Scott Walker's Coup in Plain Sight

Scott Walker's codifying Republican rule through Republican legislation in Wisconsin is unprecedented.

This legislative project was attempted in secret, until Walker backed down last July in his effort to kill Wisconsin's Open Records law, a law he broke (Mal Contends). So Walker is attempting his efforts through Republican legislators in broad daylight (Truthout).

The reaction to this series of Republican power grabs and killing of corruption protection won't be like the firing of Archibald Cox, though it should be.

Walker and the Republican legislators are engineering the destruction of Wisconsin clean government:

• The end of Wisconsin's century-old Civil Service law replaced by Republican-vetted hiring, ultimately of some 30,000 state workers
• 'Republicans' dismantling the Government Accountability Board (GAB), a nonpartisan panel of former judges that investigate campaign finance and ethics violations
• Per the Club for Growth, Republicans' destroying law enforcement tool to fight political corruption and protect public integrity in public office, because Walker would likely would face misconduct in public office charges after the likely vacating in federal court of the corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on consolidated John Doe cases decided in July 2015, (PRWatch). [B]ill would prevent district attorneys from using Wisconsin's John Doe law to investigate crimes like bribery and misconduct in public office (WPR)
• Republicans' funneling more money into political campaigns

John Doe Exemption of Public Misconduct

[Note: Wisconsin owes a note of thanks to Marcus J. Berghahn at Hurley, Burish and Stanton S.C., in Madison for its background work on the John Doe statute. Berghahn notes, "[John Doe] proceedings are also designed to protect innocent citizens from the fallout of frivolous prosecutions. (2, State ex rel. Reimann v. Cir. Ct., 214 Wis. 2d 605, 621, 571 N.W.2d 385, 390 (1997))]

Writes Berghahn:

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).]

Readers would not know about the reformist function and roots of the John Doe law from Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimel (R) who routinely trashed the law when bi-partisan Constitutional law enforcement officers uncovered widespread Republican corruption, criminality and misconduct in public office.

Back in 2009, then Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R) wanted to change the John Doe statute saying fiscal and separation of powers concerns drove his proposal, (Wisconsin DoJ). This was before John Doe I (2010-2013) began, caused by Walker administration stonewalling.

This week, (after documents filed in federal court in 2014 show Scott Walker to be at the center of a criminal scheme), legislative Republicans suddenly discovered a new objection saying the law curbs free speech. This is not credible.

Judges routinely issue gag orders but legislative Republicans have not objected to curbs on free speech as a matter of judicial policy until after Walker and other subjects were questioned in two separate John Doe probes. In fact Republicans never had a problem expressed publicly with the John Doe secrecy codicils until the probe centered around subjects and events concerning Scott Walker.

John Doe at work stopping venal criminality of Scott Walker
and his aides. 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).

Criminal scandal from John Doe I, such as Walker's long-time aides and appointees embezzling from a military veterans' fund after being personally appointed by Walker (Milwaukee County Executive (2002-10)), and Walker's office running interference are shown in the 1,000s of pages of court documents made public, are enough to destroy Walker politically (WisconsinWatch) in future national campaigns.

Last year a visibly nervous Walker refused  to acknowledge he had used his own email on an illegal system, in violation of Wisconsin's Open Records law that Republicans tried to kill earlier this year before backing down, (Clark, Columbia Journalism Review) (Marley, Stein and Gabler, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

As for Walker, having failed to kill Wisconsin's Open Records law and caught lying about his effort to kill the law, new reports showing he violated it criminally and repeatedly should keep Gov. UnIntimidated's criminal defense attorneys busy the rest of Walker's term, (Mal Contends).

Wisconsin's reformist institutions and citizens should voice their concerns objecting to the GOP assault on representative government before Wisconsin's reputation of great beer, a stellar public university system, clean and open government and achievements in abolitionist, civil rights and progressive movements is displaced by the vague determination that it's all corrupt up there and you can't trust the drinking water; let's to go to Minnesota.

Scott Walker—Kill Anything Republicans Don't Control

Scott Walker turned civil service state positions into 37 new Walker political appointees just a month after declaring, "we're broke" in 2011 (Stein, Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

It was clear then, Walker was after power and nothing else.

Scott Walker's political set-up in 2011 was a fraud, claiming a deficit using budget numbers assuming every governmental agency gets a six-point increase. Never has happened and never will.

As then (now U.S. Rep.) State Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) blew the whistle in 2011:

We found out [Feb. 13, 2011] after our briefing with the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), the $3.6 billion deficit in the next budget that Governor Walker and the media has been repeating is a MANUFACTURED CRISIS. The number is based on $3.9 billion in new spending requests by agencies, a 6.2% increase. I don’t think there is a member in the legislature that would vote for that. In fact, I asked LFB Director Lang when was the last time we gave agencies exactly what they requested and was told he couldn’t think of one and he’s been here decades.

Independent agencies like the Fiscal Bureau work to keep politicians honest, ideally to inform.

Walker and Republicans had to misrepresent LFB budget numbers and make believe Walker's attempt to injure working families was a fiscal and not a political move, a technique Republicans employ today.

Occasionally Republicans get caught in their lies.

So, Walker and Republicans are targeting independent watchdog agencies, while blowing a budgetary deficit for the next governor to fix.

Nationally, House Republicans adopted a rule in January 2015 to invent budget numbers and imaginary revenue forecasts used by the Congressional Office Bureau, codifying Voodoo Economics (Weisman, New York Times).

Our friend, Charles P. Pierce, has the story at Esquire on Scott Walker's latest exercise in corruption.

Writes Pierce on Walker's attempt to eliminate the Legislative Audit Bureau and Government Accountability Board:

In other words, the problem with independent watchdogs is that they are independent. Far better to put the oversight function under the control of the hacks you've installed in the state agencies. This is especially egregious in this case because Scott Walker never has held a political office that he has not so deformed by his political ambitions that people actually went to jail over it. This is a singularly corrupt man, even by the standards of the our new era of decriminalized influence peddling. He never has run a campaign in his life that wasn't shot through with penny-ante grifting. There is no reason to believe this one is any different. It is an extended exercise in consumer fraud.

Fraud and lies define Scott Walker.

GAB Deserves Praise Standing Firm Against GOP

View of the capitol from the GAB
Via PolitiScoop

Update: Wisconsin State Journal: GAB "Webcam becomes Internet sensation," reads Saturday's incoherent piece, written after parroting Republican Recall spin for months. State Journal editors chopped up an AP piece written by Scott Bauer, adding GOP spin meant to deride the 1.7 million-plus Wisconsin citizens signing petitions saying they want to recall Republicans felt to be fronting for ideological, anti-public multi-millionaires.

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) has decided on open, transparent Recall processes, including offering citizens a live video feed in which we can view the Recall signature counting room staff conduct validation of Recall petitions against Republicans.

None of this sits well with the Republicans who have been screaming for months that the Recall signatures are fraudulent despite not having viewed even one Recall petition, which were filed yesterday by volunteers from across the state.

A GOP spokesperson, Brad Courtney, called the Recall process "shameful" offering no evidence in support of his slur, and failing to note that Scott Walker was in New York yesterday attending a fundraiser hosted by disgraced AIG mogul, Hank Greenberg. :)

Shame won't be a governing cultural principle for this Party as Republicans scramble for out-of-state money to fight off Wisconsin citizens deciding what type of government we want.

Even if Walker manages to slip GOP partisans into the extra verification staff hired from four DoA-approved temp agencies, we'll be able to observe GOP mischief and misconduct live and on video. And the GAB has announced they'll approve the work of the temp staff, so knocking off signatures won't be as easy as the GOP hoped.

The GAB really socked it to the Republican Party with the video feed idea. What are the Republicans going to do, object to transparency?

The GOP requires confusion and misinformation to cast doubt on the integrity of Wisconsin citizens who say the Republicans are corrupt and bought-and-paid-for.

Recently, the GOP announced they created a "Recall integrity center" to check the work of the GAB and the million-plus Recall singers. Recall integrity hotline is: (608) 257-8032.

Good luck with that, GOP. But we'll watch the signature-validation process live and skip your show.

And don't bet on your Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny recall signatures actually showing up. You're lying and you know it.

An open process in the best tradition of Wisconsin guarantees everyone else will soon know your lies as well.

Good job, GAB.

Recall-Walker Citizens Excluded from GAB Hiring; Pro-Walker Workers: Fine

Rigging the Recall?

Updated: Journal-Sentinel (Stein) reports Walker, GOP sue the GAB over recall rules. This is part a PR move, and part a pressure-the-GAB [created by the GOP] tactic. Legally and politically, the Republicans have lost the Recall battle and they know it. Like at the polls, they need to instill fear and confusion now; give a few political hits, and employ some dirty tricks. Be innovative. See below.

The news the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has "signed off on a plan for how it will handle reviewing what could be as many as 1.5 million signatures on petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (WISC)" was met with yawns this morning.

The sense of urgency has changed with today's announcement that at Noon (Central time) Thursday, sources say, United Wisconsin-Recall Walker will announce the Recall Scott Walker movement has already surpassed the required 540,208 signatures to recall Walker, a mere 30 days into the 60-day Recall period.

But one problem is as many as 1.5 million Wisconsin citizens will be automatically disqualified from Recall verification because of their political Recall activity; and the politicized Department of Administration (DoA) is calling the shots and making the rules, it was revealed today.

Michael Haas, Staff Counsel at the GAB, advises that no one who signed or circulated a Recall petition; or made a political contribution for a candidate to an elected office in the last 12 months can be hired as part of the verification process, per the Department of Administration.

Instead, the verification workers will come from four DoA-approved temporary agencies, who will vet the workers, per the DoA:

• ABR Employment Services (608) 268 2266
• Adtec Services (608) 231 3210
• DI and Associates; aka Spherion (608) 274 6000
• Hiring and Staff Services (608) 242 7885

The four temporary agencies were awarded state contracts in July 2011 under the Scott Walker administration.

Asked if the DoA were insisting on vetting the management and officers of the temp agencies who are hiring and vetting the some 50 workers to verify the Recall signatures, John Dipko, Communications Director of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) was contacted this morning by e-mail and phone. And I will insert his comments here, as received. [Dipko referred me to the GAB which is handling the logistics of the Recall. An e-mail seeking response from the governor's press office has also been sent. As for Thursday morning, there has been no response.]

What is troubling is that we are placing a critical task of the public integrity of the Recall process [namely staffing] into the hands of the politicized DoA that has privatized a public function, with GAB approval, no matter that they assure the temps will be "trained" and supervised, as attorney Haas said.

Disqualifying from the Recall verification process over a million Wisconsin citizens because of their political activity appears equally troubling, if not illegally discriminatory. [At least in the City of Madison where you cannot be denied employment because of your political beliefs. Is the GAB located solely in Madison?]

Someone working against the Recall is okay to go, unless she contributed money to a candidate.

Because a successful statewide Recall in Wisconsin is so rare, the GAB is clearly under high pressure breaking down the tasks of the verification project, not helped by the corrupt Republican executive and legislative branches that have publicly criticized the GAB on matters such as Voter ID rules.

And wouldn't it be much less expensive for the State to hire workers straight from the public in the first place rather than through temp agencies which take a big cut of money from state contracts?

What management personnel and officers of the temp agencies have contributed to the Scott Walker campaign? This concern seems as relevant as whether or not a temp verification specialist, as it were, were part of the pro-Recall forces.

It looks like the GAB finds itself between a rock and a hard place; but its lack of public push-back on this matter does nothing to inspire confidence in what should be an unassailable Recall process featuring a governor being recalled in part precisely because of concerns over corruption and public integrity.

How about the GAB calls for good government observers from wide communities of interest inspecting publicly titled tasks IDed by the GAB?

The effect now of the GAB rules - intended or not - is that many Democratically leaning Wisconsin citizens will be locked out of the Recall verification process. Suggesting that Republicans are equivalently affected is factually absurd.

Commending Wisconsin Citizens in 2008

Wisconsin is home to a multitude of outstanding citizens who have fought for the very fabric of our democratic government against a radicalized Republican Party that has become home to a faction of corrupt, militaristic reactionaries. Here are a few who have fought for freedom and the rule of law:

Russ Feingold – Feingold’s dedicated work for the preservation of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights have won him the respect of citizens the world over.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin – In the face of the war on women’s reproductive rights, Planned Parenthood has stood fast in their service to women, and won a landmark legislative achievement for women protecting their right to health care.

Attorney Lester Pines and every organization who successfully fought our corrupt Attorney General in the Van Hollen v. WI GAB Voter Suppression Case.

Navy veteran Keith Roberts — An innocent victim of the U.S. Dept of Justice and U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA), Roberts continues his court battles that have made it greatly more difficult for the VA to actually jail our veterans for receiving benefits to which they are entitled.

Jennifer Loewenstein, Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Loewenstein is a brilliant voice speaking out against the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza.

Van Hollen: Corrupt and Inept

A political talking point is an alleged fact or emotive illustration intended to support an argument or position.

It’s superficial as any observer of talking heads has observed.

A legal brief, on the other hand, is a more rigorous presentation of facts, evidence, statutes, relevant past cases and how the law applies to facts.

A legal brief contains arguments supporting a position to persuade a trial judge or appellate court. There are strong legal arguments that are fact-supported and grounded-in-law, and weak arguments that are defective in these respects.

One would expect that in the highly politicized J.B. Van Hollen vs. Government Accountability Board et al case in which Wisconsin’s Attorney General seeks an extraordinary mandamus order demanding action that could result in 10,000s of citizens being disenfranchised during a historic presidential election that Van Hollen and the Republican Party would present rigorous arguments—full of facts, careful readings of relevant statutes, and a meticulous following of judicial procedures.

But the Government Accountability Board and civil rights organizations show that Attorney General Van Hollen and the Wisconsin Republican Party have filed briefs that read like political talking points (lacking evidence)—composed of poorly reasoned arguments, reckless reading of statutes, and fatally defective procedural steps that voting rights advocates hope will prove both a legal embarrassment for our partisan attorney general and a political club to be used against Van Hollen for what he has become: Corrupt and disdainful of Wisconsin citizens.

For some late-night reading of the legal briefs in this case, see Election Law-Moritz.

A decision on some motions may come as early as Thursday and Friday.

Dem Legal Brief: Van Hollen Is "Dead Wrong" in Suppression Suit

Wisconsin can lead the way on October 23 in the most intensely political arena in American society: The courtroom.

Pretensions aside, the judicial branch of government is a dressed-up tool of political power.

As in most areas of government, today’s Republican Party is committed to acquiring power at extreme costs, indifferent at best to the rule of law and democratic values.

In J.B. Van Hollen-Republican Party v. Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) et al, we may see a public display of how low the GOP has gone when Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi rules on a motion to dismiss Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s futile attempt at voter suppression.

No doubt Van Hollen will be rewarded for his political fidelity, while civil rights, the rule of law, and voting rights—well, these remain mere liberal concerns to the smirking GOP.

But so eager is Van Hollen to suppress voters this November using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) that he grossly misreads the federal statute and misses by a mile the requirements for the extraordinary writ of mandamus judicial order that he seeks to enforce his peculiar view that he should be the official instructing the GAB how to do its job for the benefit of Senator John McCain.

Let’s hope Judge Sumi offers a detailed explanation in her rulings exposing as much as possible the nature of this despicable abuse of office by Van Hollen. That way the political system can hold Van Hollen accountable for his betrayal of the people of Wisconsin.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s brief offers insights into Van Hollen’s vacuity and nihilistic political values, though not describing his arguments as such:

The lawsuit has numerous procedural defects, each of which independently precludes this court form reaching the merits of the complaint. … (Including that the) Attorney General has no authority to change the eligibility standards for Wisconsin voters or compel the GAB to change eligibility standards.

However, it is vitally important that the Court, as well as the voting public, understand that on top of all of the procedural issues, there is not a shred of merit to the Attorney General’s legal position on the meaning of HAVA, and not a shred of evidence that there is any voter fraud that exists or could be revealed through retroactive HAVA checks. In light of the extraordinary and alarmist rhetoric included in the Attorney General’s Complaint and subsequent filings (suggesting the Court must act or the entire Presidential election may be thrown into doubt) the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) will address the merits directly.

First, a failed match between the voter rolls and the DOT or SSA databases does not reflect any defect in a voter’s eligibility — rather, it reflects a mismatch of information between two separately-created computer databases. Second, HAVA does not mandate that Wisconsin perform retroactive ‘checks’ on registered voters on or after a date certain — rather, it requires that the state ‘coordinate’ its statewide voter registration database with the databases of the DOT and SSA, leaving the method and means of doing so in the discretion of the state. Third, HAVA does not mandate that a state take any action impacting the eligibility of a voter in the case of a non-match — rather, it leaves such issues up to the discretion of the state.

Wisconsin has already exercised this discretion.

After hearing substantial and undisputed evidence that failed matches were the result of database irregularities and clerical errors, and that no fraud whatsoever has been detected, the GAB voted 5-1 on August 28, 2008 to adopt a rule preserving a voter’s basic rights in the event that an attempt to match her registration information against other systems did not succeed. This rule ensures that Wisconsin complies with one of the central provisions of HAVA, which requires states to adopt ‘safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not removed in error from the official list of eligible voters,’ and prohibits states from rejecting registered voters based upon nonmaterial, technical errors in the registration process.

This means that the Attorney General (is) not only dead wrong about what HAVA requires and the duties and obligations of the GAB under Wisconsin law, but also that the relief seemingly sought by the Attorney General (and explicitly sought by the RPW) would itself violate substantive provisions of HAVA by potentially disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters based upon technical discrepancies between bureaucratic databases.