Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Walkergate: Hearing Footsteps

Sometimes, what is not being said is just as, if not more, important than what is being said. Most times, actions do speak louder than words.

These are important things to remember when it comes to Walkergate. Almost as important as remembering the other truism of "There is always more."

The casual observer might come to the conclusion that Walkergate is over, that John Doe is dead. After all, the last defendant, Brian Pierick was sentenced last week. Nothing has been said about it since then.

However, I would remind the gentle reader of what I had written at that time:
There are other, more subtle signs that things are still going on.

After Rindfleisch and Russell took their respective plea deals, Walker and his campaign were breathlessly rushing out statements that this was it, the investigation was over and they had nothing to do with anything related to Walkergate.

As of a few weeks ago, however, they were changing their tune. Where they had once claimed that Walkergate was over, his campaign spokeswoman all but admitted that it was still happening when she stated that Walker and the campaign were still cooperating with the investigation.

A week after the spokeswoman's gaffe, it came out that Walker was still pouring money into his legal defense fund. Between Walker's personal defense and the legal defense of the campaign, Walker has spent a half a million dollars.

That's a helluva lot of money for a supposedly innocent man to be spending.

Now they've gone quiet. Not a peep today after Pierick's sentencing. Not one statement has come from Walker or his campaign.

And despite his protestations of not being the subject of Walkergate, Walker has not been given immunity nor has he produced any sort of document from the DA's Office verifying his ridiculous claims.
I went on to point out that Walker was showing some clearly un-Walkeresque type of behaviors, announcing things like funding a domestic abuse center. That is completely out of the norm for Walker.

But now, Walker has done a 180 on that and is spitting out his usual anti-Wisconsin budget proposals faster than a person can keep up. In relatively short order, Walker has proposed a vast expansion in the privatization of the education system, attacks on women's rights, more anti-worker legislation, attacks on Badger Care, attacks on veterans and too many other things to list here.

Not only has he introduced these vile things, but he has gone in full campaign mode. He is traveling the state, trying to raise funds and build up the support among his base. This is rather odd since the next election for governor is more than a year and a half away and there are no apparent opponents from either party yet. It is not like Walker to being running this fast and this hard unless there was some perceived threat.

Well, on Monday, Jeff Wagner, the afternoon squawker on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, gave voice to the fear that he, Walker and the other Republicans are feeling - they're hearing the footsteps of John Doe.

Wagner starts out griping about the length of time that the investigation has gone on for. Ironically, this is something most Wisconsin-loving people also share. But where the good people are tired of waiting for Walker's indictment, Wagner feels that the investigation should just end:
In less than 2 1/2 months, John Chisholm's little John Doe turns three. Since most criminal investigations (including complex narcotics and organized crime prosecutions) are wrapped up in lots less time, John Doe is actually probably closer to 80 in prosecutor years. Still, John Doe is hanging on.
Actually, the investigation and trial for Blago took over four years, and that case was much less complex than Walkergate. As a former US Attorney and a failed candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General, one would have thought Wagner would have known that. Then again, that could explain why he failed in his bid for a position that he actually had to earn.

I should also point out that Walkergate was being stonewalled by Walker, which makes Wagner's statement look even more inane.

Wagner goes on to try to smear the investigation by citing the lies and falsehoods told by the propagandists, each one having been proved false time and time again.

Wagner then ends up with this:
My sense is that John, currently on life support, is about ready to be put out to pasture. Some will say he has had a good run. Others will say that his life was a colossal waste of time and resources.

I'll just say Happy Almost Birthday John. As a taxpayer in Milwaukee County, please forgive me if I don't wish you too many more!
Again with the premature calling of the time of death!

What is really funny is when one follows Wagner's link, it leads to an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from three months ago which reads:
A 2½-year-old John Doe investigation into aides and associates of Gov. Scott Walker remains open, the judge who is overseeing that probe said Wednesday.

"The John Doe is still open and I have received no indication from the prosecutors that they are going to ask me to close it down as of yet," said Neal Nettesheim, a retired state appeals court judge.

He said while there is no legal requirement to notify the public when the probe ends, either he or Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm will do that.

"I think the public would be entitled to that," Nettesheim said.
So to prove that the investigation is over, Wagner uses a three month old article that says it's very much alive and kicking, since neither Chisholm or Nettesheim has said it's over.  I suppose, given that Wagner has much to work with, in evidence or in gray matter, we should not expect too much from him.

Not only have they not called the case, but Walker still hasn't even called it over. He's still collecting legal defense funding hand over fist. Furthermore, Walker has done nothing to show that he's not the target of the investigation:
And despite his protestations of not being the subject of Walkergate, Walker has not been given immunity nor has he produced any sort of document from the DA's Office verifying his ridiculous claims.
And as I've been pointing out for the past year, no one, including Wagner in his poorly written rant, has yet declared Walker innocent.

Given the facts as we know them, my recommendation would be to be patient, but don't dilly-dally in getting your extra large popcorn and soda.  And please turn your cellphones on - we don't want you miss any breaking news now, do we?


22 comments:

  1. My Favorite line was this one:

    "Several members of Chisholm's political party had high hopes for John Doe."

    Trying to subtly smear Chisholm as a democrat yet everyone who pays attention knows that is just not the case.

    His writing is almost as boring as his radio show.....

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    1. I have no idea who Wagner is, but I did like his line about prosecutorial years. I don't agree with him about there being a time limit on investigations, but I think that was a funny line.

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  2. What I don't get is that Walker is at least as guilty as Wink and Rindfleisch for what they did, right? He knew about the router network, and even emailed to it. So is there a reason they wouldn't charge Walker with that as well, or is that too small potatoes for a sitting governor?

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    1. No inside info here, but I think they are working on something bigger. They may eventually settle for the router if they can't make a bigger case.

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    2. OMG, I just got it...(sorry, a little slow on the uptake today..) Scooter started the crap storm of GOP dung programs because he can hear the horses behind him! THAT's why it he was relatively quiet for a while and now the excrement is being flung fast and furious!

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    3. I would say that the DA will do he same thing as he did with Russell, and use the router, etc. as leverage to go with the more serious crimes.

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  3. OMG, you guys are more desperate than a virgin on prom night. I understand that things are slow on the politics front until after the primary today, but really?

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    1. So Scott, who is this posted for you now that Darlene Wink got busted?

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    2. I thought the GOP approved of abstinence until marriage, what is this talk about prom night?

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  4. I believe that I owe John Chisholm a big thank you for keeping Kleefish away from the governor's mansion!

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    1. Well, there is that.......

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    2. Explain that please. Oh, you mean you think there won't be any further trials? Well, we'll see. I guess they have been so professional and so no one knows what is going on. I am impressed with the professionalism also, whichever way it works out, they have done a good job in a very difficult political atmosphere.

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  5. After Rindfleisch was fired from her position at Milwaukee County, she was hired the next day by one of Walkers "vendors". However, right after Rindfleisch's sentencing, Walker pulled funding from the "vendor" and left Kelly without a job. Clearly he bought her silence and after he got it, he dumped her. The man is doing everything he can to keep people from talking. He's scared and he should be.

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  6. since Blago was indicted for trying to sell Obama's vacated senate seat, that would make his investigation, trial, and subsequent prison sentence in the span of less than 4 years, considering he was "sent up" last spring/summer and Obama was just re-elected.

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    1. Blago was already under investigation for other corruption at the time he began to auction off the Senate seat. Wiretaps and bugs were already operational, which is why we got to hear all those wonderfully profane conversations. The idiot had no idea that the FBI was recording every word.

      The Federal prosecutor decided at that point to hurry the pace of the indictments so as to prevent the seat from actually being sold.

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    2. Wrong, it was 4 years.

      Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois, is an American politician under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2005 for corruption. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result of the scandal, Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after this removal, and Blagojevich was indicted on corruption charges in April 2009.[3]

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  7. How long was Jesse Jackson Jr. under investigation? How about the guy from Louisiana?

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  8. Wagner writing this is the biggest evidence yet Walker is scared; they keep saying Walker asked for this investigation. If he did, why would they care about how long it is taking?If they really had nothing to fear, they would be praising the DA's work and would be stating that it should run it's course...after I read Wagner's blog,it is apparent the Walker minions see the writing on the wall..

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    1. I think a serious question on this topic is do Wagner, Sykes, and/or Belling have any kind of inside information here? It wouldn't surprise me if they did - not suggesting they did anything illegal related to this, but did Walker/Walker's PR people tell them about anything that we as the general public do not know?

      Again I would not be surprised if that's why they are trying to discredit the John Doe.

      It could of course also be that they are totally blind to "Dear Leader" doing anything wrong, but they also realize it may hurt his 2014 bid even if never indicted.

      Or the third option, as you said they see the writing on the wall, that Walker may well be indicted and are in full discredit mode (but without knowing anything more than what the general public knows).

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    2. No reason to assume any inside information. They are nothing more than butt puppets of the John Doe republiKKKan regime. Pull their string and out poops another pile.

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  9. Anonymous 5:57- And that hack Wagner would never say that over the airwaves unless WisGOP would give him that order. Much like Sykes's scripted interviews with Walker, there's a reason Wagber chose to try to discredit Chisholm out of nowhere- the footsteps are getting close for John Doe.

    And anon 3:52- you are correct, it took several years for Jackson and Nagin to be brought to justice, and their cover-up isnt as complete and top-down as WisGOP's is

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