Another Reason Scott Walker Won't Be Elected: Operation Freedom

Scott Walker on motorcycle at Operation Freedom event.
Walker's personal aides stole from fund meant for veterans

Walkers—Rapacious, Mindless Creatures Are Back and in Trouble

Scott Walker might just be looking to establish another criminal defense fund, make that cooperation fund because Dan Bice reports this morning that another Wisconsin John Doe probe has commenced.

"A former top-level assistant U.S. attorney (Francis Schmitz) has been appointed a special prosecutor in a burgeoning, secret investigation into a wide variety of state issues, including possible campaign violations during the recent recall elections, multiple sources said.

"Overseeing the case is Kenosha County Circuit Judge Barbara A. Kluka, who has been used by Milwaukee County judicial officials in past John Doe cases."

A probe to find the truth, and prosecute those who can be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? I'll believe it when I see it.

It would be nice if Schmitz' probe could look into David Koch's money funneled into the Wisconsin recall election. After all, Koch is on record noting that "he took credit for the fact the Republicans maintained control of the legislature in the Senate" recall elections held in August 2011.

Koch said it "was the work our people did, what Americans for Prosperity did and the money spent that enabled them [the Republicans] to keep control in the [state] senate."

Americans for Prosperity to which the Koch brothers have contributed $ Millions is a 501(c)(4) organization and not a 501(c)(3), as had been reported in many media outlets.

There is no controversy that (c)(4)s may legally participate in political elections, but 501(c)(3)s are not allowed to do substantial electoral work. The MacIver Institute, for example is a 501(c)(3), and has advocated for Scott Walker during the recall elections.

Notes Bill Lueders: "Groups registered as 501(c)(3)s can do some lobbying for or against legislation (but not candidates), so long as this is 'an insubstantial part' of their overall activities, a threshold the IRS has not clearly defined. Most groups that engage in issue advocacy opt for a different tax status, 501(c)(4)."

The political world will be looking even more closely at Scott Walker now.

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

As noted here, the purpose of a John Doe investigation is to determine if and by whom a crime has been committed in a given court's jurisdiction, by statute.

There are a very wide range of causes why a district attorney might request a judge to convene a John Doe proceeding: Conflicts of interest, practical difficulties, and so on.

Scott Walker on motorcycle at Operation Freedom event.
Walker's personal aides stole from fund meant for veterans

And stonewalling, like in 2010 when Scott Walker's gang led investigators to conclude that Walker's bunch were unwilling or disinclined to explain why Walker's county executive office staff and campaign ripped money off from military veterans, among other crimes

Remember Operation Freedom, advertised by then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, as "thanks (to) our Armed Forces members and veterans for their service." (July 5, 2009).

Remember Timothy Russell, former and personally appointed aide to Scott Walker?

Russell had no veterans' advocacy experience, no non-profit experience but was appointed by Walker anyway and proceeded to embezzle (among other felonies) some $20,000 from a veterans' picnic called Operation Freedom, sponsored by Walker while serving as Milwaukee County Executive.

Scott Walker’s Jobs Fraud

Scott Walker's Wisconsin—A Curse upon Our House

By Mike Konopacki (used with permission)

Actually, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda is an unqualified success. Everything Walker has done over the last two years was designed to keep wages low and ensure employers a weak and desperate labor force. It’s simple supply and demand, high unemployment ensures low wages.

The March 2013 BLS statistics rate Wisconsin 44th in the nation in job creation. Wages fell by 4.1% and unemployment rose to 8.4%. Critics blame Scott Walker’s austerity policies. Walker blames the “uncertainty” of peaceful protests and recall elections.

The reality is that Walker’s agenda is an unqualified success. Everything Walker has done over the last two years was designed to keep wages low and ensure employers a weak and desperate labor force.

Walker’s claim of “uncertainty” is a lie. Wisconsin companies continue to move jobs to “uncertain” countries in search of low wages. Thermo-Fisher closed its Hamilton Manufacturing plant in Two Rivers and shipped the jobs to Reynosa, Mexico, a city embroiled in a deadly drug war. The situation is so bad that the U.S. State Department has prohibited federal employees from personal travel on highways outside of Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo. Outsourcing to China continues even though Chinese workers have been striking in increased numbers against low wage, dangerous jobs. At Foxconn, workers committed suicide by jumping out of windows in the face of unbearable conditions. If drug war violence and increasing social unrest are no deterrent to Wisconsin companies, it’s fallacy to claim that peaceful protests and harmless elections have forced Wisconsin “job creators” to dive under their desks cringing in fear.

Scott Walker and his Tea Party cult have no interest in creating jobs or a prosperous economy. Their agenda is to keep Wisconsin a low-wage state and to maintain brutal income inequality. In Janesville members of Rock County 5.0, an economic development group, were caught on film celebrating the the GM plant closure because it would force down area wages. Eric Isbister, CEO of GenMet, a metal-fabricating manufacturer outside Milwaukee, fired 15 of 25 skilled new hires to avoid workers with union experience who expected to be paid more than $15 an hour. And while employers complained about a “skills gap” for welders, UW Milwaukee professor Marc Levine reported that Wisconsin has 2,000 unemployed welders for about 500 job openings and at a recent jobs fair for graduating welders only eight companies showed up.

Walker emulates a Republican economic model deployed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The promise then as now was that union busting, deregulation and tax cuts for the rich would create prosperity. It did and it does: for the top 1%. But the rest of us get stagnant wages, outsourced jobs and massive layoffs. Worse, Bush’s tax giveaway to the wealthy in a $2 trillion plus stimulus package spurred the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s and a nationwide collapse in home values—the primary source of wealth for average working people.

Surprisingly, many working and middle class voters continue to support Republicans! Wisconsin is no exception. Despite Walker’s total failure to deliver on his promise of 250,000 jobs and a better life for the people of the state, he’s got a 50% approval rating according to a recent poll. Are Wisconsin workers so beaten down that his lure of a measly $83 tax rebate is all he needs to buy their vote? You can bet he’s counting on it. If he’s right, not only can we expect more of the same but an insourcing of the same kind of exploitation and misery the ruling class imposes on workers in China. Better put up safety nets around what’s left of our factories ASAP!

Note: The MacIver Institute, a right-wing think tank with connections to ALEC and the Koch Brothers, promoted Scott Walker’s jobs deception, claiming that he is "more than halfway" to his jobs goal. PolitifactWisconsin rates this claim Pants On Fire and argues that Walker’s policies have generated only 63,700 jobs—far short of Walker's campaign promise that propelled him into office in 2010.