A few minutes later, Archer used her personal account to email Walker.

Dee J. Hall, Matthew DeFour, Mary Spicuzza and Steven Verburg report in the Wisconsin State Journal:

In another series of email exchanges, Walker asked Hiller in June 2010 to have the broker for the Reuss building reject Milwaukee County’s request for a six-month lease extension on the building, setting up the need for the later deal that Reuss bid on.

In another email to Archer on Aug. 20, 2010, Hiller said he thought officials involved with the request for proposals were unaware of his involvement. “I am very sensitive to the situation and I work pretty hard not to leave finger prints,” Hiller wrote.

Hiller resigned as Walker’s campaign treasurer in May 2011. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2012 that the John Doe investigation was probing a county real estate deal possibly involving Hiller.

Months before Hiller was lobbying for his proposal, another Walker county aide was dropping Walker’s name as he tipped off a developer about the potential deal.

“Not very many people know about this yet,” Greg Reiman, of the county aging department, said in an April 15, 2010, email to real estate broker Scott J. Revolinski of RFP Commercial Inc. “I believe they have only talked to the City of Milwaukee Dept of Development and possibly David Boerke (who manages Federal Plaza). I am also telling one other developer I know about this opportunity. I told Scott Walker that I would mention this opportunity to you and see if RFP might be interested in this building. If you are interested I will put you in touch with Scott’s Chief of Staff, Tom Nardelli.”

If the facts of Scott Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County Executive were widely revealed in northern and central Wisconsin, Walker's prospects for reelection would crash.

A glance at central and northern Wisconsin papers reveal the shady real estate deals are blacked-out in local media coverage, replaced by Walker's knockdown as the main story if the story is even run.

Mary Burke called Scott Walker out in a new TV spot that many of Walker's detractors see as overdue: