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Investigation Surrounding Scott Walker EVEN BIGGER Than We Thought
Just one day before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was elected governor in 2010, a judge widened an ongoing investigation to also include four of the governor's top aides. That's according to documents from 27,000 emails and 434 pages of search warrants related to an ongoing secret investigation of Walker released on Wednesday.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the documents show that on Nov. 1, 2010 there were raids on Walker's campaign office, the Milwaukee County executive office and the residences of a number of Walker aides, including Kelly Rindfleisch, Walker's former deputy chief of staff. In 2012, Rindfleisch was convicted of misconduct in office. Specifically, Rindfleisch was found to be doing campaign work for a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor on official government time, which is a felony.
To get the search warrants, prosecutors presented the judge with dozens of emails involving Walker's campaign and county staff. The prosecutor's tagged those emails and other supporting documents, SW1 through SW71.
The records show that in August 2010, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm used an investigation into Walker aide Darlene Wink — who had acknowledged posting political comments online while on the county dime — to seek the personal email records for four other Walker employees and allies.
Among those records were the emails of Timothy D. Russell, a longtime Walker campaign and county aide. Russell was later convicted of stealing more than $21,000 from a veterans group that Walker named him to head. Russell was sentenced to two years in prison.
The records make clear that Walker's campaign staff and county team were in constant communication in the months leading up to the 2010 primary and general election.
In April 2010, Nardelli and Walker's campaign manager, Keith Gilkes, arranged for daily 8 a.m. conference calls between the campaign and key county staff.
"These will not be long duration calls as we have much work on our plates, but good coordination will help (us) resolve issues before they blow out of proportion," Nardelli wrote.
Weeks earlier, campaign spokeswoman Jill Bader asked Rindfleisch and others with the county to provide a "backgrounder" on issues that could come up at an event featuring Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat who was running for governor.
On May 18, 2010, Walker's administration director, Cynthia Archer, wrote to campaign and county staff she would no longer be checking her private email account and told people to contact her on her cellphone for urgent matters.
"The significance of this email is that it shows that the people addressed on this email are acting in concert withthe county executive staff to find alternative ways to communicate using private email during the workday," David Budde, an investigator for the district attorney, testified in the Nov. 1, 2010, secret hearing. "This also is a direct admission that Archer was using private email during the workday."
Archer used her private email to discuss official county matters with Walker through his campaign account, and with campaign advisors including R. J. Johnson. One such exchange involved a story about Walker's potential county pension.
According to prosecutors, Rindfleisch had nearly 5,700 email exchanges withthe campaign staff of Walker and Brett Davis, who was running for lieutenant governor. Davis lost the primary in September 2010, but went on to serve in Walker's administration as Medicaid director.
The Rindfleisch emails are replete with examples of her communicating with campaign staff during what would have been her daytime work hours at the courthouse.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/court-set-to-release-emails-documents-tied-to-ex-aide-to-scott-walker-b99208267z1-246128301.html#ixzz2tnEUlUbA
The records show that in August 2010, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm used an investigation into Walker aide Darlene Wink — who had acknowledged posting political comments online while on the county dime — to seek the personal email records for four other Walker employees and allies.
Among those records were the emails of Timothy D. Russell, a longtime Walker campaign and county aide. Russell was later convicted of stealing more than $21,000 from a veterans group that Walker named him to head. Russell was sentenced to two years in prison.
The records make clear that Walker's campaign staff and county team were in constant communication in the months leading up to the 2010 primary and general election.
In April 2010, Nardelli and Walker's campaign manager, Keith Gilkes, arranged for daily 8 a.m. conference calls between the campaign and key county staff.
"These will not be long duration calls as we have much work on our plates, but good coordination will help (us) resolve issues before they blow out of proportion," Nardelli wrote.
Weeks earlier, campaign spokeswoman Jill Bader asked Rindfleisch and others with the county to provide a "backgrounder" on issues that could come up at an event featuring Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat who was running for governor.
On May 18, 2010, Walker's administration director, Cynthia Archer, wrote to campaign and county staff she would no longer be checking her private email account and told people to contact her on her cellphone for urgent matters.
"The significance of this email is that it shows that the people addressed on this email are acting in concert withthe county executive staff to find alternative ways to communicate using private email during the workday," David Budde, an investigator for the district attorney, testified in the Nov. 1, 2010, secret hearing. "This also is a direct admission that Archer was using private email during the workday."
Archer used her private email to discuss official county matters with Walker through his campaign account, and with campaign advisors including R. J. Johnson. One such exchange involved a story about Walker's potential county pension.
According to prosecutors, Rindfleisch had nearly 5,700 email exchanges withthe campaign staff of Walker and Brett Davis, who was running for lieutenant governor. Davis lost the primary in September 2010, but went on to serve in Walker's administration as Medicaid director.
The Rindfleisch emails are replete with examples of her communicating with campaign staff during what would have been her daytime work hours at the courthouse.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/court-set-to-release-emails-documents-tied-to-ex-aide-to-scott-walker-b99208267z1-246128301.html#ixzz2tnEUlUbA
The investigations are regularly referred to in Wisconsin as "John Doe investigations," which is a type of probe where it's illegal for anyone involved in the investigations to talk about them. John Doe Judge Neal Nettesheim added the following Milwaukee County executive office aides to the investigation: Rindfleisch, Walker chief of staff Tom Nardelli, Walker spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin and scheduler Dorothy Moore.
Thus far, only Rindfleisch has been charged. Nardelli quit his $90,000-a-year job in the governor's office last July, just days after accepting the position, and McLaughlin went to work for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke instead of following Walker into the governor's office. Moore still works as Walker's scheduler out of the Wisconsin governor's office.
cont'
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/scott-walker-judge-expand-investigation
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