Wisconsin John Doe Probes Seek If and by Whom Crimes Are Commited

The John Doe probe shows Scott Walker is at the center of a criminal scheme to funnel $10s of millions into the recall elections of 2011-12, so are GOP operatives,  R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl.

This does not make them guilty of crimes, John Does are not mini-trials.

This does not make them "targets." John Does are not grand juries and do not designate targets as federal grand juries do (and as some other states' counties do).

It makes them subjects in an investigation that has Wisconsin Republicans and their paymasters across the country scared as rabbits.

This week John Doe special prosecutor Francis Schmitz' attorney, Randall Crocker released a statement: "While these (released) documents outlined the prosecutor's legal theory, they did not establish the existence of a crime; rather, they were arguments in support of further investigation to determine if criminal charges against any person or entity are warranted. Mr. Schmitz has made no conclusions as to whether there is sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime. It is wrong for any person to point to this sentence in a legal argument as a finding by the special prosecutor that Governor Walker has engaged in a criminal scheme. It is not such a finding." (Stein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

At the least the released documents demonstrate that the accumulated evidence exceeds the reasonable suspicion standard for the John Doe probe to proceed. Most jurists (the non-Federalist Society kind) would see the evidence exceeds a higher standard, probable cause, for further investigation.

As for the public relations lines, Prosecutor: Scott Walker is not a target, as the Wisconsin State Journal's hard copy edition blares this morning. No kidding.

Neither are Bambi, Guy Fawkes or Mickey Mantle.

You become are "target" when you are charged with a crime, and the investigation is not completed, halted and awaiting a ruling from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit before it can proceed.

The State Journal headline this morning, Prosecutor: Scott Walker not a target, is intentionally misleading, likely written by a pro-Walker copy editor or other staffer with pro-Walker leanings.

The John Doe investigation is not completed; stopped by the ethically challenged Judge Rudolph Randa with a bizarre opinion that should become the subject of ridicule from the panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Randa's opinion doesn't end the John Doe probe, as White Wisconsin asserts. White Wisconsin apparently forgot about the federal appellate court circuit, deliberating the appeal.

As for when someone should be charged under a John Doe probe, and by what standard of evidence: Probable cause or guilt beyond on a reasonable doubt, If you can get a straight answer on background from a knowledgeable jurist, good luck.

No one appears to know.

In the meantime, treat words from Scott Walker and his mouthpieces with a heavy does of salt: Scott Walker has no credibility and a well-documented history of lying to the people of Wisconsin.

This we know beyond a reasonable doubt.

Wisconsin Democrats, Don't Let This One Slip Away

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate, Scott Walker's
Most Important Ally Besides the Koch Brothers.
Image: Wisconsin Public Television

Update: Someone got to Mike Tate and in the colorful lexicon of politics suggested he is not proceeding correctly. See Democrats go after Walker on John Doe allegations (Craver, The Capital Times), green-lighting the release of a video and press release two days after Tate told Wisconsin reporters that blasting Scott Walker's criminal corruption and Walker's failure on jobs is too complicated for Tate to communicate clearly.

If Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair, Mike Tate, Were Coach of the Packers, He Would Find a Way to Screw-up a Game against a Junior-High School Team That Doesn't Have the Plays Down Yet. He Should Resign and Here's Why

What's the Matter with Kansas? (Thomas Frank, Holt Paperbacks, 2005), Thomas Frank famously asked, eyeing the authoritarian and statist political leanings of working-class Kansans who vote with elitist, big-moneyed interests and religious extremists.

Prairie populism is gone from Kansas, and 700 miles to the northeast in Wisconsin, the Badger state is headed the same way under the direction of the bureaucratic groupthink and grab-a-paycheck electoral strategy encouraged by Mike Tate, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, supposed opposition party to Scott Walker, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Koch brothers.

Facing Scott Walker and an enemy so rich in political targets, a given opposition political party could metaphorically grab a pistol, close its eyes, fire and hit dead-center, Tate and the Dems keep missing the mark.

Mike Tate and the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, Mary Burke, have made a strategic calculation to ignore the dirtiest and most spectacular political scandal in state history: John Doe II, right as the story was beginning to penetrate the casual voter in central and northern Wisconsin.

It would distract from jobs and the economy, Mike Tate explains.

"We had volunteers that knocked on over 3,000 doors this past weekend to talk about Mary Burke and Democratic candidates," said Tate. "What we heard at the doors wasn't whether the governor was at the center of criminal scheme. What we heard was that they wanted Wisconsin to get back to work" (Halstad, WPR).

No shit, you better focus on jobs and corruption and the environment and public schools.

Tate and the Democratic Party communications team are as effective as a 1970s television receiving signals through its rabbit-ear antennae.

This does contrast with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's web site of course where a fund-raising page presently reads, "Wisconsinites are tired of Scott Walker’s legal troubles, controversial proposals and absence from the Governor’s office as he ramps up his Presidential run," but put that aside.

This is the massive Republican implosion, with more to come, that Wisconsin's non-Scott Walker candidate needs.

Tate decided to do "a conference call with reporters" this week and let it be known that the most effective way to hype Walker's terrible record on jobs is to minimize Scott Walker's criminal corruption (Stein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Where does the Democratic Party of Wisconsin draw up this strategy?

John Doe coverage is filtered through the Gannett Co. and local broadcast media; most people don't read the news often anyway, but Scott Walker being at the center of a nationwide criminal scandal is a sexy story with legs that reinforces what most people already believe about Scott Walker: He's a crook.

Watergate was awful, but it was also a spectacular news story that took down a president, and brought in a new age of crusading journalism. [If anyone wants a quick history, I recommend Jimmy Breslin's How the Good Guys Finally Won: Notes from an Impeachment Summer.]

A candidate today has to sell the story (one would hope with the help of a political party), expand the narrative of criminal corruption to jobs, water, erosion of public education and giving away and destroying what took generations of Wisconsin families to build.

A couple of questions for Mike Tate?

Do you think Scott Walker's corruption and extremism have caused a net loss of jobs? (Hint, think rejection of $800,000,000 (that's $800 million, lots of zeroes) in federal funds to build labor-intensive railroad infrastructure.)

Do you think the message that 'Scott Walker is not for you, Walker sold out family-supporting jobs to special interests and out-of-state billionaires' has political appeal? (Hint, think single-mother families, rejection of $4.4 billion in federal Medicaid money through 2020 (Bauer, AP), and the underemployed.)

In the 2011-12 recall elections, Scott Walker benefited from the air-dominance of TV spots resulting from the temporary no-contribution-limit-for-recalled-candidates election rule allowing no caps on individual donations, resulting in Scott Walker receiving numerous six-figure individual contributions mostly from out-of-state interests.

Scot Ross, Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now, said in August 2012, "Scott Walker bought the (June 2012 Recall) election with a waterfall of money no other candidate could legally raise."

Turns out Walker did not legally raise the money; he purposely and with malice of forethought broke Wisconsin election laws to win and screw the people of Wisconsin.

"Walker and his allies were able to stay on television non-stop across Wisconsin from late October 2011 until Election Day in June (2012) nearly 225 straight days," notes Ross.

To no one's surprise it turns out the numerous "issue advocacy" groups working for the election of Scott Walker were coordinating with Scott Walker, in apparent violation of Wisconsin campaign finance law, explaining why Walker and other big-moneyed interests do not want law enforcement looking anywhere near Walker's communications to Karl Rove and other Republican operators and big-money donors.

So, John Doe investigators have come upon a nationwide criminal scheme of corruption and a network of dark money centering on Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

The new and innovative response of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and its chair, Mike Tate: Look away, nothing to see here.

Several excellent candidates and officeholders have won here in Wisconsin, mostly by ignoring Mike Tate and running progressive campaigns accurately painting a compelling picture of out-of-touch Republicans selling out the Wisconsin people.

As for Mike Tate, I do have constructive suggestions: How about you take your undisclosed salary and contribute it to the political citizens groups, Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Green Bay Progressive and Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Hills Mine. (Facebook, open site)

Then resign gracefully.

Scott Walker Alleges Corruption of Five Wisconsin DAs, Takes John Doe to New Level

Scott Walker Runs to Fox and Friends
Host, Steve Doocy for PR Help
Last Week after Documents Reveal
DAs Believe Walker Is Part
of Criminal Schtheeme

Updated - Neo Confederates follows Walker's lead. From James Varney, New Orleans Times-Picayune (NOLA.com): "Unscrupulous Democratic operatives there (in Wisconsin) are doing everything they can to bury a successful GOP executive.
What is particularly scary about Wisconsin, and what should give Americans of all stripes pause, is that the operatives there are prosecutors. Under a 'John Doe' banner - a distinctly Bolshevik sort of tool that should be illegal in the United States - prosecutors have launched a witch-hunt against Walker and some of his conservative supporters."

See also Scott Walker Says the Dark Money Probe Is 'Over,' but He's Wrong (Fischer, PRWatch).

See also Scott Walker's Non-Denial Denial of John Doe Criminality
---
Scott Walker's explanation made in response to the blockbuster report of allegations of a wide-ranging criminal scheme made by five Wisconsin district attorneys is that these five law enforcement Constitutional Officers (and special prosecutor Francis Schmitz) are corrupted by the political motivations of "big-government special interests;" and are corrupt allies who deny the John Doe probe they are conducting is "over;" "is a case that has been resolved;" and that "there is no argument" on the legal disposition of the John Doe litigation.

That the five Wisconsin District Attorneys continue to litigate on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is attributed by Walker as an attempt to impugn the reputation of Walker by the five district attorneys, to "trash" Walker to use the word of a Fox and Friends host with whom Scott Walker enthusiastically agreed.

It's a good thing for Walker, the appellate justices do not consider news reports in ruling on the merits of John Doe litigation, instead rightfully consigning themselves to the arguments in legal briefs and oral arguments.

The five district attorneys (plus special prosecutor Francis Schmitz) are:

• Milwaukee County DA John T.Chisholm
• Dane County DA Ismael R. Ozanne
• Iowa County DA Larry E. Nelson
• Dodge County DA Kurt F. Klomberg
• Columbia County DA Jane E. Kohlwey

Fox and Friends Host, Steve Doocy [video is linked at left] put it to Walker: "It looks like they're just trying to trash you."

Unsealed Court Order and Exhibits from John Doe Probe

Walker agreed with Fox's Doocy, saying in response, "I think there's no doubt. This is one of those where the media jumps on this; some on the left spin this; you get our detractors out there trying to claim there's something more than there is. ... This is a prime example of what happens when you take on the big-government special interests. They're looking for ways to come at us. They'll continue to do it. They did it, you know, two years ago in the recall election. They're going to do it again now; we got another tough election this Fall. And so, they're going to come at it with just about everything out there."

As noted here yesterday, this alternative reality of the legal situation is too much for the editorial page of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel which blasted Walker in substance and blistering tone not seen yet in commentary in the daily newspaper that has broken most of the reporting on the John Doe investigation.

Reads the editorial in part:

It's over, Gov. Scott Walker is arguing: The John Doe case looking into whether his campaign illegally coordinated with supposedly independent groups is done. Kaput. Finished.

Well, sorry, governor, but that simply isn't true.

Yes, the investigation into the conduct of the campaign and outside groups during the 2012 recalls was halted by federal Judge Rudolph Randa in May when the judge ruled that the secret investigation violated the free speech rights of its targets. Randa's decision is now before a federal appeals court, and just like the recent federal court decision ending Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage, this case will continue until all appeals are exhausted.

That could be a while, which means that this story is far from over. Nor should it be.

We think Randa should have not shut down a duly commissioned state investigation into the campaigns. The prosecutors, with affinities for both parties, were simply doing their jobs: State law limits what outside groups such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth can do. Such groups are supposed to remain independent of campaigns; they cannot strategize with candidates.

Randa's decision was stunning for its overreach. He ordered the investigation shut down and found that only "express advocacy" — that is, explicitly urging people to vote for or against a candidate — was subject to state limits and control.

But coordination between campaigns and outside groups has long been illegal in Wisconsin for good reason. It's in the state statutes and was upheld by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in a 1999 decision involving a state Supreme Court race. State election regulators later reaffirmed that a campaign cannot coordinate with an outside group, and on that basis, John Doe investigators proceeded to look into how the recall elections were conducted.

Walker's characterization of the ethics and motivation of the five District Attorneys is as ludicrous as Walker's reading of the legal disposition of the now several cases involving the investigation of Scott Walker and possible other parties at the center of the criminal scheme to funnel money into the recall races of 2011-12.

Walker also includes the media of course as in cahoots with the five District Attorneys: "Still, many in the media proceed as though the opinion of the partisan prosecutors is new information and ignore the truths I have stated .... It is not. It is old news that has already been discounted by two judges. No charges. No case," said Walker.

Walker's accusations demonstrate the callow and reckless disregard Walker has for the truth and those he defames.

Walker's message of corrupt district attorneys is dutifully picked up by the righwing press used as a lead-in for pieces about different topics, "Wisconsin doesn't have just a problem with rogue prosecutors (see the Milwaukee County DA's John Doe probe of Governor Scott Walker's allies). It also appears to have a rogue education department." (Finley, Wall Street Journal)

If the five district attorneys are engaging in partisan character assassination of Scott Walker [an unlikely possibility considering that two of the five DAs are Republicans and the fact that all have shown themselves to be ethical jurists in good standing with the State Bar of Wisconsin], Scott Walker should make a public and formal declaration of prosecutorial misconduct and proceed on this basis. Name the names and tell all of the facts.

Of course, any non-Republican can see that Walker is engaging in desperate spin and formally questioning the conduct (which would be an unjust and defamatory exercise) of the District Attorneys would likely result in making public more hard evidence and documentation of the affairs of Scott Walker while serving as Milwaukee County Executive and Governor.

This is the last thing Scott Walker wants.

Scott Walker Runs into Arms of Fox, Hoping District Attorneys Will Just Leave

Update: Striking editorial, pedagogic in tone from the GOP-leaning editorial page of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, chides Scott Walker for his spinning and fact-free legal analysis.

Erudite and subtly jabbing Walker, the title of the editorial is "Walker should be careful what he wishes for."

Reads the Sunday editorial in part:

It's over, Gov. Scott Walker is arguing: The John Doe case looking into whether his campaign illegally coordinated with supposedly independent groups is done. Kaput. Finished.

Well, sorry, governor, but that simply isn't true.

Yes, the investigation into the conduct of the campaign and outside groups during the 2012 recalls was halted by federal Judge Rudolph Randa in May when the judge ruled that the secret investigation violated the free speech rights of its targets. Randa's decision is now before a federal appeals court, and just like the recent federal court decision ending Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage, this case will continue until all appeals are exhausted.

That could be a while, which means that this story is far from over. Nor should it be.

We think Randa should have not shut down a duly commissioned state investigation into the campaigns. The prosecutors, with affinities for both parties, were simply doing their jobs: State law limits what outside groups such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth can do. Such groups are supposed to remain independent of campaigns; they cannot strategize with candidates.

Randa's decision was stunning for its overreach. He ordered the investigation shut down and found that only "express advocacy" — that is, explicitly urging people to vote for or against a candidate — was subject to state limits and control.

But coordination between campaigns and outside groups has long been illegal in Wisconsin for good reason. It's in the state statutes and was upheld by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in a 1999 decision involving a state Supreme Court race. State election regulators later reaffirmed that a campaign cannot coordinate with an outside group, and on that basis, John Doe investigators proceeded to look into how the recall elections were conducted.
---
There Can Be No Whitewash in Wisconsin. People Have to Got Know Whether or Not Their Governor Is a Crook

In October 2013 a story broke that the John Doe probe had "(spread) to five Wisconsin counties," and evidence was leading investigators to look into possible violations of state law during the 2011-12 Recall races.

The investigation was revealed to be led by Francis Schmitz, a well-known Republican jurist who was on George W. Bush's shortlist for nomination to the US Atty of the Eastern District of Wisconsin in 2001. (Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, October 21, 2013)

Scott Walker had a response to the piece that he communicated before going back into hiding: "We expected that with a new Democrat candidate for governor in the race that there would be stories like this along the way," said Walker on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's October story on the John Doe investigation. (Murray. WPR)

So, the Republican-led investigation is simply a concocted story to help the expected Democratic nominee for governor (primary election is in August 2014), and stories breaking about the John Doe investigation are not true, is this what Walker was saying?

Walker wouldn't say, preferring innuendo to candor.

But Walker's quick comment-and-hide strategy made it plain Walker knew this probe was coming and where the investigation was heading.

When the blockbuster story broke on Thursday, June 19 that bipartisan Wisconsin prosecutors allege in documents that Scott Walker "was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican state senators fend off recall elections during 2011 and '12," (Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Dave Umhoefer in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Walker's first response was to run to Fox and Friends, and not to face the people of Wisconsin in a no-hold-barred, question-and-answer session addressing allegations of criminality of a Wisconsin governor that have no precedent in Wisconsin history.

Walker speaking in a more rapid cadence than employed in his usual evasions did not repeat the  language made public that Walker was at the center of a "criminal scheme," but pretended that the accusations from the John Doe probe did not exist and that the matter had already been "resolved."

This would come as news to the five prosecutors, the special prosecutor and the attorneys working to appeal an adverse decision in appellate court.

Walker implies these five district attorneys and the special prosecutor are just pawns of big-government special interests.

Said Walker on Fox and Friends to Co-host Steve Doocy:

"This is one of those where the media jumps on this; some on the left spin this; you get our detractors out there trying to claim there's something more than there is. ... This is a prime example of what happens when you take on the big-government special interests. They're looking for ways to come at us. They'll continue to do it. They did it, you know, two years ago in the recall election. They're going to do it again now; we got another tough election this Fall. And so, they're going to come at it with just about everything out there."

Scott Walker is alleged to have been at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among 12 rightwing groups to help his campaign and those of Republican state senators fend off recall elections, in violation of campaign laws intended to insulate special interests and campaigns for public office.

This sounds pretty big to me.

Why doesn't Scott Walker come before a town hall-type meeting, say at Camp Randall, take questions until the audience is exhausted and clear the air?

I'm betting Walker won't.

Following is video of an excellent segment at Politics Nation, and a piece by United Wisconsin, Failing to Prosecute Illegal Coordination in John Doe Case Threatens Legitimacy of State Campaign Finance Law.

From United Wisconsin:

MADISON, WI – Based on evidence provided in Exhibit C of the John Doe documents unsealed Thursday, failing to prosecute illegal campaign coordination exposes a grave threat to the public’s trust Wisconsin elections by undermining state campaign finance safeguards in place to prevent corruption.

“The unsealed John Doe documents reveal a clear case of the corruption of Wisconsin elections at the hands of Scott Walker’s campaign and outside conservatives groups. The failure to bring charges in Walker’s “criminal scheme” puts in jeopardy Wisconsin campaign finance laws which were put in place to ensure the integrity of the electoral process,” said United Wisconsin Executive Director Lisa Subeck.

Prosecutors laid out the case that Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of a “criminal scheme” to coordinate illegal campaign fundraising among his campaign and conservative groups to fund the running of phony “issue advocacy” campaigns clearly designed for the direct political benefit of Walker’s campaign and Republican legislators facing recall elections in 2011-12.

Despite what appears to be clear evidence of illegal coordination, a recent stay issued by Federal Judge Rudolf Randa halting further investigation leaves Wisconsin campaign finance laws governing disclosure of campaign spending unenforceable and stripped of legitimacy.

According Francis D. Schmitz, special prosecutor in the John Doe investigation “Movants argue that “coordination” of political activities that do not arguably express advocacy cannot be a crime under Wisconsin law. These arguments fail to recognize or misinterpret Wisconsin statutes, administrative rules, and G.A.B. formal opinions. Movants have also ignored controlling Wisconsin case law. Indeed, in their submissions, movants – FOSW, Citizens for a Strong America, Inc. (CFSA) Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Inc. (WMC) and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce-Issues Mobilization Council (WMC-IMC) and Wisconsin Club for Growth (WiCFG) appear to have tacitly admitted to violating Wisconsin law.”

“Failing to prosecute what is clearly a violation of state campaign finance law leaves our elections more vulnerable than ever to this type of alleged illegal coordination and erodes any sense in eyes of voters that Wisconsin elections are truly fair,” Subeck said.
 #
United Wisconsin is an independent, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing progressive values, strengthening democracy, and ensuring every Wisconsinite has a voice. For more information, visit our website at www.unitedwisconsin.com.

Two Governors Face Scandals, Only One Governor Faces the People

Scott Walker avoids questions as DAs
say Walker is at center of massive
criminal scheme to illegally funnel
$ 10s of millions

Update II: Chris Christie Says He'll Campaign for Scott Walker at the Appropriate Time (Arco, NJ.com)

This would be before Scott Walker is formally charged with a crime.

Notes John Amato at Crooks and Liars:

Gov. Chris Christie says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is "a good man" and voiced support for his fellow Republican, who faces allegations he took part in a nationwide criminal scheme to coordinate fundraising with conservative groups.

Christie defended Scott Walker this evening after greeting patrons of a New Hampshire restaurant during a campaign stop for a Republican gubernatorial hopeful. Christie dismissed the allegations against Walker, a potential GOP presidential candidate, as nothing more than attacks from enemies.
"Listen, we all understand that the more you try to bring change to your individual state, and that change starts to sweep the country, the more you’re going to be attacked by your opponents," said Christie, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate.

'That’s just something you’re going to have to deal with in this job," he said. "But I’ve already communicated with Scott today, he’s doing well. I completely support him and I look forward to going to Wisconsin and campaigning for him at the appropriate time."
---
The thesis advanced by Walker and Christie remains: Walker secretly planned to destroy the right to collectively bargain and gut environmental protections of water (uncontroversial), so the five John Doe District Attorneys (two of whom are Republicans) and the Republican special investigator are retaliating and attacking Walker, alleging a contrived "criminal scheme," because Walker-initiated "change (has started) to sweep the country."

Interesting theory out of two guys from whom most people will no longer buy bridges.

Love to see this Wisconsin-DAs-are-corrupted-by-big-government line voiced by Walker in front of a citizens' town hall meeting.

Update: Whether Scott Walker decides to turn around and face the people of Wisconsin, something qualitatively different is happening after this latest release of John Doe documents—the story is penetrating local broadcast and print (old) media. See WDIO-TV (serving Duluth, Superior and northern Wisconsin) Prosecutors: Gov. Walker Part of 'Criminal Scheme,' and National media pounce on release of John Doe II documents (Joyce, The Capital Times).

One thing to bear in mind after Judge Frank Easterbrook of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit shreds Judge Randa's opinion, John Doe II is a law enforcement investigation conducted by Constitutional Officers (under the Wisconsin Constitution) acting under the specific authority of Wisconsin's John Doe statute that Walker and others desperately are trying to stop. Now, we know why.

Wisconsin John Does are conducted under the statute that is a reformist initiative, written to ensure an orderly and fair investigation.

As attorney Marcus J. Berghan writes: "As the investigation in Milwaukee County has shown, the John Doe proceeding may lead to criminal charges. Those charges need not be directly related to the complaint that started the proceeding. When complete, the judge will determine whether probable cause exists to charge any additional individuals with a crime."
---
Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Chris Christie of New Jersey face legal-political crises as reports broke yesterday revealing escalating criminal investigations placing both pols near or at the center of criminal conspiracies.

"Indictments against four Christie cronies are near certain, sources say," reads an exclusive in Esquire (Scott Raab and Lisa Brennan). Christie has held over 100 town hall listening sessions and open call-in radio appearances, apparently taking all questions and offering his unvarnished view.

This accessibility would be a shocking departure for Scott Walker's in-the-bubble communication strategy.

"Prosecutors in Wisconsin assert that Gov. Scott Walker was part of an elaborate effort to illegally coordinate fund-raising and spending between his campaign and conservative groups during efforts to recall him and several state senators two years ago, according to court filings unsealed Thursday." (Davey, Confessore, New York Times)

Walker issues quick one-answer, unresponsive lines to non-GOP press, refusing to hold even one town hall-style listening session.

The gravity of the charges, constituting the reasonable suspicion predicating the John Doe investigation, are pooh-poohed by Walker who says the bipartisan investigation is partisan, and the heavily criticized U.S. District Judge, Rudolph Randa (who temporarily halted the John Doe probe in a results-oriented, contrived order and opinion), is "independent."

The $ tens of millions raised and apparently illegally coordinated is on a massive scale.

"Beginning in March 2011, there were 'open and express discussions' of the need to coordinate the activities of entities like Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin Club for Growth, the Republican Party of Wisconsin, the Republican State Leadership Committee and the Republican Governors Association, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz wrote. Conference calls were held between the Walker campaign, the governors association and the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, he wrote."

The scope of the criminal scheme under investigation 'is expansive,' Schmitz wrote. 'It includes criminal violations of multiple elections laws, including violations of Filing a False Campaign Report or Statement and Conspiracy to File a False Campaign Report or Statement.' (Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) [See also Lisa Kaiser, Milwaukee Shepherd-Express, and Philip Bump, Washington Post]

David Koch told a reporter that he took credit for the fact the Republicans maintained control of the Wisconsin legislature in the Senate recall elections held in August 2011. Koch has given $ millions to the group, Americans for Prosperity and openly acknowledges his support for Americans for Prosperity and its activities in Wisconsin. It remains to be seen whether Koch was involved in Walker's scheme to funnel money.

"The accusation of any wrongdoing written in the complaint by the office of a partisan Democrat District Attorney by me or by my campaign is categorically false," said Walker. So why avoid the people of Wisconsin?

Walker's statement, though short, is full of errors.

Actually, there are five district attorneys, and two of them are Republicans. [One would hope this fact would follow reporting of Walker's statement, but this has not been the case.] And there has been no allegation of partisanship made by the presiding judge overseeing the five prosecutors.

As for the investigators' statements being categorically false, how about Walker holds a long question-and answer session, if Walker is truly innocent?

Even as Scott Walker refuses to face the Wisconsin people and offer an explanation for his role in the conspiracy, Walker's true constituents work to shut down the probe.

For an excellent summary of events, see The Chris Hayes show segment below:

John Doe Prosecutors: Scott Walker at Center of 'Criminal Scheme'

Scott Walker email to Karl Rove made public as John Doe probe reveals Walker at center of illegal coordination

A record tens and tens of millions of dollars were spent in a gubernatorial race in 2011-12.

But this was in Wisconsin, a middling state with a population of only 5.7 million people.

Now, in what is already being widely portrayed as a tipping point in the corruption of Scott Walker being laid plain, the bipartisan Wisconsin prosecutors allege in documents just released that Scott Walker "was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican state senators fend off recall elections during 2011 and '12, according to documents unsealed Thursday," report Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Dave Umhoefer in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Write Marley, Bice and Umhoefer:

In the documents, prosecutors lay out what they call an extensive 'criminal scheme' to bypass state election laws by Walker, his campaign and two top Republican political operatives — R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl.

The governor and his close confidants helped raise money and control spending through 12 conservative groups during the recall elections, according to the prosecutors' filings.

The documents include an excerpt from an email in which Walker tells Karl Rove, former top adviser to President George W. Bush, that Johnson would lead the coordination campaign. Johnson is also Walker's longtime campaign strategist and the chief adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a conservative group active in the recall elections.

'Bottom-line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin. We are running 9 recall elections and it will be like 9 congressional markets in every market in the state (and Twin Cities),' Walker wrote to Rove on May 4, 2011. ...

Federal Appeals Judge Frank Easterbrook unsealed the court documents Thursday as he reviews a lawsuit attempting to permanently halt the secret investigation into the so-called John Doe probe into the recall elections.

Scott Walker was enchanted with speaking to Karl Rove early in Walker's term in 2011 during the period when Wisconsin Act 10 was rushed through the legislature in violation of Wisconsin's open meeting statute, it has been widely alleged.

Evidently, Walker felt a little too enchanted as he has again been demonstrated bragging about his proximity to money and directing how the money is spent.

Unnamed Parties Ask Wisc Supreme Court to Stop DAs' Probe of Scott Walker/GOP Groups

The Republican Party-aligned special interests pumping $ millions into Wisconsin elections really, really do not want law enforcement to investigate possible criminality on their part.

Mary Spicuzza reports that a "pair of unnamed petitioners filed an original action with the state Supreme Court, meaning they are trying to send the matter directly to the high court instead of starting in lower courts and advancing through appeals."

The petition seeks to stop the John Doe probe looking into $10s of millions of GOP-aligned money that is being investigated after reasonable suspicion was presented to a judge that crimes have been committed.

The probe is being conducted under Wisconsin's John Doe statute, Wisconsin statute 968.26, and represents a threat to the Republican Party's project of injecting $ millions into the political system to consolidate their political power.

This action follows  a complaint in federal court filed by some of the same lawyers who drafted the Supreme Court petition, contending First and Fourteenth Amendment violations by John Doe investigators and prosecutors, including the presiding judge.

The two legal actions precede the release of 1,000s of e-mails next week by former top Scott Walker aide, Kelly Rindfleisch, convicted of a felony while employed in Walker's office.

Republicans fear the e-mail release could torpedo any presidential aspirations Scott Walker may be harboring, and labored to stop the release of the e-mails that may also pose a threat to his reelection as governor in November.

"The records in question include emails from Rindfleisch's personal computer and private email account, affidavits supporting John Doe search warrants, and a transcript of a secret hearing on search warrants issued the day before Walker was elected governor in 2010," notes Dan Bice.

Look for Dismissal of Club for Growth Complaint Against Law Enforcement Probe into GOP Groups

Scott Walker posed at Operation Freedom
event. Walker's personal aides stole
from this fund meant for veterans. [Note to
Scott Walker: You really want this shot on
a TV spot when you run again for office?]

Update: Wisconsin politico Xoff makes another point for likely dismissal or withdrawal: "So the Club for Growth is now suing in federal court to try to stop a John Doe investigation into whether it and other conservative groups illegally coordinated their activity with Scott Walker's campaign. They could get more than they bargained for if the now-secret Doe material is used in court to defend the Milwaukee DA's office. Interesting that there are five county DAs involved but they are only suing John Chisholm's office. Also interesting that two of the five DAs are Republicans, so it makes the claim that this is some partisan witch hunt a little hard to believe. These are bully tactics by right-wingers who think they have enough money to do whatever they want. Hope they're wrong."

Hey, Eric O'Keefe and Club for Growth, don't get so upset at us because Scott Walker appointed crooks who embezzled from veterans, and then tried to stonewall the investigation into Operation Freedom, money purportedly to be used to honor veterans and their families; not to be promptly embezzled by Scott Walker's longtime aide, Tim Russell.

Reading the complaint filed in federal court against the Wisconsin John Doe judge, prosecutors and investigators one can see that the complaint's specific items amount to little more than whining that the Club for Growth and Republicans are roundly disliked in Wisconsin, so they should be immune from the law enforcement tool known as the John Doe probe.

The heavily redacted complaint reads that District Attorney John Chisholm is a Democrat; Dean Nickel is a Democrat; and so on is a Democrat [no mention is made of the two Republican District Attorneys also conducting the probe) and Scott Walker is intensely unpopular, therefore investigating under Wisconsin's John Doe statute, Wisconsin statute 968.26, is an unconstitutional infringement of the Club for Growth and Eric O'Keefe's First and Fourteenth Amendment freedoms.

The arguments are a joke.

The complaint also asserts that the investigation into Scott Walker's Operation Freedom that found more instances of criminality that led to other criminal convictions and the probe's broadening "exponentially," [the Club for Growth really should look up that word as it does not apply here and federal court is not the forum for hyperbole], even "breathtakingly broad."

That's pretty broad, but it should be noted the John Doe probe gathered evidence and testimony that led to six people being criminally convicted with no claims of innocence on their part.

No argument is made that the John Doe statute has been procedurally implemented in an unsound manner, other the unsupported political assertion that the "Milwaukee County Attorney's [sic] Office Is Biased Against Walker and the Budget Repair Bill (of 2011)."

The complaint is more a long op-ed screed than a complaint in federal court.

Look for the complaint to get tossed even by the like of Federalist Society hack, Rudoph Randa.

And by the way, if evidence and testimony point to possible criminality and lead to new directions as probes do, under the supervision of the presiding judge the law enforcement entity in the John Doe probe can expand the scope of the investigation.

Look at the plain language of the John Doe statute:

968.26  John Doe proceeding.

968.26(1)(1) If a district attorney requests a judge to convene a proceeding to determine whether a crime has been committed in the court's jurisdiction, the judge shall convene a proceeding described under sub. (3) and shall subpoena and examine any witnesses the district attorney identifies. ...

Club for Growth Wants to Kill John Doe Probe in Complaint before Federalist Society Judge

From left to right: Felon Tim Russell, Scott Walker
and Felon Brian Pierick, Four other Walker associates
were convicted in a Wisconsin John Doe probe (2010-13).

Update III: Prediction that the Randa rules against the criminal class of Republicans now holding sway in Wisconsin was confirmed April 8, 2014. (Marley. MJS)

Update II: Today, it was reported that due to Randa's ruling a proposed settlement to rape and molestation victims announced today, "would be by far the smallest sexual abuse settlement in any Catholic Church bankruptcy of this size filed to date." Nice job, Rudolph Randa, you protected sexual predators and screwed their vicitms.

Update: Reader notes Federalist Society Judge Rudolph T. Randa made news by fronting for the Milwaukee child-molesting set in ruling for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in a bankruptcy case in July 2013, insulating $50 million in the process, and failed to disclose his connection to the archdiocese. See also Judge Randa Is Asked by Creditors of Archdiocese to Leave Case (Goodstein. NYT).

When is a law and its implementation by law enforcement unconstitutional?

When it's used to determine if and when crimes have been committed by Republicans, who now-a-days see themselves as above and beyond the reach of Wisconsin statutes, aka the law.

So contends Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCG) and WCG's Eric O'Keefe who evidently do not like Wisconsin's John Doe statute, Wisconsin statute 968.26, and call for its implementation and perhaps its existence to be stuck down as unconstitutional in a complaint filed in federal court this week.

WCG is hoping Senior U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa will agree.

Randa is a judicial rightwinger who as recently as February 21, 2013 was listed as an advisor to the rightest Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Studies.

The Federalist Society advocates a roll back of civil rights, reproductive choice, and civil liberties under the rubric of what they claim is a valid approach of textual originalism to constitutional interpretation. (See Richard Posner for a scathing review of this "gotcha jurisprudence.")

Randa is the judge who sent an innocent Georgia Thompson to prison, a ludicrous affair later overturned in an extraordinary decision in oral arguments before a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Randa is listed along with other activist rightwingers as Federalist Society Members, including the following:  Ken Starr, Theodore Olson, Edwin Meese, Robert Bork, Antonin Scalia, Alex Kozinski, Ann Coulter, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Randy Barnett, Samuel Alito, Troy Eid, Hugo Teufel III, Charles Fried, Richard Allen Epstein, Priscilla Owen, Spencer Abraham, Edith Brown Clement, Rudolph T. Randa, William H. Pryor, Jr., Diane S. Sykes, David M. McIntosh, Maura D. Corrigan, C. Boyden Gray, John Sitilides, David Schizer, Jeff Ballabon, Roger Pilon, Nilda Pedrosa, Charlie Korsmo, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Stephen Bainbridge, Michael I. Krauss, Holly Coors, Don Wagner, Steven G. Calabresi.

The Wisconsin John Doe statute is a law enforcement tool used to determine the existence of criminality when for example conflicts of interests, stonewalling (as in John Doe One that found multiple felonies and misdemeanors in Scott Walker tenure of Milwaukee County Executive), practical difficulties and concern for the good name of innocent citizens mandate launching a John Doe probe after approval by a judge, administered by district attorneys, their agents and a supervising judge.

But the Wisconsin Club for Growth and other Wisconsin rightwingers object again today.

They continuously blasted the first John Doe probe that netted six criminal convictions of Scott Walker appointees, top staff members, and associates. No retractions from the rightwing exist about their smears of John Doe jurists and no claims of innocence exist on record from any of Walker's allies.

Now, WCG and O'Keefe have filed a complaint in federal court contending First and Fourteenth Amendment violations by John Doe investigators and prosecutors, including the presiding judge.

The complaint offers a bizarre history of Scott Walker's tenure and essentially a political editorial that WCG does not like progressives. The complaint also references the federal Citizens United decision as part of its argument that the probe is unconstitutional.

As noted by Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the named "defendants in Monday's suit are Reserve Judge Gregory A. Peterson, who is overseeing the investigation; special prosecutor Francis Schmitz; Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm; Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf; Assistant District Attorney David Robles; and investigator Dean Nickel."

Attorney Marcus J. Berghahn offers an instructive research memo on Wisconsin's John Doe statute in which he writes in part:

 Unlike normal criminal proceedings, which can be initiated if there is probable cause to believe a person has violated the law, John Doe proceedings help law enforcement develop the evidence necessary to establish the very existence of probable cause.

If a district attorney requests a judge to convene a proceeding to determine whether a crime has been committed in the court's jurisdiction, the judge shall convene a proceeding," says Wisconsin's John Doe statute. ...

(T)he proceedings are also designed to protect innocent citizens from the fallout of frivolous prosecutions. [See State ex rel. Reimann v. Cir. Ct., 214 Wis. 2d 605, 621, 571 N.W.2d 385, 390 (1997)]

As the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated in 1889: 'When [the John Doe] statute was first enacted the common-law practice was for the magistrate to issue the warrant on a complaint of mere suspicion, and he was protected in doing so. This was found to be a very unsafe practice. Many arrests were made on groundless suspicion, when the accused were innocent of the crime and there was no testimony whatever against them. This statute was made to protect citizens from arrest and imprisonment on frivolous and groundless suspicion." [State ex rel. Long v. Keyes, 75 Wis. 288, 294-95, 44 N.W. 13, 15 (1889).]

The complaint, if not dismissed, will offer a test on whether Randa wants to go out as a jurist committed to the rule of law or a rightwing hack posing as an impartial judge.

My own reading here is that the complaint is a distraction and stalling tactic meant to buy time for Scott Walker's reelection bid in November.

On February 19, many papers and e-mails concerning the criminal conviction of former Walker aide, Kelly Rindfleisch (aka Multiple Kelly), will become public.

Rindfleisch is another Walker aide convicted in the last John Doe probe, but the resulting political embarrassment of criminality in Walker's office will not be decreased by stalling the current John Doe probe, though the mounds of information coming from Scott Walker's former office will offer a nice introduction to the country of who Scott Walker is.

As for the current John Doe, since when do federal judges get to declare law enforcement investigations unconstitutional just because the subject matter involves possible criminality by Republicans?

I would not bet on a favorable ruling on this complaint for the criminal class of Republicans now holding sway in Wisconsin.

Too much of a stink would result, and the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is not exactly staffed by dummies, Diane Sykes notwithstanding.

Scott Walker Latest $80,000 Criminal Defense Outlay Speaks Loudly

Update: Jamelle Bouie: "Goodbye Chris Christie, and Hello Scott Walker". Lots of time for the nation to get to know Scott Walker, Mr. Bouie.

In the wake of the destruction of New Jersey's Chris Christie, Wisconsin's Scott Walker is being hyped by the same D.C. commentariat hailing Christie before this foolishness became untenable.

The GOP is pretty desperate, and their effort to prop up the latest Republican cartoon figure of a 'leader' will be as fun to watch as the fall of Christie into political and legal oblivion.

That's because as Walker parades around the country with his hand out to GOP billionaires, Walker leaves in Wisconsin a trail of corruption rivaling that of his New Jersey GOP brethren.

The hardcopy (but not the online version) of the Wisconsin State Journal running the AP's report of Scott Walker raising $Millions in 2013 includes the following reference to Walker's latest five-figure pay-out to Steven Biskupic, the disgraced former U.S. Attorney (2001-2008), and one of Scott Walker's go-to lawyers in the two criminal John Doe probes that netted numerous criminal convictions by six Walker aides, appointees and a major campaign contributor when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive.

But the (Walker campaign) documents also reveal that Walker spent about $80,000 of that (money raised in the last half of 2013) on legal fees.

The payments to Biskupic and Jacobs S.C. law firm, based in Mequon (Milwaukee suburb), were reported in the filing by the Walker campaign just one day after a state appeals panel ruling that allowed a secret 'John Doe' investigation to continue into (GOP) campaign finance and spending Wisconsin's recent wave of recall elections. Hundreds of pages of court documents were released Thursday night following the ruling.

The latest payment totaled $73,763.86 and was made in November.

The payments to the firm, which is headed by Steven Biskupic and Michelle Jacobs, were labeled as 'Legal Fees-Compliance/ Administrative' in the filings.

After Biskupic left the U.S. Attorney's office in the Bush-Cheney administration, he joined the GOP-connected firm, Michael Best and Friedrich, leaving to open his own firm with his former chief deputy in 2013.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Patrick Marley, Jason Stein and Daniel Bice reporting on Walker campaign cash and legal fees similarly includes reference to Walker's $86,000 payment to defense lawyers.

So, while many claim to be looking to Walker as an alternative to the defunct Chris Christie, one wonders if the real motivation of publicly hailing Walker is political lust to see another corrupt GOP governor publicly fall.

Wisconsin AG and GOP Spurred John Doe Probe, Docs Show

Wisconsin Probe Looks at Alleged Illegal Coordination Between Unnamed Candidate and 'special interest groups' with federal 501(c)(4) nonprofit status, Newspaper reports

Update: See also "legitimate investigation into possible crimes against our democracy."

A Wisconsin Court of Appeals panel unanimously knocked down the effort by GOP-aligned political allies to halt the Wisconsin John Doe probe looking into possible violations of campaign finance law in the 2011-2012 Recall elections, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported yesterday.

GOP forces and Scott Walker have all criticized the John Doe probe, but new documents show Wisconsin's GOP attorney general and two GOP district attorneys were involved in requesting the John Doe probe.

Walker publicly made innuendo casting doubt on the legitimacy of the probe in October 2013, though he refuses to hold a listening session on this issue, or any other issue.

Republican forces spent $10s of millions in their effort to protect Scott Walker and GOP senators from electoral defeat at the hands of Wisconsin voters in the Recall elections.

Walker and the GOP received money mostly in large checks from out-of-state billionaires.

"Overall an estimated $137.5 million was spent on the unprecedented 15 recall races for governor, lieutenant governor and state Senate in 2011 and 2012," reports the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. 

Despite cries of foul from the Wall Street Journal and other political rightwingers, documents made public yesterday show Wisconsin's GOP Attorney General and two GOP district attorneys were involved in asking a judge that Wisconsin's John Doe statute be used in this investigation to determine if and by whom crimes have been committed.

"Also, the documents reveal that the special prosecutor in the case, former federal prosecutor Francis Schmitz, was appointed at the request of [Milwaukee County DA] Chisholm and four other district attorneys — two of them Republicans, two of them Democrats," the Journal-Sentinel reports.

The 2013 Wall Street Journal editorial condemning the probe stated "Another reason for skepticism is the probe's timing as Mr. Walker's 2014 re-election campaign looms. This is the second such investigation against Mr. Walker in three and a half years, following one that began in the office of Milwaukee County Democratic District Attorney John Chisholm in spring 2010."

If one takes seriously the Wall Street Journal editorial, then Wisconsin GOP legal forces are out to get Scott Walker.

So, it has now been conclusively put on the record that Wisconsin's AG J.B. Van Hollen stepped aside pointing to the perception of conflicts of interests, GOP district attorneys collaborating with three other district attorneys properly followed Wisconsin law, and received permission to conduct a John Doe probe under Wisconsin's specific John Doe statute.

Are Wisconsin's GOP propaganda outlets—Wisconsin Reporter, WTMJ, Charlie Sykes, Media Trackers and so on—now going to issue retractions? Not likely. 

Facts are no concern to the GOP.

Wisconsin statute 968.26 on John Doe proceedings is the statutory authority for conducting John Doe probes in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin GOP Wants New John Doe Probe, with No Cause or Evidence

Here is the false equivalency standard taken to new depths of absurdity.

Republicans feel that if Republican and rightwing action cause a John Doe probe to be launched, for the sake of political equality, a matching John Doe probe must be launched to investigate Democratic and progressive action.

Here's Mary Spicuzza in the Wisconsin State Journal (paid site) this morning: "There is no indication that Democratic candidates or liberal groups are also being investigated in the John Doe probe - which has incensed conservatives."

Has a district attorney and judge cause to believe a crime may have been committed?

That's the standard used to launch Wisconsin John Doe probes. And this standard is not probable cause.

"Unlike normal criminal proceedings, which can be initiated if there is probable cause to believe a person has violated the law, John Doe proceedings help law enforcement develop the evidence necessary to establish the very existence of probable cause," as Marcus J. Berghahn points out in his piece on Wisconsin John Doe probes.

"If a district attorney requests a judge to convene a proceeding to determine whether a crime has been committed in the court's jurisdiction, the judge shall convene a proceeding," says Wisconsin's John Doe statute.

The GOP is apparently upset because a district attorney and judge have cause to have launched a new John Doe proceeding to determine if and by whom crime(s) have been committed in the 2011-12 Recall elections, among other matters.

The GOP line is for the sake of what, political equity, a new John Doe should be convened to look into whether crimes have been committed by Democratic candidates or liberal groups.

Wisconsin John Doe probes look into whether and by whom a crime has been committed, under Wisconsin law, when practical difficulties, conflicts of interests or protection of sensitive information by those testifying derail normal criminal investigations begun when law enforcement determines possible cause of criminality.

The Wisconsin John Doe statute was passed in part because of a concern to protect the innocent. Notes Berghahn:

But the proceedings are also designed to protect innocent citizens from the fallout of frivolous prosecutions.2 [See State ex rel. Reimann v. Cir. Ct., 214 Wis. 2d 605, 621, 571 N.W.2d 385, 390 (1997)]

As the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated in 1889: "When [the John Doe] statute was first enacted the common-law practice was for the magistrate to issue the warrant on a complaint of mere suspicion, and he was protected in doing so. This was found to be a very unsafe practice. Many arrests were made on groundless suspicion, when the accused were innocent of the crime and there was no testimony whatever against them. This statute was made to protect citizens from arrest and imprisonment on frivolous and groundless suspicion."3 [State ex rel. Long v. Keyes, 75 Wis. 288, 294-95, 44 N.W. 13, 15 (1889).]

Take for example, the John Doe probe of 2010-2013 that looked into Scott Walker's office when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive. That John Doe probe was convened because a criminal investigation was stonewalled by Scott Walker's office. (Bice. MJS) None of the six convicted Republicans have said they are innocent, and wrongfully convicted.

By GOP logic, the resulting six criminal convictions of Republicans—Walker aides, Walker appointees and a Walker campaign contributor—in that John Doe probe (2010-2013) should be matched by six criminal convictions of Democrats, facts and evidence not needed in the later cases.

John Doe probes are not mini-trials where only guilt beyond a reasonable doubt causes the probe's district attorney or special prosecutor to file criminal charges.

John Doe probes are investigations, and the standard to file criminal charges, at the prosecutor and overseeing judge's discretion, is whether at trial, the prosecutor's office believes it could convince a neutral jury or judge of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The bizarre, new GOP wants citizens to be held accountable when other citizens commit crimes.

I think the GOP's new theory presents some Constitutional problems.

The judge in the new John Doe probe was Kenosha County Circuit Judge Barbara A. Kluka. Kluka has been replaced by former state Appeals Court Judge Gregory A. Peterson in November 2013.

Scott Walker, GOP: We're Special, We're Above the Law

Scott Walker and the Republican Party are not impressed with the John Doe Probe looking into who and what criminal activity occurred in the 2011 Recall elections; they seem to believe that they are beyond investigation.

One effort to halt the investigation was rebuffed late Friday.

But as Dan Bice noted:

There's even a sense among some Republican insiders that [Francis] Schmitz and his team of five Wisconsin district attorneys may be over-matched.

"Remember that they (prosecutors) are taking on not just millionaires but billionaires," said a GOP source.

Wow.  Billionaires.

I bet special prosecutor Francis Schmitz and Judge Gregory Peterson didn't know that.

Scott Walker's public comments are as forthcoming as always.

What, the Wisconsin citizens think they deserve an explanation?

Walker's trash and burn style on John Doe II: "We expected that with a new Democrat candidate for governor in the race that there would be stories like this along the way," said Gov. Scott Walker on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's October 21 story about the John Doe investigation. (Murray. WPR)

Not working.

Republicans Should Show Facts and Evidence as They Smear John Doe Officials

Scott Walker says he won't be distracted by the criminal investigation convened by Kenosha County Circuit Judge Barbara A. Kluka, overseeing the John Doe proceeding in Wisconsin, reports Dan Bice.

Walker calls Kluka's John Doe probe a "sidebar issue," though the probe is reported to include investigation of possible criminal violations during the Recall elections, including looking at possible criminal fundraising, as the Wall Street Journal helpfully pointed out.

Such is Walker's prerogative, though Walker and Republicans often say they are committed to election integrity, and surely possible criminal campaign violations merit investigation for subverting democracy and betraying our fellows.

What is God telling Scott Walker right this moment, one wonders.

"I looked up and said, ‘I hear you, Lord,’” writes Walker in his new book. "God was sending me a clear message to not do things for personal glory or fame. It was a turning point that helped me in future challenges, helped me stay focused on the people I was elected to serve, and reminded me of God’s abundant grace and the paramount need to stay humble." (David Weigel. Slate Magazine; October 25, 2013)

Christian Schneider, a commissar for the Wisconsin Republican Party, says the timing of the "partisan" probe is suspect, while criticizing Walker's opponents of engaging in innuendo. 

If Schneider really finds innuendo distasteful, how about facts to back up why he calls the probe a "specious review"?  

If Judge Kluka and special prosecutor Francis Schmitz are engaged in a partisan witchhunt, Schneider and other Republicans should make public their evidence supporting their conclusion.

Otherwise, their words are not serious commentary.

Recall that Republicans said the same thing, and made wild accusations about the 2010-13 John Doe probe that resulted in six criminal convictions.

Are we to believe that six innocents were wrongfully convicted? Did prosecutor Bruce Landgraf, and supervising Judge Neal Nettesheim engage in malicious prosecutions?

"It appears the state-related case opened in February 2012," Bice wrote in October in his piece breaking the John Doe story.

The John Doe 2010-13 is over and Scott Walker has refused to hold one listening session with the Wisconsin people answering questions about what happened.

I doubt Walker will hold one listening session with the people he was elected to serve on the new John Doe probe, or least make a public appeal for all GOP contributors and politicians to tell the probe the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and give their full cooperation.

Here's speculation on why Scott Walker won't take questions from the public, as some speculate Walker wants to be president and commander in chief, even with God as his side:

(Scott) Walker set up the annual Operation Freedom as a military appreciation day at the zoo for veterans, who got free admission and food. It was run through the county executive's office. (Walker was Milwaukee County Executive 2002-2010)

(Tim) Russell (multiple felon and embezzler from veterans) was the coordinator of the event and worked on it with Darlene Wink (convicted criminal), another former Walker aide at the county who has been under investigation in the John Doe probe. ...

Later, in 2010, the financial end of the event was transferred to an entity known as the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, Russell told the newspaper [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] in 2010. ...

The Heritage Guard Preservation Society was incorporated for a different purpose as a nonprofit in 2004. But Russell said in 2010 that the dormant firm was shifted to Operation Freedom.

The financing setup for the event drew ethics scrutiny in 2006, when two county Ethics Board members questioned the practice of county officials asking private companies for money for public programs, saying it raised conflict-of-interest questions. Walker said then that he was trying to save taxpayer dollars and that he'd resolve ethics concerns by asking a veterans organization to solicit funds for the event. ...

"Nobody's making accusations about anything here," Russell said then. Bookkeeping errors could ultimately explain the shortfall, he said.

Wink quit her job as Walker's constituent relations director in 2010 after she acknowledged posting political comments on the Journal Sentinel website while at work. She monitored the finances for the program in 2007, but did not collect checks or pay the bills, Russell said. That was Purple Heart's job.

In a May 26, 2010 posting on his county website, Walker said Operation Freedom was a way to thank military personnel and families.

"The picnic, patriotic program and Supermarket of Veterans Benefits are a small way for us to show our appreciation and give back for all our military has done for us," Walker wrote. (Bice. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 5, 2012)

Wisconsin statute 968.26 on John Doe proceedings is the statutory authority for conducting John Doe probes in Wisconsin.

Republican Line on John Doe Probe Is Another Lie

Walker's $ Millions fending off Recalls
are being looking at with cause

The Wall Street Journal screams "Wisconsin Political Speech raided."

The Free Republic says, "Wisconsin Special Prosecutor Targets Supporters of Scott Walker."

The GOP's Wisconsin Reporter says, "Sources: Secret probe targeting conservatives is abuse of prosecutorial powers."

You get the message.

Worth noting by the way is the last time the Republicans screamed this loudly about the John Doe probe of 2010-2013, six criminal convictions resulted.

As two convictions were for the embezzlement from military veterans by personally appointed aides of Scott Walker, I guess the GOP position is never mind about that.

So how do Republicans pretend to know this investigation is improper in any way, as John Doe probes are secret.

To edify the Republicans, nearing hysterics, about this Wisconsin John Doe probe, a judge [in this case, Kenosha County Circuit Judge Barbara A. Kluka] convenes a John Doe proceeding in Wisconsin:

By statute 968.26 (2) (b):

The judge shall convene a proceeding as described under sub. (3) if he or she determines that a proceeding is necessary to determine if a crime has been committed. When determining if a proceeding is necessary, the judge may consider the law enforcement investigative reports, the records and case files of the district attorney, and any other written records that the judge finds relevant.

No one is being targeted, the whole point as noted at this site, is to determine whether crimes have been committed and by whom. And no judge worth her salt is going to approve a John Doe probe without cause.

So, if Republicans have a problem with the probe, and have a problem with Francis Schmitz, the special prosecutor, tell it to Judge Kluka.

And tell it specifically to the Wisconsin people. What is is improper? Tell us some facts. Is there a problem with Judge Kluka, tell us and offer facts.

As for ignoring the subpoena's secrecy codicils, Eric O'Keefe, the director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth, should be held in contempt, with possible obstruction charges, by Judge Kluka.

You cannot just tell a judge: Forget it, get lost; I don't recognize the authority of your subpoena, your court or the investigation over which you precide.