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.