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| Richard Nixon famously refused to 'help' the grand jury, and abide by its subpoena in 1973. He resigned months later |
Update III: Scott Walker Misleading Wisconsin on Targets of John Doe Probe
Update II: Wisconsin statute 968.26 on John Doe proceedings is the statutory authority for conducting John Doe probes in Wisconsin.
Walker's new line is John Doe questions are a "distraction," and anyone who asks Walker about his aides' stealing from veterans is "desperate."
Update: Scott Walker's legal defense fund is called, absurdly, by Walker a "legal cooperation fund." This is the first time in Wisconsin history a sitting governor has ever had a legal defense fund.
A legal subpoena is an order and command to appear and/or produce what is sought by legal authorities.
A subpoena is not a request for help. It's an order and should be described as such by the press covering WalkerGate.But Scott Walker continues to insist—well past the point of credulity—that he wants to help the Milwaukee DA in the John Doe investigation and is doing so voluntarily.
He's lying. And much of the political press, with notable exceptions, is not calling Walker out on his lies.
"After leading the public to believe that he was entering into meetings with corruption probe investigators as a matter of courtesy, Scott Walker is now acknowledging that prosecutors requested the meeting," notes Paul I. Tascoupe.
Scott Walker will meet with prosecutors after being requested to meet with prosecutors, who had issued a special kind of request. The kind of request to which had Walker said 'no thanks, guys,' Walker would be subpoenaed, commanded to appear and testify in this John Doe investigation resulting so far in multiple criminal charges against Walker's political inner circle.
This would be a PR disaster, and a political nightmare right as Walker faces the recall election.
Avoiding a PR disaster, not help is clearly Walker's objective.
Speaking of helping, it bears noting the Milwaukee DA subpoenaed Walker's campaign emails in 2010.
That help Walker gave the DA then was given with little choice: Help given or Walker's learning what contempt and obstruction of justice are.
But to listen to Walker, maybe the whole subpoena ordering the production of his campaign e-mails is Walker's idea in the first place.
Walker said during his rare five-minute quasi-press conference Monday that "we've provided" campaign documentation, failing to note the subpoena or the command nature of the subpoena.
No Walker, you were ordered to produce campaign documentation. You have no choice. The same with the entire cast of characters who were served with subpoenas.
"They would like to talk to us about it, but we voluntarily set it up," Walker said of the coming meeting the DA.
No, you either appear or you face the consequences.
If this meeting is voluntary, why don't you try telling the DA and then the presiding judge that you changed your mind and are through giving the probe your help? See what happens.
Scott Walker is lying to Wisconsin.
Last week, Walker announced he had hired two criminal defense attorneys whom Walker says are for providing still more help for the DA probe; this is pertaining to the Walker 2010 campaign emails that Walker and his campaign have been ordered to produce.
Walker is lying again.
The criminal defense attorneys are to help Walker from not becoming a target of the probe, and ultimately to stay out of prison.
I'm sure the DA appreciates Walker's alleged help. I'm sure the judge whom Walker would meet were he to fail to follow the commands of the subpoena appreciates Walker's help as well.
But let's call this help what it is: Abiding by the dictates and command power of the subpoena, or the threat of additional subpoenas.
Put another way, the DA's office gets much further in their investigation with subpoena power and requests, than just with requests.
And 'You are commanded to appear ... ' is the language of the John Doe subpoena that Scott Walker does not wish to receive.
Dan Bice reports:
Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday that prosecutors initiated the meeting they will have with him as part of the John Doe investigation about activities that occurred during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive.Walker's idea of "help" is leaving the word without meaning.
"Up until now, we've provided written documentation (from the campaign)," Walker said during a briefing with reporters in Waukesha. "They'd like to talk to us about what they've found and what additional help we can provide."
For example, Walker recently took credit for helping the Family Care Program by lifting the enrollment cap on the state long-term care program serving the elderly and disabled.
Thing is, the federal government directed Scott Walker's administration to lift the enrollment cap.
By the way, word is DA John Chisholm has many qualities in common with the late Archibald Cox, Jr., known for his tenacity as special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.
Walker is wise to lawyer up with all those defense attorneys.
And Walker's I-want-to-help message does play better than Nixon's I-am-not-a-crook. But the sound Walker may be hearing now is the clock ticking, marking his limited time he has before both facing criminal charges and being recalled from office.
