To Protect and Serve Scott Walker, GOP Wants to Gut Law Enforcement

Wisconsin Republicans Try to Shield Scott Walker from John Doe Probe as Walker Remains at Center of "Criminal Scheme"

Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are concerned corrupt GOP officials, especially Scott Walker, will be investigated by law enforcement so Republicans want to gut Wisconsin's John Doe statute, after stonewalling and stalling two law enforcement probes through federal and state litigation and then complaining the probes are taking too long.

That's called chutzpah.

The newly proposed Republican version of the John Doe law would decimate the statute and its power to conduct probes into corrupt elected public officials' crimes such as public integrity crimes and misconduct in public office (Hall, Wisconsin State Journal)—as occurred during Scott Walker's tenure (2002-2010) as Milwaukee County Executive by top aides—by limiting John Doe probes' duration to six months. (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

This maneuver by Wisconsin Republicans and only Wisconsin Republicans can be understood as a means to protect Scott Walker from the John Doe II probe looking into likely crimes involving Walker. (Marley, Bice and Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"[F]ormer Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann ... said [the new proposed law] would create difficulties for Walker's presidential ambitions because it would appear he was trying to permanently stop the probe," the center of which lies Scott Walker and a criminal scheme, as asserted by a bipartisan group of prosecutors in documents made public last year. (Marley, Bice and Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) "Prosecutors would no longer be able to use the Doe law to investigate identity theft, mortgage fraud, dealing small levels of heroin and cocaine, theft reaching into the millions of dollars, misconduct in office, perjury, and campaign finance and ethics law violations, McCann said." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

McCann overestimates the memory of the electorate, and the GOP motive is clear: Get law enforcement away from Scott Walker period.

Had the GOP-proposed law existed during the John Doe I probe (2010-2013) the criminal "convictions of six aides and associates of Walker ... [could not have been investigated nor conviction verdicts determined or pled]. The crimes included performing campaign work in county offices, stealing from a veterans fund and skirting limits on political donations." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Naturally, in the Republican mind of today these crimes must be protected and not the military veterans and their families, nor the Wisconsin people.

The Republican scheme to gut Wisconsin's John Doe statute faces universal opposition from Wisconsin Democrats and good government groups like Common Cause.

The new Republican proposal also would remove the secrecy provision of the John Doe statute, though Republican allies are still fighting to keep secret proceedings of John Doe I and II that would prove embarrassing to Scott Walker such as last year's release of some 27,000 emails. (The Progressive)

The secrecy codicil of the John Doe statute is a reformist provision that protects the innocent and the investigation. (Berghahn, Hurley, Burish and Stanton S.C.)

The John Doe II probe is now before the corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court in several cases which are being pushed to be held in secret in April 2015 oral arguments by GOP allies on the Court.

Yesterday, it was reported, the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sought Wednesday to intervene in three cases to help ensure the state's high court allows journalists and the public to review legal briefs and attend arguments over an investigation into whether Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups in recall elections." (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)