Slanderous Republicans seek out Enemies...

The juvenile caucus of the Republican authority at the state Capitol are now playing "monkey-see-monkey-do." These guys are now desperately trying to investigate (just like Republicans in DC are trying to smear the special counsel and reopening the Clinton emails) the GAB for their John Doe probes. Flat out political retaliation to hopefully silence critics now and in the future! Grow the f**k up:

GOP leaders of the state Senate approved broadening an investigation into the activities of a state ethics board that they disbanded because they believed it was biased against Republicans ... authorize GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel to look into the activities of the Government Accountability Board, including wide-ranging probes it conducted with prosecutors of Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans. Schimel has said he welcomes the opportunity to further investigate the agency and the John Doe probes of Republicans. Rep. Robin Vos said, “The idea that individuals who potentially are on the short list of having committed a crime are now going to be in charge of running ethics and elections seems preposterous to me.”

Botched Partisan, Arrogant Decision by Judge Hue: Those horses have left the barn...

A judge said Monday that he shouldn't have authorized the release of some details included in Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel's report ... Jefferson County Circuit Judge William Hue said he should have blacked out some names because prosecutors and other officials did not pursue ethics charges against aides for campaigning on state time. “I dropped the ball in telling (Schimel) he could release it,” Hue said.

State law prohibits prosecutors and investigators from releasing information from a closed ethics investigation that didn’t result in charges. Those who violate the law can be subject to up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Hue said if he faced charges related to the release of the ethics investigation details, “I would have to plead guilty.” It’s unclear whether the law would apply to a judge.

After all the outraged GOP whining about a few partisan FBI texts that took shots at both Trump and Clinton, why aren't Republicans here just as offended at Judge Hue, the guy Schimel chose to launch his partisan attack on former GAB members:

Last year, (Judge) Hue posted a message on Twitter in response to a Journal Sentinel story about campaigns working with outside groups.

“Both sides do it but John Doe II only went after Republicans HARD. Imagine if the investigation fairly targeted BOTH parties," he wrote.

When the state Supreme Court in December 2015 ruled the special prosecutor leading the probe of Walker's campaign had been improperly appointed, Hue tweeted, 

"This happens when 'clever' lawyers outsmart themselves. It goes boom. Just play it down the middle. Just a wasteful shame."

Time to Sue for Defamation? Ya think...Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas lets the hammer fall:

The head of the state Elections Commission is calling on Republican lawmakers to stop implying staff at the former Government Accountability Board acted criminally while carrying out a now closed John Doe investigation. In a letter to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), Elections Commission interim administrator Michael Haas argues that recent comments by both have “no factual or legal basis,” and that he believes they may be slanderous. 

“I am respectfully requesting an immediate public apology and correction. Again, there is absolutely no basis for alleging that Mr. Bell or I are potentially on any short list of having committed any crime, much less have committed any crimes ... neither the Attorney General nor any elected official has articulated either to me or in public what I supposedly did wrong as a member of the G.A.B. staff or related to its investigations.”

“Your statements implying that I have been involved in criminal activity are verifiably false, and you have not offered the least bit of evidence to support those claims. You are aware that those statements are untrue and yet you made them with the intent that they would be made public and reported by the media. In short, I am requesting that you stop trashing my name and reputation.”

Rep. Craig threatens to investigate John Doe leak...unlike the Club for Growth's leaks to the Wall Street Journal.

Without an open admission of guilt, the only standard now granted by the US Supreme Court to determine if money had a corrupting influence, Republicans had Christmas early today.

The Supreme Court let Scott Walker and the state Supreme Court off the hook. My conservative friend in Milwaukee emailed me a link to the story with the message, "Ha, ha."

Feed me...more money!

My friend, like all Walker/Trump voters, are more concerned with shoving their "leaders" corruption in our faces than acknowledging the criminal takeover of our state.

But the Walker win wasn't enough. It's now time to send a message to anyone else thinking about challenging our one party authoritarian state; investigate and publically shame, ridicule and destroy all dissenters. According to Republican Rep. David Craig:  

This ends an unfortunate chapter of government chilling free speech in Wisconsin. It is more important than ever that a special committee in the legislature with subpoena power be empaneled to take sworn testimony in this matter. The legislature needs to determine if abusive behavior was engaged in by those involved in this investigation and to determine whether those charged with the public trust have acted maliciously by intentionally leaking sealed materials in violation of state policy."

Never mind Eric O'Keefe's Club for Growth's leaks of secret John Doe information. If anyone wants to "chill free speech," it's Craig and his fellow corrupt Republican legislative criminals. Ha, ha.

Guardian Leaked Walker Emails "Exposes Democrats' Contempt for the Law?"

Brazen arrogance?

When I read the Federalist story summarized below, "Wisconsin John Doe Leak Exposes Democrats' Contempt for the Law," it immediately brought to mind the Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe's leaked John Doe 2 information. Ah, it all seems incredibly hypocritical. As reported by The Progressive:

In November 2013, a little-known conservative activist named Eric O’Keefe brazenly disobeyed a court order and leaked information to The Wall Street Journal editorial page about a secret “John Doe” investigation involving campaign finance violations ...  O’Keefe launched a series of suits against the prosecutors leading the investigation, continued to leak information about the probe, and publicly denounced it as a “partisan” attack on free speech. 

Tables Turned: When you consider what O'Keefe did, and the shocking silence on the right about disobeying the rule of law, the phony outrage written below is that much more outrageous:  

Wisconsin John Doe Leak Exposes Democrats’ Contempt For The Law By Daniel Payne;

The John Doe squad’s evidence could reasonably be considered corrupted. But someone involved in the whole affair ignored the court order and leaked a set of sealed documents to The Guardian.

It is clear that someone involved in the John Doe investigation, incensed that a court had slapped down his or her gross abuse of state power, decided to disobey a court order and attempt one final time to destroy Walker’s political career … the leak is nonetheless troubling, chiefly because it underscores yet again the persistent lawlessness of much of American liberalism.

This is not an aberration. Much of modern American liberalism’s tactics rest upon a vicious set of double standards and abuses of government power. Breaking the law is clearly no impediment for liberals in this case. What matters is making the Right scared to assert itself in politics and contentious public debates.

UPDATE: 9/18/16: Rep. Robin Vos was asked on Upfront with Mike Gousha why no one called for special prosecutor when John Doe information  was leaked by the targets of the investigation. You'll laugh, you'll cry:

Leaked Doc's to The Guardian prove Walker illegally coordinated with Conservative Groups

Here a LINK to the latest coverage where The Center for Media and Democracy's Mary Bottari breaks down just what was illegal in the Guardian story. Good stuff.

Last I checked, you can't break the law because someone on some future date will make what your doing legal. That's what Scott Walker did, and The Guardian newspaper proved that, by exposing leaked documents supposedly "sealed" by the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

WKOW: Documents that have been sealed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court have been leaked to The Guardian, which the publication has now posted online.

The documents reportedly show Governor Scott Walker specifically wanted campaign money to flow to Wisconsin Club for Growth.

This John Doe investigation involving Scott Walker centered around his 2012 recall campaign and whether it illegally coordinated with conservative groups, like Wisconsin Club for Growth. Walker vehemently denied that. 

Documents obtained by The Guardian reportedly indicate otherwise. They posted the leaked documents online Wednesday morning, along with a lengthy article.

Here's The Guardian's special Walker "presentation:"



The title of The Guardian piece is lifted from this section:

The not so shocking backroom directives claiming voter fraud and feigned whining about the Democrats stealing elections proves these are only talking points with no basis in fact. John Nichols wrote about it:

Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha told the Wisconsin State Journa; that the exchange shows Republicans “clearly had no qualms about deceiving Wisconsin voters. This latest revelation exposes the way the Republican spin machine works — they  were prepared to simply make things up,” Barca said.

And because proving money buys political influence is no longer provable in our courts because the Supreme Court activist conservative Justices said so,

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy: "Independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption."

And lead paint...?

The Guardian U.S., an arm of the British newspaper, reported that the billionaire owner of NL Industries, a producer of the lead formerly used in paint, contributed $750,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth in 2011 and 2012. The donations were made before and after Republicans approved two laws to help the industry — one in January 2011 and the other in June 2013.

Walker's campaign immediately said there was no sign the Republican governor had done anything wrong but did not directly address the donations from Simmons or the legislation touching on lead paint lawsuits.

Love this donation...looks like Walker's support for Trump is the quid pro quo:

And if you were wondering how independent our Supreme Court really is after taking massive donations from a few powerful individuals...check out Prosser's last line:

Oh, how about the mythical threat of election fraud? Oh, is it just "messaging" to dupe Walker supporters?

And this contained my favorite line out of the whole story: "send lawyers guns and money:"

Here's this afternoon's Thom Hartmann interview with The Guardian:

Walker's ally in Crime, the Rogue Conservative Activist Supreme Court, now freely legislating from the bench!!!

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is officially just another political arm of the most powerful crooked governor the state has ever seen, Scott Walker. His protection racketeers, ass kisser AG Brad Schimel and the shameless majority of conservative activists on the Supreme Court, are doing everything they can to shield Walker from prosecution.

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but think of this recent quote, "The ... government has grown arrogant, condescending and outright paternalistic." Oddly, that was Paul Ryan describing Democrats, in a moments of breathtaking projection.

Be amazed. From PRWatch:

Republicans replaced Abrahamson as chief justice with Roggensack.

In "Extraordinary" Move, WI Supreme Court Fires Scott Walker Prosecutor to Stave-Off SCOTUS Review.

"What a mess this court has wrought!" Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson declared in the latest chapter in the state's John Doe legal saga.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court's majority contorted itself to find a new way to protect both Scott Walker and the Court's biggest supporters--not to mention itself--following its decision in July rewriting the state's limits on money in politics and ending the "John Doe" investigation into Walker's campaign coordinating with dark money groups.

Wednesday's ruling was supposed to be a straightforward decision on a motion to reconsider, in light of additional evidence, that Walker and his allies had violated the campaign finance laws that the Court upheld in July. The Court denied that motion, but then (in a lengthy unsigned opinion) went further, rewriting its July decision to fire the Republican Special Prosecutor who had led the investigation, Francis Schmitz, making it harder for him to challenge the justices' conflicts-of-interest by appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Those conflicts arise from the fact that the same groups that coordinated with Walker's campaign were among the majority's biggest financial supporters, raising concerns under U.S. Supreme Court precedent about whether the justices should have heard the case at all.

"The miscalculation I made in this investigation was underestimating the power and influence special interest groups have in Wisconsin politics," said Schmitz, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former counter-terrorism prosecutor. "My career in the military and as a federal prosecutor fighting violent criminals and terrorists did not fully prepare me for the tactics employed by these special interest groups." 

Wednesday's decision was "extraordinary," said Janine Geske, respected former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who now teaches at Marquette Law School. "To somehow remove the lawyer representing one of the parties after the opinion [has been issued] is extraordinary," she told the Center for Media and Democracy.

"It puts the case in a very odd situation, removing counsel so he cannot file an appeal," Geske said, with no clarity for how other prosecutors might be able to intervene.

"This extraordinary action is, as far as I can determine, unprecedented and could have the effect of insulating the Court's decision from further review," said Susan Crawford, an attorney at Cullen Weston Pines & Bach. "The Court, in terminating the special prosecutor's appointment immediately, knew that its decision would compromise the ability of the special prosecutor--the sole party representing the prosecution—to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court." 

It also looks like money...big surprise, buys just enough votes to turn an election in the states highest court:

The Court rewriting its decision and firing Schmitz might be viewed not only as the majority protecting their biggest financial supporters and Scott Walker, but also as an effort to protect themselves. That's because the Court's four-justice majority was elected to the bench with at least $10 million in spending from precisely the same groups accused of coordinating with Walker, and precisely the same groups that were under investigation in the John Doe. 

Those groups, Wisconsin Club for Growth and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, have been the dominant spenders on Wisconsin Supreme Court races in recent years, in most cases outspending the justices themselves. In 2011, the groups and their offshoots together spent $3.7 million supporting Justice David Prosser, five times as much as Prosser's own campaign, in an election decided by a mere 7,000 votes. Three years before, WMC's spending in support of Justice Michael Gableman had come in at five-and-a-half times what Gableman's own campaign spent, and WiCFG also surpassed the Gableman campaign's spending, in a race he won by 20,000 votes.

In other words, if it weren't for the millions spent by WiCFG and WMC, Justices Gableman and Prosser might not be on the bench at all. Schmitz specifically asked the two to step aside in light of this apparent conflict-of-interest but declined.

By rescinding Schmitz' appointment as Special Prosecutor, it makes it much harder for him to challenge the justices' conflicts-of-interest before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oh, then there's using hearsay and anecdotal right wing bullshit in the high courts decision:

The majority's "rationale simply seems invented to justify the pre-ordained desired result," Justice Abrahamson wrote in dissent. Abrahamson's dissent noted that, in July, "The majority opinion and Justice Ziegler's concurrence to the majority opinion relied on facts that were not in the record, citing blogs and media reports as authoritative sources on how the search warrants were executed." The justices' unquestioning endorsement of right-wing bloggers' unsubstantiated claims about unconstitutional "pre-dawn, armed, paramilitary-style raids" were repeated in lawsuits by groups tied to the investigation--and subsequently undermined by actual evidence.

Those allegations fell apart after prosecutors released a recording of the 2011 search, which showed a cordial and professional investigation. This matters, Abrahamson noted, because prosecutors are still being sued by the groups and individuals under investigation. The factual record in the John Doe case is necessary so prosecutors can mount a defense based on facts rather than the heated rhetoric advanced by the blogs and media outlets tied to the groups under investigation. But the prosecutors have been barred from intervening in the case--but the Court has gone out of its way to keep most filings secret. Abrahamson wrote, "Placing filings under seal is the exception to the rule. In the face of virtually total secrecy of filings since July 16, 2015, the public cannot understand the basis for the four justices' decisions," noting that the sealings "raises significant First Amendment, state constitutional, statutory, and common law issues, and may be challenged as erroneous." "Why the secrecy?," she asked.

All of Scott Walker's legal problems wiped away!!! Coincidence?

Republican voters are so tired of being victimization by their liberal enemies in in the badger state, that they will do anything now to exact revenge, even make excuses for Scott Walker's mean spirited an intentional corruption of state government.

Coincidence? Think about it for a second:

1. Are we really supposed to believe that Scott Walker wasn't behind the elimination of the John Doe investigations after they nearly jailed him? Coincidence?

2. Are we really supposed to believe that Scott Walker wasn't behind the legalization of campaign coordination with issue advocacy groups after he was caught doing just that, illegally? Coincidence?

3. Did he fail only for the moment to do away with out open records laws for the same reasons he's given for withholding open records requests? Coincidence?

Wisconsin newspapers still won't hold Walker's feet to the fire and badger the hell out of this carnival barker until he breaks or gives up.

Funny thing though, the national media has no problem recognizing corruption when they see it, and they see it, big time. Starting with Esquire's Charlie Pierce:

Essentially, he has initiated a legislative agenda aimed at legalizing the kind of political corruption with which he is more than a little familiar.

Most recently, Walker signed a law that essentially eliminates the kind of investigations for which his career has proven to be such a target-rich environment.

Walker's primary mission in office has been to convert the state into a lab rat for plutocratic experimentation and exploitation. If they could make a banana republic out of Wisconsin, they figured, they can pull it off anywhere. And with Walker, whose penchant for soulless penny-ante grifting is the only distinguishing characteristic of his entire political career, they found the perfect tool, in every sense of the word. (The gutting of the campaign finance statutes is being pushed almost wholly by Wisconsin Right To Life, which is headed by a former official of the state's chapter of Americans For Prosperity.) People opposed to the griftification of Wisconsin have as their only real hope that the vandals will go too far, revolting an electorate that voted for Walker three times in two years. Good luck with that.

Or this from the New York Times: 

Last Friday, Mr. Walker signed a bill to protect public officials like himself from an effective and well-established tool (John Doe investigations) for rooting out political corruption. Bribery, official misconduct, campaign-finance violations and many other election law offenses — all are now exempt from a law that has served Wisconsin well, and without controversy, since the mid-19th century.
Don’t be fooled. Grand juries conduct investigations like this every day, at much greater expense and inefficiency, and rarely to any protest. (There is a reasonable case against the gag orders, but lawmakers could easily have fixed that part of the law by itself.) The real difference here is that the John Doe law was being used against powerful politicians and individuals.
It is a relief that Mr. Walker won’t be able to impose his warped ideas about democratic accountability on the rest of the country. But for the Wisconsinites who are stuck with him until 2018, America’s gain is their loss.

Right wing Lawsuit King Esenberg claims guilty Walker aide Rindfleisch innocent. Hmm, she pleaded guilty Rick....

Funny thing, even when Republicans are caught and found guilty of breaking the law, conservative politicians, right wing think tanks and hapless in-the-tank voters will still deny laws were ever broken. This perceived infallibility is a bit on the frightening side.

On WPR's Joy Cardin Show, Rick Esenberg, president the right wing lawsuit mill The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, nonchalantly broke the news that convicted Scott Walker aide Kelly Rindfleisch was innocent, and that she committed no crime. Yes, even after the State Supreme Court turned down her appeal. It was a confident declaration that conservative voters need to believe, and hearing it on the radio helped support their delusions (audio):

Esenberg: "It amazes me that people in Wisconsin on the left, were apoplectic because a handful of staffers in Scott Walker's administration had a private email system to conduct not government business, but political business which they were perfectly free to do..."

In this conversation about Walker's hypocritical comments about Hillary Clinton's emails, the reality based world saw things quite differently. jsonline:

Rindfleisch pleaded guilty in 2012 to doing campaign work at her Milwaukee County government job. Walker's campaign and government teams used a secret email system or private email accounts to deal with the bread-and-butter issues of county government: personnel, budgets and buildings.

A trove of previously sealed documents released last month provides a rearview mirror look into Walker's world and the push to take county government off the official grid. Using private emails for official business can make it harder for the public to find out what its government is doing. 

Emails from private accounts show the Walker campaign and county government teams discussed such varying issues as problems at the Mental Health Complex, the death of a teen at the O'Donnell Park parking structure, reaction to moves made by county supervisors, the attempt to ease out the head of the medical examiner's office, the handling of public records requests, repair estimates for buildings, capital projects, and updates on storm damage and the federal response.

The Progressive's Ruth Conniff responded to Esenberg, calling into question his and congresses credibility on the subject.

"Victims" of John Doe raid tell uninteresting story to protect Scott Walker!

While the State Supreme Court's conservative activist Justices, paid for and elected with the help of the litigants, dismissed the 2nd Walker John Doe investigating collusion. The public got a better look at how bizarre that decision was:

Newsweek: Under Wisconsin election law, it is illegal for candidates or members of campaign staffs to coordinate their work with groups whose IRS nonprofit status prohibits direct support of political candidates.

Investigators turned up hundreds of emails describing precisely the coordination proscribed by Wisconsin state law.

A complete article that nails every point. In the meantime, the John Doe raid resulted in the following frivolous lawsuit:

Cindy Archer, a longtime aide to Gov. Scott Walker, has described a 2011 police raid on her home in which officers screamed at her, threw a search warrant at her without reading it, barred her from stepping outside to smoke and failed to inform her of her constitutional rights. Newly unsealed audio of the three-hour incident tells a different story. Archer has sued Milwaukee County DA ... Her suit is particularly critical of the Sept. 14, 2011, raid on her Madison home ... She also discussed the incident for a sympathetic story in the National Review earlier this year.

Jumping on the bandwagon were other horrified raid "victims" and possible accomplices who don't understand what "illegal" means. See the video below.

Fox News: A Wisconsin mother and son break their silence for the first time on television, they will tell us how their home was raided, and ransacked, in what they call an attempt to take down the Republican governor of their state, the now presidential candidate Scott Walker." 

Yup, average citizens protecting their unintimidated leader from the dark forces trying to "take down" Walker. Tough courageous stuff.

My conservative friend called the night this unbelievable example of spin aired on Fox News. He surprised me when he said he was unaware of the John Doe raids, but felt they were uncalled for and a witch hunt. As I've mentioned before, he bought into the distraction of Benghazi and the IRS/Hillary emails.

Despite being described as a witch hunt, the first John Doe raid nabbed 6 people close to Scott Walker, who were convicted. It's a real insight into the kind of people Walker likes to surround himself with. The poor victims below tell the exciting story of standard police procedures.

Walker Came in like a wrecking ball!

The fact that the DNC will not allow the Democratic candidates for president go on the offensive via presidential policy debates is mind boggling to me. In the void created by this silence, voters might just get used to all these weird Republican ideas, thinking these are the choices they have. Wrong.

In response to Scott Walker's outrageous plans for our country, I've got a little something to say.

A. Walker had the nerve to brag that "conservative commentator after commentator, from the Wall Street Journal and National Review and plenty others out there, said this is the best plan out there." No, really? Looks like they're the only ones that matter now in Walker's one party world vision.

Walker said it was about "freedom." Yet how free are we, when we're forced to buy from insurance companies who've already decided how much we're going to pay for their services? How free are we when an insurer drops our coverage, or raises the rates at the same rate every other insurance company does? How free are we if we can't shop for a better or less expensive doctor or hospital because we're locked into an insurers network?

On Walker's health care subsidies, think about it; giving everyone who doesn't have insurance through their employer (at cheaper group rates) a subsidy, will open the door for every business to drop their own health care coverage. Why not right? Lower cost group coverage will disappear as an unintended consequence.

And spoken just like a career politician getting taxpayer health care for over 20 years, he's giving every conservative freeloader a pass, saying you can take your credit and "not buy health care insurance if they don't want." So it happens all over again folks, just like before the ACA; doctors and hospitals will make up for that uncompensated care by raising your skyrocketing monthly premiums. Oh, but Walker said that will lower costs. The deceiver and chief?



B. Scott Walker's Private Email System makes him the real "Deceiver and Chief."

Walker used a private email system when he was county executive … Walker aides set up a secret wireless router they used to conduct campaign business while on county time.

Who's Walker deceiving when he says he didn't know anything about the private email account and router right outside of his office? This should be an easy one for any Democratic candidate. Hillary's emails by the way are becoming "classified" because they're being released to the public, just like the Republicans wanted.

C. Our Big Bold Governor threw his Legislative leaders under the Walker bus again, this time on national television: I think Republican State Sen. Luther Olsen said it best:

"The thing is, we were all the guys facing the crowds every day coming in and out of our offices. We didn't have the police protection," he said. "Taking on your friends ... and saying you were the tough guy? Thanks a lot, buddy."

Scott Walker wants something better than a board of impartial judges overseeing elections.

You can bet elections in Wisconsin will take on a new conservative glow after Scott Walker and his plundering pirates get done with it. Don’t forget, they won, so get over it.

First, the highly regarded Government Accountability Board had the kind of name only a Republican could hate. "Accountability?" Not if they can help it.

The board inflicted a lot of legal pain for Walker, and now it was their time to pay. A Walker warning shot over the bow. No one steps out of line.

Gov. Scott Walker said on Monday he wants the board dismantled and replaced with something new … "something completely new that is truly accountable to the people of the state of Wisconsin," the Associated Press reported.

Jay Heck, director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said "Walker's call for the elimination of the GAB is simply revenge and retribution for the GAB approving of an investigation of what was clearly a violation of Wisconsin campaign finance law in 2011-12. The elimination or evisceration of the GAB will only raise further questions about whether or not Walker and his campaign were involved in illegal activity. And it will be viewed by citizens as an attempt to simply eliminate any entity that puts adherence to the law above partisan fealty."

Of course with super majorities and sure bet electoral districts, who care’s.

Guilt by association? The Republicans got a lucky break when they found out the GAB had been in contact with the IRS...gee, another government agency. It was an opportunity to make something up that appealed to the paranoids they call voters. Despite no actual documentable involvement, Republicans made it sound like the Watergate break-in:

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. Dean Knudson called for "necessary reforms" after a Wall Street Journal editorial reported the agency had been in contact with the Internal Revenue Service when it investigated conservative groups.

Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren called for GAB director Kevin Kennedy's resignation, calling the GAB a "rogue agency that ignores state law and operates against its founding principles." 

Yea, they’re rotten to the core alright. Meanwhile, reality struggled to get a word in edgewise:

Kennedy issued the following statement: "I am not going to dignify the Wall Street Journal’s opinion column with any comment, except to state that it contains no facts showing that I or the Government Accountability Board did anything inappropriate or out of the ordinary given the agency’s statutory responsibilities. I think any discussion about the structure or mission of the G.A.B. should be done through the legislative process. 

Wisconsin Watchdog Scott Walker's lapdog!

Wisconsin Watchdog, once known as Wisconsin Reporter (only minus the reporting), is playing up to the ignorance of it intended readers, with the piece I screen captured below. This online rag is implying the Milwaukee DA is telling Scott Walker to keep his mouth shut about the John Doe investigation. In reality, DA John Chisholm warned Walker that  making defamatory false statements is a chargeable offense.

Keep in mind, a John Doe judge ordered secrecy for all the parties involved. Even Walker made that clear hundreds of times. Of course republican special interests defied the order...so much for the rule of law.

Walker gave this response to WISN’s Mike Gousha: "As you know, as I've pointed out many times in the past when we've talked about this, the law's pretty clear in this state," Walker said. "Anyone who knows anything about a John Doe can't talk about it. Anyone who doesn't know anything about it shouldn't talk about it. So, I've not commented on the Doe itself because I've abided by the law."

Mr. Unintimidated was told to shut up? But conservative activist Eric O'Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth played the victim, and opened their trap.

A director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth told Fox News he was defying a secrecy order in a probe of his group and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker. O’Keefe said: “Yes. An unconstitutional secrecy order. And I'm defying the secrecy order.”

Of course he knows it's unconstitutional, who needs the courts. Ironically, some of their secret emails were released exposing their nefarious plans.

The article makes the case that Walker can lie if he wants about the DA, even defame his character; it's "political" free speech, a 1st Amendment right. Walker also claimed a raid to collect evidence was pure intimidation:

...criticism that they had ordered aggressive raids on the homes of targets...

But it wasn't that at all:

Chisholm: "Look at the use of the word ‘raid’ for example. Sounds scintillating. But lawfully executed, judicially approved search warrants are not ‘raids.’ I have not trained for or participated in a ‘raid’ since leaving the Army, where it has a very real technical definition.”

Walker could also prove his allegation by releasing some of the secret information, but...

Watchdog's one-sided story skipped the DA's response completely, which would have changed the story and cleared them:

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggesting Walker could be criminally charged for lying, “As to defamatory remarks, I strongly suspect the Iowa criminal code, like Wisconsin’s, has provisions for intentionally making false statements intended to harm the reputation of others.”

Special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, a self-described Republican, said “I invite the governor to join me in seeking judicial approval to lawfully release information now under seal … Such information will show that these recent allegations are patently false." Chisholm said he agreed … "Stripped of niceties, Mr. Schmitz is saying the governor is deliberately not telling the truth."

But Watchdog M.D. Kittle didn't write the column to defend the 1st Amendment, he wrote it to character assassinate the Milwaukee DA, who just happens to be a Democratic enemy of the state. 

Walker now talking John Doe details, oozing confidence Activist Supreme Court will apparently let him off.

We can't solve crimes without conducting an investigation, right? 

So, a couple of John Doe investigation took place as a way to determine whether Scott Walker's campaign did anything illegal. Six convictions resulted in the first one, so...

...to hear Scott Walker describe the John Doe's, it was a witch hunt and another way to “intimidate” other conservatives into silence:  

Des Moines radio station WHO-AM - Walker: “I said even if you’re a liberal Democrat, you should look at (the raids) and be frightened to think that if the government can do that against people of one political persuasion, they can do it against anybody, and more often than not we need protection against the government itself. As (the National Review) pointed out, there were real questions about the constitutionality of much of what they did, but it was really about people trying to intimidate people ... They were looking for just about anything. As I pointed out at the time, it was largely a political witch hunt."

My conservative friend in Milwaukee sent me this clip from The Blaze, where poor defenseless conservative victims of liberal witch hunts come to bare their souls and cry like little babies. To be honest, you won't even believe the bullshit here, which is why I had to post it:

While conservative talk hosts believe everything Republican politicians say, with no follow-up questions ever, Milwaukee DA John Chisholm looked at it differently, and had an even stronger message, minus whining:

jsonline-Patrick Marley: Prosecutors fired back by calling Walker's comments inaccurate, offensive and defamatory — with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm suggesting Walker could be criminally charged for lying. They said Walker should call for the release of sealed court records so the public could know more about the investigation and raids on people's homes.“As to defamatory remarks, I strongly suspect the Iowa criminal code, like Wisconsin’s, has provisions for intentionally making false statements intended to harm the reputation of others.”

But let's hear from a conservative too...

Special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, a self-described Republican. said he was surprised Walker would "speak publicly about specific issues which are now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a decision. His description of the investigation as a 'political witch hunt' is offensive when he knows that the investigation was authorized by a bipartisan group of judges and is directed by a Republican special prosecutor appointed at the request of a bipartisan group of district attorneys ... I invite the governor to join me in seeking judicial approval to lawfully release information now under seal which would be responsive to the allegations that have been made. Such information, when lawfully released, will show that these recent allegations are patently false."

Walker's openness about discussing the issues may indicate his confidence in the decision he knows is coming from our activist conservative state supreme court: 

Chisholm said he agreed with Schmitz's statement. "Stripped of niceties, Mr. Schmitz is saying the governor is deliberately not telling the truth."

But Walker won't open up the records, and let everybody read the truth for themselves: 

Walker on Saturday essentially dismissed the idea of releasing more court documents, though he did not directly answer whether they should be unsealed. The investigation, known as a John Doe probe, was conducted in secret. Many details have come out, including showing Walker's campaign worked closely with purportedly independent groups, but others have remained sealed in court records.

Republican John Doe changes opens door to rampant but "legal" criminal political activity to keep power.

John Doe reform...a wildly obvious attempt to conduct illegal political activity with impunity, at a time when the corrupting influence of money is pouring into lawmakers coffers.

What was once described as "creeping" fascist is now in full sprint to the finish line under Walker and the Republican majority. The facade of government simply conceals the private special interest takeover of our state.

Removing the legal impediments that keep corruption at bay are behind the John Doe reforms. Muzzling judges and prosecutors while giving suspects the full force of the media and putting an arbitrary time limit on investigations are just a few dead giveaways. WSJ:

This bill would limit the secrecy aspect of the law, allowing secrecy orders to be placed only on judges and prosecutors. It would also limit the length of investigations to six months. A probe could be extended for additional six-month periods, with no cap on the number of extensions, provided a majority of 10 judicial administrative district chief judges find good cause.

The political crimes of the past will be seen now as "standard operating procedure" by our strong freedom loving leaders.

It would also limit the scope of crimes that can be investigated in a John Doe probe to the most severe felonies and some violent crimes.

Of course, Republicans will market these changes as something they are not:

Rep. David Craig, R-Big Bend said the bill is designed to increase judicial oversight, protect the constitutional rights of individuals and ensure accountability to the people of Wisconsin.

The inconvenient truth?

But former Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann argued that John Doe laws should be stronger, not more limited. McCann suggested the real purpose of the bill is to end the second Doe investigation, noting that the investigation would no longer fall under the jurisdiction of the law.

As Milwaukee County District Attorney, McCann netted two felony convictions through a John Doe investigation for Democratic then-Sen. Chuck Chvala, along with convictions of several other Republican and Democratic former lawmakers in the "caucus scandal" of the early 2000s. 

The bill "removes from the reach of the John Doe all of the statutes under which Chvala and (Republican then-Rep. Scott) Jensen were charged," McCann said. "Senate Bill 43 guts the strength of the John Doe by removing numerous crimes for which public officials have been convicted in the past," McCann said.

While my conservative friend in Milwaukee still thinks the first John Doe was a waste of time and won't acknowledge the convictions, it still happened:

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm 's first investigation resulted in convictions for six Walker associates during his time as Milwaukee County executive.

The most unashamed corrupt special interest Republican, Sen. Tom Tiffany, concentrated on parsing out acceptable commonplace political "crimes," to those more "appropriate" outright violent crimes and felonies. From WKOW and WISC:

  

John Doe 2 back on?...Federal Court Reverses Conservative Activist Judge Randa.

When a conservative activist judge like Rudy Randa gets slapped around by the Federal Appeals Court like that, you've got to just scratch your head. If this were a liberal judge, we'd never hear the end of it. But "stand with Walker" trolls, tongues tied?

Judge Randa thought he could just change every law he didn't like, whether it's before him or not. That's what I would call authoritarian activism.

Surprise, Walker is still connected to the investigation, that remains on hold. WisPolitics:

A federal appeals court today reversed an injunction ending a John Doe investigation into coordination between conservative groups and Gov. Scott Walker's campaign in the recalls. 

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals also reversed Judge Rudolph Randa's ruling rejecting an immunity defense by state prosecutors who were sued by targets of the investigation. The court also sent the case back to district court with instructions to dismiss the suit, "leaving all further proceedings to the courts of Wisconsin." Randa sided with the Club for Growth in issuing an injunction to halt the probe. 

But the 7th Circuit ruled today Randa improperly issued the injunction because federal law says a U.S. court may not interfere with state court proceedings "except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments." 

The court did not hold back:

jsonline: "What we have said shows not only that an injunction was an abuse of discretion but also that (as prosecutors) all defendants possess qualified immunity from liability in damages," wrote Judge Frank Easterbrook in the decision.

"It is not possible to treat as 'bad faith' a criminal investigation that reflects (the U.S. Supreme Court's) interpretation of the First Amendment," he wrote. "Public officials can be held liable for violating clearly established law, but not for choosing sides on a debatable issue."

Because of that, prosecutors and investigators involved in the case remain immune from lawsuits, Easterbrook wrote.

Walker flaunts work with outside group to after Rep. Mark Pocan.

Coincidence? I think not. Thanks to Cognitive Dissidence for bringing this to everyone's attention.

For months, Rep. Mark Pocan has been interested in seeing the governors air travel record, because after all, he’s been making the rounds…a lot.

Pocan included the exact timeline in his sites post to prove Scott Walker’s campaign contacted an outside source to harass and threaten Pocan with a similar request.

On Friday, the Pocan campaign for Congress put a request into the Wisconsin Department of Administration for Governor Scott Walker’s air travel from June 4 to September 5, following a previous request for the balance of his time as Governor.  Campaign staff personally delivered the request at approximately 10 a.m. Friday, September 5 and confirmation email was sent at 10:36 a.m. CST from the Walker administration.

At 12:33 p.m. CST that same day, an allegedly independent, disreputable right-wing organization, Media Trackers, sent Representative Mark Pocan’s official office in Washington a request for his official travel schedule, through September 1.  That request came just hours after the Pocan campaign made the request of Governor Walker’s office.

Who else would have known about the request? No one but Walker:

“You’d think that a Governor who’s flirting with his second John Doe investigation for his direct complicity with outside groups in an illegal scheme to circumvent campaign finance laws would be a bit less tone deaf to continuing to flirt with outside groups so flagrantly,” said Pocan. “I guess Governor Walker thinks his quest for the Presidency holds no bounds, and that’s pretty much what we’ve seen as we go through his travel records.”

Representative Pocan’s Congressional office immediately complied with the request, compared to Scott Walker’s 70 day lag on the first open records request. “Politicians like Scott Walker will do anything and say anything to get ahead, even to the degree of trashing our campaign finance laws and even common sense,” Pocan said.

Walker's clueless act gets world wide belly laugh!

I thought this had the right amount of skepticism.

Here's Ed Schultz with DPW's Mike Tate and fact buzzsaw Ruth Conniff from The Progressive Magazine cutting through the crap:

"Perp" Walker in deeper trouble: shown illegally coordinating with two national groups that run ads supporting candidates!!!

Maybe one of the big questions involving the now held up John Doe 2 investigation should be about the judges: Why would Reserve Judge Gregory Peterson and Judge Rudolph Randa think to stop the probe when so much evidence is pointing to possible illegal coordination between the Walker campaign and outside groups? Did they really think there was nothing there? 

jsonline: Peterson and Randa — the two judges who have heard the case — concluded nothing illegal had occurred because the groups engaged in issue advocacy and did not tell people how to vote. Schmitz contended that doesn't matter and such coordination can still be illegal if the coordination with Walker's campaign was done with the intention of helping him politically.

Forget the Wisconsin Club for Growth for now, in a new revelation, that the Journal Sentinel now says has been withdrawn from the courts web site:

Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with two national groups on political advertising in a way that went further than what had been previously known. One group mentioned in the newly available filing is an arm of the Republican Governors Association that has run ads backing Walker since 2010. The other, the Republican State Leadership Committee … Unlike the Wisconsin Club for Growth, those groups explicitly back candidates in filings with the state Government Accountability Board.

According to prosecutors, R.J. Johnson sought and received campaign strategy from an unnamed representative of the Republican State Leadership Committee. "Need to know what you are up (to) and the content of your spot. We are drafting radio to complement." Johnson wrote.

Once secret, not secret, back to secret again:

The document describing the alleged coordination between Walker's campaign and the Republican Governors Association and Republican State Leadership Committee is from a once-secret filing made in February 2014 … filing is from a trove of hundreds of pages of records that were unsealed Friday by a federal appeals court. Within hours, the documents could no longer be accessed on the court's website after some claimed the court had inadvertently made public some records that were meant to remain sealed. (The documents are available on jsonline.com.) 

From Politico comes this national coverage and two of the 6 "must read passages" from the John Doe document dump that isn't getting a lot of attention here:

-“Our efforts were run by Wisconsin Club for Growth … who coordinated spending through 12 different groups.” Keith Gilkes, who managed Walker’s 2010 campaign and served as his chief of staff until leaving to manage the recall campaign wrote,“Most spending by other groups was directly funded by grants from the club,” he suggested the governor say. “Wisconsin Club for Growth raised 12 million dollars and ran a soup to nuts campaign.” The new filings explain that the main group was a conduit to transfer money to a dozen other groups. Citizens for a Strong America, for example, got $1.52 million from the Wisconsin Club for Growth. The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce association got $2.5 million during the two-year period.

-“Let them know that you can accept corporate contributions and it is not reported.” The quote gets to the heart of the legal issue about whether Walker’s team tried to illegally sidestep state campaign contribution caps.

Oddly, Walker totally avoiding what he calls "legal" coordination with outside groups this time.

While my conservative friend in Milwaukee is on a war path to remove Pres. Obama, a deliberate GOP distraction away from our state's problems, the bad news surrounding Scott Walker's time as governor isn't on his radar. I'm getting the feeling this is true for almost every other "stand with Walker" supporter.

So I guess they’ll never notice how Walker is now bragging that he’s “not” coordinating his campaign with other outside groups, like he did in his recall election. At least that’s what we’re being told. WSJ:

Gov. Scott Walker maintained Saturday he broke no laws in soliciting funds for a conservative group during the 2011 and 2012 recalls, but he said he’s not engaged in the practice as he seeks re-election in November. “Everything we’ve done is completely legitimate,” Walker told reporters Saturday in Madison.

Asked why he’s no longer doing it, he said, “as you can imagine I’m pretty busy with my own campaign right now.”

Too busy for the big donors? Well, would you believe...?

The new documents provide supplemental evidence to prosecutors’ previously disclosed legal theory that Walker and his campaign aides were involved in a “criminal scheme.” Milwaukee County investigator Robert Stelter’s conclusion that Walker solicited donations to Wisconsin Club for Growth and that such solicitation violated and was intended to “circumvent” state law on campaign contributions...

Kate Doner, a Walker campaign consultant … wrote to Johnson that Walker wanted Wisconsin Club for Growth exclusively to coordinate campaign themes. "As the Governor discussed ... he wants all the issue advocacy efforts run thru one group to ensure correct messaging," she wrote.

 Deceptive Walker Phrasing Revealed: Walker has been saying all along that he wasn't a "target," and pointed to a statement from investigators saying the same thing. But what I didn't know before was this:

A lawyer for lead prosecutor Francis Schmitz issued a statement in June stating, “Gov. Walker was not a target of the investigation. At no time has he been served with a subpoena.”

Legal experts have told the State Journal that a “target” of a John Doe probe is someone who prosecutors have enough evidence to file charges against, as opposed to a subject, who is someone under investigation for possible wrongdoing.

Which leaves the question of Walker's involvement wide open. I still don't understand why wanting to run all issues through one group isn't proof of illegal coordination.

No Question, Walker pushed illegal coordination with Outside Group.

Scott Walker came right out and said that he wanted to illegally coordinate his campaigns message with the outside group, Wisconsin Club for Growth.

"The Governor is encouraging all to invest in the Wisconsin Club for Growth," said an April 28, 2011, email from Kate Doner, a Walker campaign consultant … Doner wrote to Johnson that Walker wanted Wisconsin Club for Growth exclusively to coordinate campaign themes. "As the Governor discussed ... he wants all the issue advocacy efforts run thru one group to ensure correct messaging," she wrote.

In the jsonline article, this line stood ou

Prosecutors contend candidates and outside groups cannot collaborate on their messaging and strategy. Walker and the club have contended they can, because the club's ads do not explicitly tell people who to vote for or against.

It's not the advocacy ads, it's coordinating the message.

The following should give everyone an opportunity to see who's really calling the shots politically in Wisconsin. And right wing trolls teasing liberals about their obsession with the Koch brothers, explain yourselves now:

In September 2011, Doner sent an email to Walker and others with brainstorming ideas for raising money for the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Among them: "Take Koch's money," "Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson," and "Go heavy after (corporations) to give."

7th Circuit Court skeptical, wants good reason for John Doe 2 Conservative groups to remain Anonymous.

Slowly but surely the wheels of justice turn....

Twin Cities: A federal appeals court is asking two unnamed parties related to an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign and other conservative groups to explain why they are entitled to remain anonymous.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday asked the unnamed parties (Wisconsin Club for Growth) to address that in briefs due in September.