Scott Walker Lied, Hid and Misused Personal Email System, WKOW-TV Reports

Scott Walker lied again, concealed official communications again, apparently criminally broke Wisconsin's Open Records law again, and now is running away from comment to the press again.

Wisconsin Capitol Bureau Chief Greg Neumann of WKOW-TV broke an investigative piece updated today demonstrating Scott Walker knew of and concealed official public records on a series of private email accounts as well as conducting political business between public and private email systems.

This is an echo of Walker's email scandal during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive when he and his staff installed a secret router and email system in the County Executive's office, (the 'inner circle'), and points to repeated violations as governor of the clear language of Wisconsin's Open Records law.

"According to a 'compliance outline' written by [former] Wisconsin attorney General JB Van Hollen, a Republican, public records include "e-mail sent or received on an authority's computer system" and "personal e-mail sent by officers or employees of the authority," as well as "e-mail conducting government business sent or received on the personal e-mail account of an authority's officer or employee," [noted John Weishan, a Democrat and a critic of Walker on the Milwaukee County board]

It is a felony to violate Wisconsin's Open Records law. 'Whoever with intent to injure or defraud destroys, damages, removes or conceals any public record is guilty of a Class H felony,' the Wisconsin statutes say. And the penalty for a Class H felony is 'a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 6 years, or both.' (Rothschild, The Progressive).

The Wisocnsin DoJ compliance outline also notes:

e. Electronic records and communications.  ...
ii. E-mail sent or received on an authority’s computer system is a record.  This includes personal e-mail sent by officers or employees of the authority.  Schill, 2010 WI 86, ¶ 152, 327 Wis. 2d 572, ¶ 152, 786 N.W.2d 177, ¶ 152 (Bradley, J., concurring); Id., ¶ 173 (Gableman, J., concurring); Id., ¶ 188 (Roggensack, J., dissenting). 
iii. E-mail conducting government business sent or received on the personal e-mail account of an authority’s officer or employee also constitutes a record. (Wisconsin Public Records Law Wis. Stat. 19.31-19.39 COMPLIANCE OUTLINE September 2012 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ATTORNEY GENERAL J.B. VAN HOLLEN.)

Political-campaign work done on state time to coordinate public policy also appears to present Walker and top staff in violation of misconduct in public office.

Writes WKOW-TV's Neumann:

[A] 27 News investigation into the use and disclosure of personal emails by the Governor's office is raising questions about just how those records are handled.

On May 28, 27 News asked Gov. Walker if he knew whether former Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes, former Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch or other members of his administration had used personal email for government business.

'I don't know,' said Gov. Walker. 'I mean, not that I'm aware of.'

But we now know the Governor was aware of it at the time that exchange took place.

Just a few days before we asked those questions, 27 News requested all of the emails sent to or from the personal email addresses of Gilkes, Huebsch, and Walker's second Chief of Staff Eric Schutt - that contained official state business communications.

Their personal email addresses were provided to 27 News by a tipster. ...

Much of it [the emails] dealt with planning and strategy. A March 2011 email sent from from Gilkes to other senior staffers, included a memo detailing the self-prescribed weaknesses of the Walker administration's first 100 days in office - mentioning Gov. Walker's overexposure to the media and long winded speeches.

Personal email was used to discuss big policy moments as well. One thread showed a discussion among senior staffers on the day after the State Senate passed Act 10. It includes the statement Secretary Huebsch ultimately released to the media on it being published and becoming law.

Others dealt directly with the strategy surrounding Act 10 and the concern caused after Judge Mary Ann Sumi blocked the law. ...

But dozens of the emails 27 News received were never sent to an official state account until they were forwarded to the government email address of Gov. Walker's Chief Legal Counsel Brian Hagedorn on July 31, 2015. That date comes four years after the emails were originally written and two months after our open records request.

'Yeah, I think it's an issue to be sure and apparently and potentially a serious one,' said [director of the UW-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics,] who believes that delay and lag time raises questions about whether 27 News even got all of the personal emails that ever existed, or if some were permanently deleted from personal accounts long ago.'

As for the identity of the tipster helping Neumann's piece, it is likely should a criminal probe and prosecution follow, Wisconsin will be hearing more about this tipster.

WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Scott Walker, Campaign Used Public Office to Flack for Walker During O’Donnell Park Death

Death of young man in 2010 concerned Scott Walker; Walker was
worried the tragedy would hurt Walker politically. Walker’s campaign
manager, put it immediately after man was killed: "Make sure there is
not a paper any where that details a problem at all." Cover-up and lies.

Lisa Kaiser has the must-read story on Scott Walker corruption and his appalling insensitivity to the death of a young man in 2010.

Walker's cynical and persistent actions in reaction was that the death of 15-year-old Jared Kellner and two others injured on June 24, 2010 at the Milwaukee County O’Donnell Park parking structure could hurt Walker’s political image.

Reports Kaiser:

In the initial phases of the John Doe investigation, the public learned how then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s county aides worked on his gubernatorial campaign while working at their taxpayer-funded jobs. Some of these aides were prosecuted for their illegal behavior.

But the release of hundreds of emails sealed for years under the John Doe’s secrecy order—recently released as part of the litigation involving the O’Donnell Park tragedy—reveals more serious evidence of how Walker’s top campaign advisers were actually calling the shots on county matters to protect Walker and his campaign for governor from political damage from this tragedy.

And make no mistake: Scott Walker was definitely aware that his campaign and county staffers were working together to shape his image as he ran for governor in 2010.

Walker was copied on almost all of the emails ....

Nowhere in any of the emails released is there evidence of Walker or any of his campaign or county staffers expressing sympathy or concern for the Kellner family or the public’s safety. Their only interest seems to be managing Walker’s image and distancing himself from any potential cause of the structure’s failures.

Smoking gun on Scott Walker in John Doe criminal investigation

Scott Walker e-mail shows complicity in illegal, secret e-mail system; timeline shows Walker directing cover-up to county executive's office campaign operation.

Jud Lounsbury's analysis of Scott Walker's e-mail to his former and criminally-charged deputy chief-of-staff, Tim Russell, is a blockbuster.

It has been widely spun that when Scott Walker sent the 'no more campaign work at work' email [found by the John Doe investigation of Scott Walker aides] to Tim Russell [who along with former county veterans official Kevin Kavanaugh is charged with stealing more than $60,000 in donations intended for Operation Freedom, an annual event honoring veterans ... both face multiple felonies] that the e-mail was directing Rusell in his oversight capacity as [Milwaukee County] Deputy Chief of Staff to reign in the illegal activity. However, Russell's official job in the county executive's office was Director of Housing, not Deputy Chief of Staff.

Russell had left the position of Deputy Chief of Staff on March 15, 2010 and the 'no more campaign work at work' email came two months later on May 14, 2010.

By Jud Lounsbury

In other words, at the time [Koch-brothers-loving] Walker gave the order to Russell, he had no official oversight capacity over the County Executive Office staff indicated in Walker's email-- his only role at the time was as the defacto head of illegal campaign operations in the County Executive's Office.

In fact, Russell wasn't even supposed to be in the county executive's office-- his official job was more than a mile away at the Health and Human Services Building.

Or, to look at it another way, if Walker truly had no idea what was going on and simply wanted to send out a directive ensuring no more illegal campaign activity why wouldn't he send the email to those officially in charge of oversight of his office: Chief of Staff Tom Nardelli [who "abruptly quit his (subsequent) state job with Gov. Scott Walker in late July (2011), pulling the plug on his $90,000-a-year position just days after accepting the post." (Steve Schultze. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Aug 23, 2011)] or Deputy Chief of Staff Kelly Rindfleish? [See also Veterans’ Funds Stolen by Scott Walker Cronies in Growing Scandal, first reported by Dan Bice in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for more information in this Nixonion scandal.]

Clearly, Walker wrote to Tim Russell because he knew Tim Russell was in charge of the illegal campaign-at-work set-up. As the complaint clearly states, we know this email to Russell had great impact, because after Russell got it, illegal campaign-at-work activity took a sudden downturn. Why would campaign-at-work activity of people that Russell had no official oversight of take this kind of downturn?

The only logical explanation is that Russell was in charge of the campaign-at-work operation and, more importantly, Walker knew that Russell was in charge of the illegal activity.

And that, friends, is one of the biggest reasons that Scott Walker charges are just around the corner.

The complaint discuses the exchange of thousands—yes, thousands—of e-mails involving fundraising and political activity. Many of these e-mails from the deputy chief of staff who is now charged with four felony counts of misconduct in public office, Kelly Rindfleisch, and top political aides to Walker, including Keith Gilkes, who went on to serve as the governor’s chief of staff.

Walker has said that during the campaign he was in constant communication with Gilkes about fundraising and campaign strategy. [Nichols. The Nation, Jan. 26. 2012]

E-mails Reveal Randy Hopper Coached Mistress on Scoring State Job

Randy Hopper has denied helping his mistress score a job in the Scott Walker administration. But e-mails obtained by Eye on Wisconsin reveal Hopper advises his mistress "might congratulate [Keith Gilkes, Scott Walker's chief of staff]" on Walker's victory, among other career assistance for Valarie Cass' getting a state job as Walker told Wisconsin, 'we're broke'. Turned out to be good advice for the communications specialist - girlfriend

By Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin

In March we learned that state Senator Randy Hopper (R-Unknown) left his wife and filed for divorce last year. According to his wife he had taken up with 20-something Republican operative Valerie Cass. It didn't take long for additional reports to surface showing that this girlfriend was hired by the Walker administration under questionable circumstances and at a questionable pay rate.

Some have wondered if Randy Hopper played a role in getting his girlfriend the taxpayer funded job. A number of newly obtained emails now provide a closer view of some of his involvement.

Based on a November 30th email Hopper and Cass wasted no time in trying to score a state job for her.

See the full report at Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin.

Tony Galli: Randy Hopper's girlfriend leapfrogged others who formally applied for state job

When it comes to Scott Walker's cabinet hiring state public workers like Sen. Randy Hopper's (R-Fond du Lac) girlfriend, it's all about who you know and who you know.

From Tony Galli [widely regarded as the the best investigative journalist in Madison] at WKOW27 News:

State records released to WKOW27 News show candidates for various jobs in Governor Walker’s administration were passed over despite recommendations from high-level officials, while a woman with ties to Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) was hired to a position with an immediate salary increase, without formally being recorded as a job applicant.

Officials said Valerie Cass, 26, was hired to a limited term communications specialist position in the department of regulation and licensing last month at a pay rate thirty five percent higher than the worker she replaced because the position’s duties were expanded to include legislative outreach activities. Cass’ salary is equivalent to $42,328 annually. Sources confirmed Cass has a relationship with Hopper, who is estranged from his wife and in the midst of a pending divorce matter. Hopper has denied to WKOW27 News playing any role in Cass’ hire. ...

Cass’ resume released to WKOW27 News listed a journalism degree from Marquette University [Graduated 2007 from the College of Communication; with a Bachelor of Arts; Major in Journalism], a stint as an aide to former state senator Ted Kanavas, and positions with ties to republican political campaigns. A December email released to WKOW27 News shows Cass corresponded with then-transition director Keith Gilkes about procuring unspecified work with the governor’s administration.