Scott Walker—Portrait in Corruption

Mary Bottari at PR Watch has a new piece about another Scott Walker scheme revealed in emails suggesting Walker committed felony misconduct in public office while serving as Milwaukee County Executive. See also TruthOut,

Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm's refusal to bring criminal charges in John Doe I is an act of political cowardice, and an abdication of his duty as a state Constitutional officer that makes Chisholm unfit for office, (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Scott Walker's Pres Campaign Was a Fraud, and It Blew Up

Scott Walker's 70-day clusterfrack

It wasn't prescient to predict in February Scott Walker's campaign for the presidency was a fraud, not a serious campaign.

This was obvious.

Worse are today's reports Walker even screwed up his spend-thrift, tax payer-financed trips down the rabbit hole.

Notes top news pieces today on Walker:

• How Scott Walker spent $90,000 a day to lose an election (Johnson, Washington Post)
• Fiscal Conservative Scott Walker Spent Like a Drunken Sailor, Put Kids on Payroll
• Reckless spending on exorbitant salaries killed the Walker campaign (Catanese, U.S. News and World Report)
• Scott Walker faces tough task in repaying presidential campaign debts (Stein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"Given that Walker's campaign lasted just 70 days — from July 13 to Sept. 21," how did Scott Walker manage to spend $90,000 a day, the Post's Jenna Johnson asks.

Johnson's answer is instructive to Walker's delusions of grandeur and inflated sense of entitlement:

For Walker money went toward a payroll of more than 80, generous paychecks for top staffers, dozens of consultants and vendors who were paid tens of thousands of dollars, and elaborately staged campaign events. For a candidate who bragged on the campaign trail about finding deals at Kohl's and packing sack lunches to save money, the reports show that the campaign spent lavishly even as fundraising dollars began to disappear.

The campaign's payroll for those three months totaled nearly $2 million in salaries, taxes and benefits. Additionally, the campaign engaged dozens of consultants and vendors who were collectively paid more than $800,000. Walker's campaign was known for paying more than many of its rivals, and at least 20 employees were paid at least $30,000 in less than three months.

Walker's two college-age sons, Matt and Alex Walker, were both on the payroll but were among the least-compensated staff members, making less than $5,000 each. Five employees earned more than $50,000 in salary and benefits during that three-month period: Campaign manager Rick Wiley received nearly $52,000. Political director Matt Mason, $61,000. Communication director Kirsten Kukowski, more than $58,000. Treasurer Kate Lind, $57,730. General counsel Jonathan Waclawski, $57,600.

The campaign also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars setting up campaign stops and fundraisers. Even simple town-hall events in small towns featuring a stage, bright lights, a backdrop of flags and a sound system playing music. The campaign paid more than $126,000 to one firm alone, D.C.-based Harbinger LLC, to provide 'event production consulting.' The campaign would use video and photos from these events on Walker's social media platforms, on the campaign Web site and in promotional materials. The campaign had a full-time photographer on staff and also spent more than $100,000 on video production services. 

As Walker blows a hole in Wisconsin's budget deficit, perhaps even Walker has a new tag line: Unaccountable.

Scott Walker's New Scheme to Use Government Against Opponents

Most Americans believe we live in a Constitutional representative democracy where citizens can at least count on elected representatives to make policy with an eye toward the welfare of the citizenry.

Republicans no longer believe in this.

Government is a tool used against political opponents, against the right to vote, used to reward financial benefactors, and used as a means of keeping in power, through gerrymandering, the very corrupt politicians now infesting the body politic.

Scott Walker, who has already turned civil service positions into political appointees, now wants the civil service-hired employees to become part of a Republican machine to be used against opponents.

Do you trust your personal information with Republican-vetted bureaucrats?

Believe that Wisconsin Republicans will maliciously use the Department of Justice, the Department of Revenue and other levers of government for corrupt purposes.

If you trust Republican Party forbearance and ethics will keep the corrupt use of public office in check, you're dreaming.

Consider Scott Walker's corrupt use of the Milwaukee County Executive's office and his illegal scheme to coordinate massive private pay-off money for his own corrupt purposes, and the elimination of independent checks on corruption that Republicans wish to eliminate.

Wisconsin's survival as a healthy democratic state depends on not just an aroused and informed citizenry, it depends on a federal check against the public misconduct of the Walker administration and all its fetid tentacles.

Bear in mind Scott Walker will remain a corrupt, narrow-minded lightweight not fit for public office.

On the Wisconsin Supreme Court and David Prosser

Bruce Murphy has a tour de force analysis in Urban Milwaukee lambasting Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, and by extension Prosser's three Republican cohorts on the bench.

Murphy's piece should be read by anyone mildly concerned with public integrity.

Scott Walker’s office 'obstructed' probe of missing veterans funds, say investigators

Update: Significance of Dee Hall's piece is that evidence of the Scott Walker obstruction of law enforcement probe looking into missing money of veterans' fund is now in federal court in a brief (dated July 31, 2015) using only publicly released documents beyond the reach of Republicans on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that attempted to sanitize and cover up for Scott Walker's duplicity and apparent illegal actions as County Executive.
 ---
Scott Walker's long-time aides and appointees are some real low-life types, embezzling from a military veterans' fund with Walker and his office (Milwaukee County Executive (2002-10)) playing interference.

 Dee J. Hall has the story at WisconsinWatch.

Scott Walker and Republicans still believe the rule of law does not apply to favored Republicans like Walker. (Mal Contends)

But the crooks and liars from John Doe I are coming back to bite Walker, and many 1,000s of pages of documents remain in the public domain beyond the reach of Walker and the four Republican justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Wonder what Walker's next move is, telling the convicted to shut up?

Wisconsin US Senator Takes Leading Role Slamming Scott Walker

"We wanted to make sure you saw Tammy’s email from yesterday: Governor Scott Walker announced he’s running for President. Walker has spent (five) years in Madison destroying the progressive traditions that make Wisconsin great. Now he wants to take his radical, anti-middle class agenda to the White House," reads a US Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) email.

Noting the lack of daily knockdowns of Scott Walker by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) in press reports, progressives have seen elected stalwarts like Baldwin and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) pick up the slack of the still moribund communications team of the DPW.

Wisconsin County Party websites with daily messaging from elected officials? Forget it. See Door County Dems and Manitowoc County Dems sites, for example.

You know the Wisconsin Democratic Party is in trouble when a fundraising email is a more compelling communication than anything the State Party is putting out.

What about daily messaging? Beefing up County websites?

That Jeff Smith-Martha Laning for DPW Chair idea is really paying dividends. The Scott Walker-announcing-for-president story seems like ... something to jump on, and the time to badger every political reporter in the state, right?

Apparently not. Super job, DPW

From the Tammy Baldwin email:

Governor Scott Walker announced he’s running for president in 2016 -- and the rest of the country is about to see what Wisconsinites have been dealing with for the last five years.

Whether it’s rolling back the clock on women’s rights, passing disastrous right-to-work legislation, or cutting funding for our colleges and universities, Scott Walker has taken every chance he’s had to advance his own Tea Party politics by attacking our state’s progressive values. And Wisconsin families have suffered.

Thanks to Scott Walker, Wisconsin has some of the most regressive health care laws against women anywhere in the country. Because of his out-dated economic policies, Wisconsin ranks as one of the least-friendly environments for business start-ups in the nation.

Scott Walker’s radical policies are the exact opposite of what middle class families and workers need. We need real leadership. We need forward-thinking governance. We do not need Scott Walker.

Today I’m asking you to help me take a stand against Governor Walker and his radical agenda. Add your name to the petition today.

It was no surprise when David Koch said that the Republican nominee 'should be Scott Walker.'

The Koch brothers and their group Americans for Prosperity have spent millions of dollars to help advance Scott Walker’s agenda. They even opened up a lobbying office down the street from the capitol building.

Michael, Scott Walker doesn’t care about the middle class. All he cares about is Scott Walker and making his Koch allies happy.

We’ve known for five years that Wisconsin deserves better than Scott Walker. It’s time to let the rest of the nation know, too. Sign the petition today and say you’ll stand with me against Scott Walker.

Thank you.

Tammy

Scott Walker Is More Fraud than Serious Presidential Candidate

The New Yorker's John Cassidy pulls no punches in how he feels about about a potential Scott Walker presidency.

"Let’s stipulate up front that Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is an odious politician whose ascension to the Presidency would be a disaster," [Cassidy] writes in the opening paragraph of his Tuesday column in The New Yorker, "The dangerous candidacy of Scott Walker." (Slinger, The Capital Times)

Odious, destructive, yes. More dangerous than even the once-in-a-lifetime, Bush-Cheney 2007-09 Great Recession, the neocon Iraq invasion and occupation?

Yes.

In fact, Walker is working to transform Wisconsin into Mississippi.

Scott Walker is a frontman for plutocrats, chickenhawks and statist extremists, and who can blame The New Yorker's Cassidy for looking askance at fascism bubbling up from the Midwest?

Work against fascism or lose America and civil rights

But America has been here before. And won.

Scott Walker, as demonstrated by any interview with follow-up questions, is a Sarah Palinesque lightweight who can't handle policy questions.

And the man has no conscience. (Milbank, Washington Post)

Want to know why Scott Walker with the self-proclaimed "big and bold" ideas declined to hold even one townhall-style question-and-answer session with the Wisconsin people? (Mal Contends)

Walker can't handle policy questions.

This is precisely why some progressive writers warn Walker ought not be underestimated in his faux presidential run. They want Walker to be the GOP nominee and are trying to impose gravitas on the billionaires' minion who is afraid of interviews outside race-baiting Milwaukee hate radio. (MacGillis, The New Republic)

As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Dan Bice put it two years ago: Scott Walker is not an "ideas guy," suggesting someone as error-prone as Walker who can't think on his feet "could earn him the distinction of being the Gov. Perry of the 2016 campaign." (Dan Bice chat transcript on Thursday, April 18, 2013) (Mal Contends)

What does Scott Walker who is not an "ideas guy" do? Portray himself as a big and bold ideas guy as he takes the Koch brothers/ALEC agenda as his own.

What is Scott Walker really up to? Two things, and not one is a serious run for the presidency.

One - Walker's presidential run is a cover for past criminal deeds, and shame on Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm for cowering before the Koch brothers and other plutocrats when Chisholm knew perfectly well the John Doe I evidence showed Walker is guilty of misconduct in public office when he served as Milwaukee County Executive.

"We already know that Walker was fully aware of what was going on with the secret router and the illegal politicking that had been going on. In fact, Walker not only knew about it all, he was directing it!" (Cognitive Dissidence) Walker faces another criminal investigation now being adjudicated before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Two - Scott Walker is simply on an elaborate fundraising campaign with his national base accumulated during the Recall election.

When Walker is defeated early in the nomination process in his reputed run for the GOP nominee for the presidency, he'll bow out and call for GOP unity for plutocrat Jeb Bush, finish out his term and be a frontman for rightwing welfare.

Though he would have worn out his welcome in much of Wisconsin, Walker can retreat to the segregated white homeland inside the WOW counties outside of the greater Milwaukee urban area.

Cashing in on his radicalism and selling out the state of Wisconsin, Walker will have done well with the plutocrats ala Sarah Palin.

New Scott Walker Emails Confirm Criminality

The new batch of emails released yesterday brings more evidence demonstrating Scott Walker's secret email system installed in the Milwaukee County Executive's office was an illegal campaign operation, Walker was dedicated to obscuring his office's work from the public, and Walker was a hands-on manager. (Bice, Stein; Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

The emails reinforce facts already made public in past email releases begging the question why didn't Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm bring criminal charges in the John Doe probe (May 2010 - March 2013) against Walker (who used the illegal secret system) when the mountain of evidence made public has established and exceeded probable cause of criminality by Walker and virtually all of Walker's close staff during his tenure of Milwaukee county executive. (2002-2010)

Chisholm said in a statement in 2013 that charges that he brought had to be supported by "proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

Chisholm's 2013 statement is counter to the common practice in criminal law of using probable cause as a standard to bring criminal charges.

For example, when Wisconsin State Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha)—former Republican majority leader who was kept on the taxpayer payroll throughout his arrest and negotiations with the DA and will receive pension and health care benefits after his sweetheart deal with the GOP's newly elected attorney general, Brad Schimel—a probable cause criminal complaint charging Kramer with two counts of 2nd Degree Sexual Assault/Use of Force was issued.

Wisconsin John Doe probes are not mini-trials. The beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard is what juries use to convict in criminal trials.

Walker has refused to answer the question whether he used the illegal system and had his private account though emails made public show he did.

Chisholm made a political calculation in not charging Scott Walker, not a legal calculation protecting public integrity and Wisconsin citizens against criminality by its public servants.

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:

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.

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.

Scott Walker Implosion May Be Imminent with New Release from Secret Comm System

Scott Walker's corruption featured
in February episode of Chris Hayes

Update: Milwaukee County Executive announces he will have possession of the emails within days of June 4, and then release as fast as possible.  Look for a late June-July release of Scott Walker and staff emails on secret and illegal router system, installed in Walker's office during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive. One prediction: It will begin to dawn on the most dense D.C. pundit that Scott Walker will never become the GOP nominee for the presidency.
---
Tens of thousands of emails will soon be released featuring communications among aides to Gov. Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive (2002-08), current Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced.

The emails were seized in the first John Doe investigation that found massive misconduct in public office, and resulted in convictions of six Walker aides, appointees and associates.

The emails follow the February release of 28,000 emails that were made public as part of litigation by Walker's aide, Kelly M. Rindfleisch and her appeal of her conviction for misconduct in public office.

Walker in the past has refused to answer questions about ethics and criminality during his tenure as County Executive, pointing out the fact that the first John Doe investigation did not result in criminal charges against Walker as explaining away any questions why he used and allowed to be used a secret email communication system in the Milwaukee County executive's office.

This next release of emails will speak loudly, demonstrating a micromanager who ignored the law and any sense of ethics, and will be much more difficult for Walker to evade, and will almost certainly stop talk of Walker running for president, possibly torpedoing his run for reelection for governor as well.

The new release of secret emails also follows the March 1 revelation by Bob Kiefert that he worked at the Milwaukee County Executive's office as an employee and explained how to set up another secret Internet system in 2002 in the physical presence of Walker aide and convicted felon, Tim Russell, and Scott Walker himself, who smiled and waived at Kiefert when Russell tried to introduce the two as Walker was on the phone.

Russell explained to Kiefert that the Internet system was done at the behest of Walker, (DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal) who was to personally thank Kiefert for his help.

"Kiefert said the 3G broadband network described in the (criminal complaint against Walker aides) is a faster, more modern version of the equipment he helped install in 2002," reported the Wisconsin State Journal's DeFour.

Update: Judge Rudolph Randa Declares District Attorneys' Argument Frivolous

Update V: The Steven Biskupic-Rudolph Randa conflict-of-interest story is knocked down. "Steven Biskupic, a former U.S. attorney who is representing a party in the secretive John Doe probe, indicated Thursday in an email to the State Journal that there was no conflict of interest for Judge Rudolph Randa, whose judicial assistant is Cary Biskupic, Steven Biskupic's wife. (DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal)

Update IV: From Greg Neumann (WKOW, Madison): "@Burke4WI says she does not think Judge Randa should have the final say on the John Doe investigation into GOP recall campaigns and groups." Better than nothing.

Update III: Mary Burke, Scott Walker's presumptive Democratic Party opponent, has nothing to say about this naked display of corruption in the judiciary. Nothing.

Update II: Here's Brendan Fischer's take from PRWatch: "Judge Randa's May 6 decision halting the investigation is extraordinary. It involves a federal court injecting its own interpretation of state law into a high-profile criminal probe of political operatives of the party that appointed him to the bench, while state court proceedings are ongoing. It deploys a strained reading of U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the facts of the case, portraying the investigation -- led by a bipartisan group of District Attorneys and a Special Prosecutor who voted for Walker, and approved unanimously by the bipartisan group of retired judges on Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board -- as politically-motivated retaliation against Republicans. ....

Update: Naked corruption by Judge Rudolph Randa (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin)

Randa just dove into the depths of corruption, and certified the law enforcement attorneys' arguments "frivolous," a necessary step for his halting the John Doe probe into Scott Walker's possible campaign and illegal coordination, among other fact-finding done by the criminal probe.

For a finding of frivolousness, a judge must certify arguments to be utterly meritless, and most likely made in bad faith.

Here's a lay definition of frivolous: A legal move in a lawsuit clearly intended merely to harass, delay or embarrass the opposition. Frivolous acts can include ... an appeal which contains not a single arguable basis (by any stretch of the imagination) for the appeal. (Law.com)

I would be surprised if Randa's decision lasts a day. In any event the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judicial Misconduct Compliant Form is here.

Randa's decision will almost certainly be appealed, and overturned
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Judge Rudolph Randa's "decision and order," mandating the destruction of evidence gathered in the Wisconsin criminal investigation known as John Doe II reads like a political op-ed column from the Wall Street Journal, in service to the Republican party of Wisconsin, as much as a precisely crafted judicial opinion.

Randa's bizarre order (PDF link from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) was stayed within hours by a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (May 7 order).

The appellate panel's language is measured of course, but reading between the lines, it is the legal equivalent of excoriation, and a complete reversal of Randa's decision.

On Monday, May 5, the Wisconsin district attorneys and other John Doe authorities filed an Emergency Motion for Stay Pending Appeal and Memorandum in Support of Motion.

Randa ignored the filing, and rushed out his decision and order the next day, May 6.

Wisconsin jurists cannot state on the record that Randa's actions are corrupt, reckless, and in disregard to settled legal procedure, but what Randa did was precisely for a corrupt purpose in support of the GOP and in opposition to the rule of law.

Chief Judge Diane P. Wood, William J. Bauer, and Frank H. Easterbrook write in their May 7 order:

Apostol v. Gallion, 870 F.2d 1335 (7th cir. 1989), once a litigant files a notice of appeal, a district court (like Randa's) may not take further action in the suit unless it certifies that the appeal is frivolous. The district court failed to follow that rule when, despite the notice of appeal by several defendants, it entered a preliminary injunction. This court accordingly stays the injunction, and all further proceedings in the court, until [Judge Randa] has ruled definitively on the question posed by Apostol. (emphasis added)

Why didn't Randa know this?

And why did Randa rush out his decision and order, a maneuver that lasted mere hours before being reversed in the appellate panel's order?

Randa's decision is replete with editorializing, minimizing the crimes of Scott Walker appointees and aides who embezzled from military veterans funds and committed misconduct in public office as "minor offenses."

Randa even refers to Walker's Act 10 Bill as "reforms," ["...Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG) argued that the reforms of the Budget Repair Bill were fair ..."] (p. 3) and presents as fact that "left-leaning organizations" (p. 3) are in political opposition.

Randa goes on and on, attributing the political motives of Eric O'Keefe (of the Wisconsin Club for Growth) and R. J. Johnson (a respected Wisconsin GOP politico) as benign and in the public interest.

Writes Randa: "The initial focus of the first (John Doe) proceeding was the embezzlement of $11,242.24 that Milwaukee County had collected for the local Order of the Purple Heart while Walker was serving as Milwaukee County Executive.  From there, the first John Doe developed into a long-running investigation of all things Walker-related." (p. 4)

"All things Walker-related?" Does this really strike anyone as anything but editorializing, and biased against and hostile to the John Doe investigation?

Randa's background of the case including his editorializing is not addressed on the appellate panel's order; it is not blasted by Wisconsin jurists (who ethically cannot criticize the ethics of a fellow jurist), so if falls to lay citizens and journalists to tease out what happened.

In none of the reporting from Wisconsin media outlets have we seen the facts of Randa's inappropriate and inaccurate editorializing reported on and condemned.

What happened this week is that a corrupt federal judge, a former member of the rightwing Federalist Society, fronted and shilled for the Republicans and other right wingers, and only the integrity of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit saved the rule of law in Wisconsin.

Nowhere does Randa even cite the Wisconsin John Doe statute that serves the Wisconsin people as a law enforcement tool.

One can read a scholarly and unbiased judicial opinion and find the arguments of both sides of the litigants' presented, analyzed, and refuted or sustained. Not so Randa's.

Randa's opinion makes a laughingstock of his tenure on the bench, already tarnished by the ludicrous Georgia Thompson prosecution and his unethical ruling on the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy proceedings settling the mass child rape and molestation cases.

In this case, Walker's attorney, Steven Biskupic, is married to Cary Biskupic who is a Judicial Assistant for Randa. No appearance of impartiality there, in Randa's view who should have recused himself from this case.

One thing Randa did get right is this: "According to the prosecutors, R.J. Johnson controlled WCFG and used it as a 'hub' to coordinate fundraising and issue advocacy involving FOSW (Friends of Scott Walker) and other 501(c)(4) organizations such as Citizens for a Strong America, Wisconsin Right to Life, and United Sportsmen of Wisconsin." (p. 8)

There is certainly reasonable suspicion for a John Doe probe, as the five Republican and Democratic district attorneys agree.

Randa did a service in demonstrating that Wisconsin Republicans (including Randa) today feel they are above the law.

Walker hopes that the criminal investigation will "move on," but not for Walker's benefit Walker says, but for the people of the state.

Right. I wonder if Scott Walker has any comment about Randa's characterization of stealing from veterans as a "minor offense" since Walker appointed the embezzlers who had no veterans' advocacy experience and no non-profit experience.

Walker also says the John Doe investigations are distractions. Yes, criminal investigations usually are distractions from those who have engaged in criminal activities.

It is incumbent on those Wisconsin citizens in the legal profession to borrow the courage of appellate attorney and author, Sidney Powell—who blows the whistle on massive corruption in the U.S. DoJ and federal judiciary in her new book, Licensed to Lie ...—and call for impartiality in the judiciary and the rule of law in Wisconsin.

Emergency Appeal Filed Against Order Halting John Doe Probe of Scott Walker, Rightwingers

"Less than a day after a federal judge halted a probe into conservative groups and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker, prosecutors filed an emergency appeal Wednesday of the unprecedented decision," reports the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Mike Maistelman, an election-law attorney, agreed that the case could very well end up before the nation's highest court.

'This is significant,' said Maistelman, who has represented primarily Democrats in the past. 'For the federal judicial branch to halt an investigation conducted by a constitutionally elected official is huge.'

John Doe probes are law enforcement tools to determine if and by whom crimes have been committed in Wisconsin under Wisconsin statute.

Writes attorney Marcus J. Berghahn:

The John Doe proceeding is an institution sanctioned by long usage since Wisconsin’s territorial days. The provisions of Wis. Stat. section 968.26 currently define the scope of a John Doe proceeding in Wisconsin, which is intended as an independent, investigatory tool to ascertain whether a crime has been committed and if so, by whom.

The goal is to allow the judge to determine whether it appears probable from the testimony given that a crime has been committed, and whether to file a complaint.

What Judge Rudolph Randa (of the rightwing Federalist Society) has done is to stop a law enforcement investigation, and order that evidence of possible criminal activity be destroyed.

Randa has a history of bizarre rulings including refusing to recuse himself in child molestation scandal-bankruptcy proceedings by Creditors of the Milwaukee Archdiocese (Goodstein. NYT).

Randa also presided over the trial of an innocent Georgia Thompson, ordering her imprisoned on appeal, until a panel on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ordered her freed in a spectacular opinion in 2007 after oral arguments, ordering her acquittal.

Randa is described as a loose canon by several attorneys speaking on background.

Scott Walker and Aides Shared Confidential County Business on Private Emails

Scott Walker and his aides saw the Milwaukee County Executive's office as their political fiefdom, not an elected office, responsible to the people.

Lisa Kaiser reports:

"Gov. Scott Walker’s aides in his Milwaukee County executive’s office used their private emails to share information protected by attorney-client privilege, confidential contract bidding details, and updates from closed-door meetings, a survey of the newly released John Doe emails shows."

No staffer in Walker's office is revealed to be stating, 'we can't be doing this.'

That taking confidential, private information and giving the information to Walker's political campaign was standard operating procedure shows that this abuse of office is what Scott Walker believed he was entitled.

Washington Post: A behind the scenes look at Scott Walker

Update: John Nichols comments on Scott Walker and his stonewalling of the Wisconsin people after "Tens of thousands of emails detailing the ethical and legal lapses, political misdeeds, insensitivity, sexism, racism and homophobia of his 'inner circle' of closest aides were released." Notes Nichols:  "The headlines in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal, newspapers that endorsed Walker’s initial election and refused to support the recall, were tough — going so far as to suggest that the governor must have known about secret political operations set up in his Milwaukee County Executive Office. Both newspapers have used their editorial pages to demand answers from Walker, as did other papers."
The Washington Post has a piece out portraying Scott Walker as a "leader on the rise," during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County Executive (2002-10).

The piece says Walker was fixated with "cultivating his political image," and features numerous emails and accompanying descriptions supporting this characterization.

What is striking about this obsession of Walker's is that this campaign for governor reveals an almost pathological disregard for the people of Milwaukee County—"in the hours after a boy was killed at a county owned garage, Walker's staff was quickly concerned about his public image."

What about the kid killed?

"A 13-ton concrete slab had come loose and fallen from a county-owned parking garage in Milwaukee, crushing and killing a 15-year-old boy, and within minutes, aides feared the worst for their boss, then Milwaukee County’s top elected official," writes Rosalind S. Helderman in her piece.

It comes as no surprise that most of the people on the emails are convicted criminals or struck immunity deals with the John Doe probe.

These are Walker's people.

We read emails from Tim Russell (felon who embezzled from a veterans' fund) and Kelly Rindfleisch (misconduct in public office) and the whole bunch of Walker's staff who hijacked a public office and used it as a campaign in Walker's rise to power.

Left out of the Post report is the fact that Milwaukee County Asst DA Bruce Landgraf presented evidence in court this year that Walker's top campaign and County staff sent emails between January and October 2010 [election for governor was in November 2010] using the secret and illegal email system installed in Scott Walker's office. Hence, we have all these emails made public after Rindfleisch appealed her criminal conviction.

Walker's press secretary now wants Wisconsin to believe that Walker's office was not using a secret Internet system as early as 2002, as was recently reported.

Winning Definition of Scott Walker: Conniving, Two-faced and Against You

Scott Walker: Don't look at me or anything I've done

Update: "Walker and his people hijacked government to serve his own political interests rather than the interests of the people." (Conniff. The Progressive)
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When Republicans define a political opponent, they do so prior to the declaration of candidacy.

This means Republicans fabricate and lie, hoping not many folks are paying attention, and certainly not thinking.

Democrats on the other hand attempt to use facts and reality-based arguments seeking a mandate to win an election.

This is a difference in ethics between the parties, emphatically in the post-Citizens United world.

Every effective communication—working the press on stories, jumping on stories, feeding stories—all to help define, say Scott Walker with free media is an imperative to winning an election.

Conclusion: Do that.

In Wisconsin, the plausible definition of Scott Walker is a conniving, two-faced rat, against You and against veterans home from war.

By the way, for the George Lakoff "framing" freaks who believe they found the new, revealed code to political communications, they have not.

The political act of convincing communications in support of a compelling message has been used for almost 100 years—it's called PUBLIC RELATIONS, ... freaks.

Two Largest Wisconsin Dailies Call for Scott Walker to Hold Press Conference on Emails

From left to right: Tim Russell, Scott Walker and Brian Pierick
"Don't think for a minute that Walkergate or its effect will end ... ." 

Update: Even Fox News host, Chris Wallace, grows frustrated with Scott Walker's evasions.

WALLACE: Did you have your own private e-mail account?

SCOTT WALKER: It’s one of those where I point out district attorney has reviewed every single one of these issues.

WALLACE: But sir, you’re not answering my question.

SCOTT WALKER: No, because I’m not going to get into 27,000 different pieces of information.
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The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal are both editorially supportive of Scott Walker to a fault.

Now, the two largest Wisconsin dailies are calling on Walker to come clean with an extended press conference that ends when the press is done with questions, not when Scott Walker declares this is "old news."

It's not old news when the probe that resulted in 15 convictions involving his former top aides, who as the emails reveal, acted on Scott Walker's orders, is now a public fact shown in black and white. Walker knew, was a participant and lied about it. Why?

Scott Walker cannot weasel away on this one.

From a PR perspective, as the editorials writers at the Journal-Sentinel and State Journal are aware, a hours-long, question-and-answer session explaining and apologizing is the right thing to do.

From a good government perspective, it's imperative.

Everyone is wondering why Scott Walker was not prosecuted when the court-ordered release of the 27,000 emails shows Walker was the top dog in the conspiracy to run a secret political campaign out of a public office.

Scott Walker even parades this fact of not being prosecuted in his seconds-long encounters with friendly, GOP-aligned journalists.

I wasn't prosecuted is a fair point.

As are the voluminous emails proving Walker knew and directed action on the secret email system, and after his aide was caught ordered that the use of the secret email system stop, shortly before the Milwaukee County Executive office was raided by law enforcement.

As noted by Ruth Conniff in The Progressive Magazine, there's nowhere left to hide now.

Scott Walker Is Desperate So Wisconsin State Journal Runs Pathetic Flack Piece

Here's Steven Verburg's (GOP) fronting for Scott Walker in his piece on Sunday's front page.

More than 28,000 pages of secret emails and other documents released under court order last week illustrate in sharp detail the extent to which modern electronic devices allowed Scott Walker’s top taxpayer-funded staff in the Milwaukee County executive’s office to be secretly converted into political campaign assets in 2010.

But his former aides were betrayed by the supposedly hidden laptops, wireless connections and Web-based email accounts after prosecutors seized hard drives that stored reams of messages. ...

Scott Walker used the secret, illegal router email system; he "urged both county employees and campaign aides to go to news websites and post comments promoting him and his record, " (Stein, Marley and Bice. MJS), and after his aide Darlene Wink was caught, Walker then Walker ordered the system shut down.

To state his aides were "betrayed" is like saying an idiot who fires a pistol at a man for being black was betrayed by the bullet.

No, Walker and his aides were not "betrayed," as Steven Verburg writes while pretending to be a journalist, instead of a Walker flack.

Walker and his aide are perpetrators who ran a campaign for governor from the office of Milwaukee County Executive, and even found time during business hours to sneak in their own brand of humor about Jews, blacks, gays and disabled Americans on emails that no decent person regards as anything but vile.

As Democurmudgeon writes (and I am posting almost his entire text; he won't mind as he as repulsed as I am) watch this video at bottom:

MSNBC's Chris Hayes hit on the real revelation of the newly released stack of emails. Hayes points out "the shear jaw dropping offensiveness" of a few of those emails.

>Hayes: "What kind of work environment exactly would it be all okay to get this in your inbox and then forward it to an unspecified amount of coworkers and subordinates...but think about the kind of work environment in which a chief of staff sends this kind of email to his subordinates. An email that is explicitly homophobic, racist, antisemitic and offensive in every way possible? ... These are the thoughts people who are in charge of things like, oh I don't know, running the states welfare system." 

This is who Scott Walker and new Republican Party are.

If anyone is wondering if Republican officeholder criticized Scott Walker's former chief of staff and other Walker aides for this crap, forget it, no GOP officeholder in Wisconsin ever publicly criticizes Scot Walker and his staff.