Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Walkergate: They'll Always Have Vegas

When Kelly Rindfleisch was arrested and charged for campaigning for Scott Walker's choice for Lieutenant Governor, Brett Davis, the criminal complaint included the name of Jim Villa.

Villa, who was Walker's Chief of Staff both as a legislator and as Milwaukee County Executive.  Villa also was "an informal personal advisor" to the Walker campaign.  The reason Villa was in the complaint against Rindfleisch is because he did a lot of campaign work for Davis, including doing various fund raising tasks.  He also confirmed that Walker thought Davis would be the best choice for Lt. Governor.*

But it appears that Rindfleisch and Villa were really close friends.  Besides letting her stay in one of his homes in West Allis so she could keep up the pretense of being a Milwaukee County citizen, the two of them have apparently gone on a very fun trip to Las Vegas:

Well, we can hope that the memories were very, very good for them.

Because it appears that this might all Rindfleisch has for a while.  She might be thinking the same since a very observant reader alerted me to the fact that Rindfleisch has dissolved her political consulting business last month:


It would not be surprising that if convicted, and the evidence appears to be pretty strong, she would go to prison.  She knew it was wrong, since she was already given a pass during the caucus scandals.

With Rindfleisch facing such high odds of being incarcerated, one must wonder how much Walker is sweating that she or any of the other defendants and/or witnesses will turn on him.

*Why hasn't anyone asked Rebecca Kleefisch how she feels knowing that Walker didn't want her as his running mate much less as Lt. Governor?

6 comments:

  1. Hilarious! I wonder if Darlene Wink went to Vegas as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She somehow doesn't strike me as a gambler...but that is not to say she wouldn't mind getting down and dirty when Tim Russell requires it of her.

      8/17/2009 Transcript -
      darlenewink
      (9:36:04 PM GMT): ok - I just am afraid of going to jail - ha! ha!
      tdrussell63 (9:39:55 PM GMT): You wouldn't. not for that.

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  2. The buddy system is alive and well in Mr Walker's administration and Wisconsin GOP.

    Wink => Russell
    Rindfleisch => Villa
    Werwie => Davis
    Block => Priebus
    Foltz => Jensen
    Huebsch => Walker

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't think Rindfleisch wants to carry all the weight on this one. I believe she can resolve some of the Rumsfeldian "unknown unknowns" about who knew what, and when. Brett Davis can't be feeling to comfortable right now either.

    Which brings me to the one thing I can't figure out, why would Walker knowingly set up an illegal fund raising operation for his buddy Davis in his own office? What is so special about Davis that would compel him to take that kind of risk?

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    Replies
    1. With respect to this allegation try on "I am really smart and no one will catch me."

      or see the link below for some possible insight.

      http://reason.com/blog/2008/12/09/if-the-governor-does-it-that-m

      If the Governor Does It, That Means It Is Not Illegal by Dave Wiegel:

      "Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being “stuck” as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife’s employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office."

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    2. These are good questions, Gareth! I think that the Wisconsin GOP was more comfortable going to war with Davis as the fall-back Lieutenant when Gov Walker inevitably had to resign, was recalled, or likewise had to move on in pursuit of a different office. Becky leaves them a bit hamstrung as she is somewhat of a weak sister and not ready to serve as a stand-alone gov and running her own administration, especially since Russell is no longer behind the scenes to pull the strings. I am curious to know who all else has got their fingers into a Davis governorship too.

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