In Case You're Keeping Score In Walkergate

Just to help people, including yours truly, keep track of the exploding Walkergate story, here are some events to keep mark of:

• Monday, January 23, 8:30 am - Tim Russell appears in court for his preliminary hearing.
• Wednesday, January 25 - Andrew Jensen is to report to the DA's Office in regards to Walkergate
• Thursday, January 26, 8:15 am - Brian Pierick has his preliminary hearing in Waukesha County for his child enticement charges
• Monday, January 30, 8:30 am - Kevin Kavanaugh has a scheduling conference regarding his embezzlement charges

As Zach at Blogging Blue alludes to, I am hearing there will be more shoes dropping soon, maybe as early this week.  

As always, I will try to not only provide updates, but also some background, to help the gentle reader stay informed.

I am counting on you to make sure that Scott Walker doesn't raid the treasury and abscond with our money as things get closer to him and he tries to elude justice.

Walkergate: Walker's CARW-tel

On Tuesday, we learned that Andrew P. Jensen, Jr., a leading Milwaukee real estate broker, was arrested and booked into the Milwaukee County Jail for not cooperating with the ongoing John Doe investigation.

Wednesday evening, Jensen was released.  As part of his release, Jensen had to agree to meet with prosecutors at the end of January.

The shortness of his stay would indicate that this was a wake up call to Jensen that his money and influence doesn't extend as far as he would like and that he is not exempt from the law.  It also serves as a warning to other people that are entangled in the growing mess which spawned from the way Walker practices politics.

Oddly, Jensen's attorney, Patrick Schott, said that Jensen was jailed because Jensen "wouldn't adopt their version of events."  But the facts that authorities tried to offer Jensen immunity and that he tried to take it if he could remain anonymous while doing so would indicate that Jensen knows what the score is, but is too afraid of the Republican party machine that he doesn't want it known that he sang.

Now that Jensen's been outed, watch for the right, especially in the form of talk radio, rally around him and try to make him appear as a living martyr in a feeble effort to discredit the investigation.*  This is not so much to congratulate him for keeping his mouth shut - so far - as it is to remind him that they are watching in case he does.

On another note, in Tuesday's piece, I pointed out that there were other cronies of Walker's who were also tied up in the real estate business.  What even I hadn't fully realized is how cozy the relationship is between those people that I had mentioned.

In a copy of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin newsletter, from June 2008 (pdf), shows that while Jensen was serving as Chairman of the group's board, Jim Villa was the group's president.  If the reader scrolls down the newsletter to the second page, they can see a giant ad taken out by JM Hiller Consulting, LLC, which is the company owned by John Hiller, who had served for 18 years as Scott Walker's campaign treasurer, until abruptly leaving in the spring of this year.

This edition also includes an article about how they were nice and close to then Speaker of the Assembly Michael Huebsch, who is currently Walker's top henchman and has been leading the attack on Wisconsinite's First Amendment Rights, especially when it comes to the People's House, also known as the Capitol Building.

In the February 2008 (pdf) issue of the same newsletter, there are two articles about the groups PAC and how they're using it to "influence" lawmakers.  And we already know all too well how easily Walker is influenced, especially by big money.

And just as a bow on today's package, we can't leave Tim Russell out of this assorted affair.  Remember that under Walker's term as Milwaukee County Executive, Russell served at times in the economic development department as well as the Director of Housing.  That is significant when one looks at this line from the MJS article (emphasis mine):

Jensen, who primarily represents building owners seeking tenants for vacant space, is considered one of the top agents in the Milwaukee area in this field. He has also brokered deals involving public agencies and buildings.

Anyone familiar with Walker's method of operation in management would know that it includes trying to privatize all the services he could as well as sell all the assets he could, even if it meant ruining something as unique as the Monarch Trail.

That's the problem when a politician weaves such cozy webs. They might seem nice and cozy, but they can quickly turn into a tightening trap on them when they do wrong.

*This seems like a counter-intuitive strategy.  Do they really want prosecutors to level charges during the recall and so close before the election?  Really?

Walkergate: The First Arrest

Right in the middle of the gathering of signatures for the Scott Walker recall, Walkergate raises its ugly head, as if we needed any more incentive to get the bum out of office with all due haste.

Andrew P. Jensen, Jr, coutesty
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has been covering the ongoing saga of Walkergate, which has been underway for a year and a half and is reportedly growing massive in its range and scale, reports on the latest shoe to fall in the investigation:

On Tuesday, authorities arrested Andrew P. Jensen Jr., a commercial real estate broker with Boerke Co. and a past president of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin.

Fran McLaughlin, spokesman for Sheriff David Clarke Jr., confirmed that Jensen was behind bars on Tuesday night. But McLaughlin said no one had filed a criminal complaint against the 50-year-old Milwaukee resident.

The sheriff's website states that charges are pending against Jensen.

Attempts to reach Jensen or his lawyer were unsuccessful. Jensen, who primarily represents building owners seeking tenants for vacant space, is considered one the top agents in Milwaukee in this field.

Jensen was a minor contributor to Walker's gubernatorial campaign, donating $850 to Walker. Boerke Co. employees gave a total of $12,150.

Insiders told No Quarter that he was arrested for refusing to cooperate with the long-running John Doe investigation by Milwaukee County prosecutors.

As Bice goes on to explain, in a John Doe investigation, prosecutors can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify.

While Jensen's arrest will make for great conversation around the water cooler and at the lunch table on Wednesday, it's not the biggest part of Walkergate. Remember, Jensen was only arrested, per the article, for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation. It doesn't indicate that Jensen was necessarily tied up with any other wrong doings.

But what did catch my eye was the fact that Jensen is a real estate broker and past president of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin (CARW).

It caught my eye, because Walker seems to like to surround himself with these folks

One such example is Jim Villa.  Villa is a Walker crony going way back.

Villa was Walker's Chief of Staff when he was in the state legislature.  He returned to the Chief of Staff position when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and was gearing up for his first attempt at running for governor.  At that time, Walker was already taking a lot of heat for the miserable way he was handling the county's affairs and for campaigning on the county dime during his infamous bike rides. Even then, Walker acolytes like Owen Robinson were falling all over themselves making excuses and being apologetic as they defended Walker's already evident corruption.

Besides being a Walker supporter and Walker aide, Villa is also a real estate broker and has been the president of CARW for the past four years.

Another such character is a man named Jim Hiller.  You've probably heard of the name.

He was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years, about as long as Walker has been a career politician.  Hiller also served on Walker's transition team as he became governor.  And yes, he was in real estate for 21 years.

Hiller should be someone to watch as Walkergate continues to unfold.  After all, there has to be a reason why Hiller suddenly quit as Walker's treasurer after 18 years, and I doubt it was because he wanted to be a lobbyist:

"Every time there's a new witness, this thing sprouts a new branch and heads in a completely new direction," said one person familiar with the investigation.

Walker also acknowledged Tuesday that his longtime campaign treasurer, John Hiller, had left that post. Records show Hiller was replaced by Kate Lind on May 13.

The governor said the change had nothing to do with the John Doe investigation

"For us, we put someone on who is a professional comptroller to make sure, with the volume of supporters we have, we had somebody who could handle that," Walker said. Two insiders said Hiller had also broken formal ties with the campaign around the same time he began soliciting clients with business before the state.

After that length of time, Eagle Scout Walker suddenly felt that Hiller wasn't up to the job? Right.

But that line about "soliciting clients with business before the state" sounds awfully suspicious to me, given some of the rumors that have been floating around regarding the investigation.

But there's one more real estate agent who is a long time Walker crony that is most definitely a person of interest in the investigation: Tim Russell. Russell is, of course, one of the first people to be investigated in the early days of Walkergate. He was caught on film campaigning with Walker during his bike ride. He also had his office thoroughly searched, including having his computer and county-issued Blackberry confiscated and locked file cabinets pried open by Sheriff's deputies.

As a possible tie in to the others, Russell also held a couple of real estate related positions under Walker in Milwaukee County, including working in economic development and during his last job, as Director of Housing. Both of these jobs worked intricately in real estate and the funding that goes with those positions.

All of these people, as well as other members of CARW and the real estate brokerage and real estate development were big supporters of Walker's campaigns, whether by working for him and/or contributing to his campaign.

Given Walker's long history of blatant cronyism and of rewarding his supporters lavishly, it does give pause to wonder if this is somehow related to the Walkergate investigation.  I think the gentle reader already knows where I would come down on this, but I will leave it to you to decide for yourself.

Now let us prepare for the onslaught of manipulations and stunts that Walker and his allies will ply in an effort to draw our attention from the things that they don't want us to see or know about.