Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Walker's looks guilty...always has.


 Here's a nicely concise look at Scott Walker's involvement in what sure looks like circumstantial illegal activity.
WSJ: Scott Walker and his gubernatorial campaign directed Milwaukee County staffers to take official actions in 2010 to boost Walker’s candidacy, including how to respond to a fatal incident at a county parking garage and requiring that press releases from the county executive’s office be reviewed by the campaign, according to emails released Tuesday.

"Emails to and from Scott Walker himself, introduced into the court record, remove any doubt about whether he was involved in the commission of crimes as well as whether his Milwaukee County office was merely an illegal adjunct of his 2010 campaign for governor," said Melissa Baldauff, research director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, in a memo to reporters.
The emails show:

Quickly orchestrating a response to the tragedy on June 24, 2010, when a concrete slab fell from the entryway of a parking garage near Summerfest in Milwaukee, killing Jared Kellner, 15 … Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes told Rindfleisch to … make sure "there is not a paper any where that details a problem at all."

Discussing ways to "blow up" a negative story about Mendota Mental Health Institute, apparently to counter negative articles about mismanagement of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex under Walker.

Holding daily campaign briefings with at least three top county staffers: Rindfleisch, former chief of staff Tom Nardelli and former spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin.

Setting up a "media group" that reviewed every communique published by the county executive's office. That group included Walker, Rindfleisch, McLaughlin and Nardelli and top campaign staffers Gilkes and spokeswoman Jill Bader.

Having the county's corporation counsel "drag out" an open-records request from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
 
Rindfleisch's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, said it's "hard to believe" that the elected officials, Walker and Davis, were unaware of the illegal campaign activity acknowledged by Rindfleisch, who was Davis' chief fundraiser. "All I can tell you is he (Davis) was well aware of the fact that she (Rindfleisch) was in the county executive's office," Gimbel said. Gimbel believes the same was true of Walker but that the governor may have insulated himself from liability. "There was a moat that Walker created between his campaign operation and his county executive office," Gimbel said. "I think when the moat was crossed, it was by his campaign staff, not him."

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