Yes and then hold him accountable to the law. No pardons for this one.
Unless something very untoward should happen the tea bagger Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker has a recall election coming in the not too distant future,
There are other problems for Walker too. An ongoing FBI investigation of his time as a County Executive still is hanging over both him and his cronies. The investigation continues even after an ex Walker aide plus two others were charged in what we at luna-canus now refer to as Walkergate.
Now Walkergate has grown again as two more former Walker aides are charged with fundraising on government time. This doesn’t look like the end of things either.
From Talking Points Memo;
Two more people have been charged in the investigation of former aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), from his time as Milwaukee County Executive — including the person whose original alleged misconduct appears to have set off the whole business to begin with.
The charges were announced Thursday by District Attorney John Chisholm (D). Walker’s former deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch, and former constituent services coordinator Darlene Wink, are charged with illegally raising money while in a county building and using government equipment to do so.
Wink is charged with fundraising for Walker, while Rindfleisch is charged with fundraising for a whole different candidate in another race — then state Rep. Brett Davis, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out, after Davis lost the primary he has since become Walker’s state Medicaid director.
Then Thursday afternoon it was disclosed that one of the former aides has accepted a plea bargain to lessen charges and agreed to testify against others. In other words folks, this former aide is singing like the proverbial canary.
From Talking Points Memo; (emphasis mine)
An official letter to Wink’s attorney from an Assistant District Attorney describes the office’s position: That in their view, her actions would support felony charges. However, “Ms. Wink has provided information concerning a related investigation involving the destruction of digital evidence,” and she is also “in possession of further information as it relates to possible future prosecution(s) and proceeding(s).”
As such, the D.A.’s office planned to charge her with misdemeanors, to which she will plead guilty. In exchange for her guilty plea and further testimony, they will not seek her imprisonment. She might, however, be required to reimburse the county for her pay from time she had spent on political activity.
The letter does not specify what exact instances of destruction of digital evidence are involved. It does name some other investigations in which she will be expected to testify, such as former Walker aide Tim Russell (see below) — but with the caveat that her cooperation would not be limited to those cases.
Whoa! Wisconsin is really heating up for Walker and his crony administration. Walkergate has all the earmarks of spreading further and further up the ladder.
From Host Madison; (emphasis mine)
Gov. Scott Walker had plenty of choices to fill the open position on the District II Court of Appeals bench. But he chose his former legislative seat mate, Mark Gundrum.
Gundrum’s an able political player, to be sure. He and Walker were close political and ideological allies in the Legislature and in the broader work of the Republican Party.
But Walker is moving Gundrum up the nonpartisan judicial ladder awfully quickly. Gundrum, 41, served in the Assembly from 1999 until he was elected as a trial court judge in Waukesha County Circuit Court in 2010. He has served only a year on the bench, and there are still legitimate concerns about whether he has put his partisan days behind him,
When he announced that he was running for that judgeship in 2009, Gundrum made it clear that he wanted to be an ideologically driven jurist. “I think it would be good to have a person with a solid conservative view of the law,” the Republican stalwart said.
I know, it doesn’t seem related, does it? Just wait and read on, because I think it is very related and would like to know what you readers think.
From BloggingBlue about the former aide charged with embezzlement;(emphasis mine)
What’s more, Walker asserted he did not know Tim Russell was involved with the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, but as seen clearly on Page 7 of the criminal complaint, Walker as County Executive co-signed a “Memorandum of Agreement” giving the Heritage Guard Preservation Society control over the operation of the event called Operation Freedom, including that event’s funding. While Walker denied any knowledge of Russell’s involvement with the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, the “Memorandum of Agreement” County Executive Walker signed handing over control of Operation Freedom was co-signed by Tim Russell in his capacity as President of the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, so it’s hard to believe Scott Walker didn’t know Tim Russell was involved with that group.
Despite Gov. Walker’s attempt to spin today’s criminal charges involving one of his close former aides, he left more questions unanswered than he actually resolved.
Okay, now let’s tie this all together. Mark Gundrum, the judge appointed so quickly to the Appeals Court by Walker happened to serve in Iraq while he was a Wisconsin legislator. Okay, no big deal you might think.
Now it gets interesting. Mark Gundrum donated his salary from the legislature to—Operation Freedom. The amount he donated was about $28,000. This was a big part of the funds that ended up being transferred from the American Legion group to Russell’s Heritage Guard Preservation Society, from where Russell embezzled it.
Can anyone say political slush fund? Gundrum contributes $28,000 to a Walker slush fund disguised as a charity. The money gets embezzled by Walker cronies. How coincidental that Walker appoints Gundrum to a seat on the state Appeals Court as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
During the famous Watergate investigation by reporters Woodward and Bernstein they were told to follow the money. The Walker people aren’t quite as good at money laundering as the Nixon people were so its glaringly obvious and easy to follow the money.
I could be totally wrong and you can draw your own conclusions…..I’m just sayin’.
