The GOP Short Term Memory Loss

By Jeff Simpson 

The down time between election and inauguration has been way more exciting than it should have been.   First off, Robin Vos, the wanna be Whitey Bulger,  has decided since Walker went down in shame, to follow the age old adage  -  The King is Dead, Long Live the King Robin!  Doing as he was told by the boys at ALEC and Scott Jensen, Robin decided, since he has a gerrymandered legislature. to transfer as much power away from Tony Evers and into his lap as he could possibly get away with, then a little more. 

The problem is this is a new era in politics and the citizens of Wisconsin are paying attention and, all but the hardest core right wingers, are not having it.

    Republican state leaders have struggled to publicly explain laws they enacted in a recent lame-duck session, amid a national onslaught of criticism from Democrats, nonpartisan groups and even fellow Republicans.
The critics largely have offered a unified critique of the measures, signed by Gov. Scott Walker last week. They’ve called them an unprecedented power grab by Walker and legislative Republicans that defied the will of voters, who elected Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. Both take office in January.

When something is unjustifiable, it is impossible to justify.  That is pretty simple and easy to understand. 

We are just beginning.   There are still a couple weeks before inauguration and the Republicans are having a full out assault on anytime Tony Evers Sneezes.   The attacks this week are going to come against every single person that Tony nominates to his cabinet. 

Its starting now.  Pro CAFO, and Oompa Loompa , who hasnt made a promise he intends to keep thinks that appointing someone from Madison and Milwaukee is unacceptable.

and Jim Steineke, couldnt see the crimes that Bill Kramer was committing right in front of his eyes, but can see how after four appointments that Tony Evers hates WI.

For those that may not be aware, there are good, qualified people outside of Milwaukee and Madison. Hopefully the rest of the state will eventually be represented in this administration. https://t.co/I1ao1ImT5P

— Jim Steineke (@jimsteineke) December 19, 2018

You get the idea, anyone who read the memo and does not want to upset Robin "Whitey Bulger " Vos will be in full attack and discredit mode. 

When there is an all out assault on the Democrats, expect @newsmaciver to get the call and they jumped into action...

But Evers’ lofty words of compromise and bipartisanship don’t seem to jibe with his opening appointments. The governor-elect has quietly assembled advisory committees packed with some of the most left-leaning people from some of the more left-wing organizations in the state. Nary a conservative to be found, of course, and even truly moderate Republicans are missing from the far left-heavy advisory committees.
The lineup includes big labor bosses, extreme environmentalists, social justice warriors, and espousers of socialism.
His liberal picks shouldn’t come as a huge surprise

What our friends on the right are hoping you do not remember is some of the appointments that Scott Walker originally made(all of whom they gladly voted for).

*  Dennis Smith - Smith, the married man with 4 daughters from Washington DC, was appointed head of Department of Health Services by Scott Walker.   Smith who never met an uninsured person he was not proud of, used the job basically to bring his high school crush to WI and start an affair on our dime using our resources and then resigned and took off to DC abruptly after his affair came to light.    Smith now works for a global law firm in DC - Dentons. 

*  Michael Brickman - Brickman, a degree in political science and a member of "Friends of Scott Walker" that helped get Walker elected, was named Walker's top education policy advisor.   Brickman made a name for himself, by going to the bars in Milwaukee and getting intoxicated Democrats to say stupid things that they could run to the press with.   He "disguised" himself as "Rich in retail" when talking to people at the bars.  This experience made him qualified to set education policy in the far right world of fitzwalkerstan.   Now, to the surprise of no one, Mike "Rich in retail" Brickman works for Betsy DeVos. 

 *  Brian Deschane -  Deschane, the troubled son of Big walker donor Jerry Deschane, was appointed to an $81.500/yr job with the Commerce Department.  His qualifications, as one would expect from this administration were- no college degree, no work experience and 2 DUI's. 

* Ryan Murray - Murray, the son of another big Walker donor, Mike Murray,  was appointed original head of WEDC.  Murray, whose first audit of WEDC, found that while they had created no real jobs to speak of, had invested heavily in Wisconsin Badger tickets, vacations and iTunes gift cards( you can not make this stuff up).   This of course led to nothing but a pat on the back and told to continue on until WEDC actually ended up paying off a donors Maserati(that he named Nero).  It took competent people actually quitting, over Murray's incompetence to actually force change.   Murray currently works for the unimaginatively named "The Firm" consulting firm in Milwaukee.   

As our friends on right continue to criticize Governor Evers, remember they not only have no leg to stand on, their continual hiring of incompetents has cost our state millions!   

Walker's Travel Crony

By Jeff Simpson

We already know with people like Brian DeSchane and Dennis Smith that of all of Scott Walker's flaws, his hiring ability might be his biggest weakness.  

Now they are at it again in Fitzwalkerstan.  

The University of Wisconsin System named five finalists for the position of vice president for university relations, including the president of a Milwaukee real estate group who is closely allied with Gov. Scott Walker.

Who is the finalist that is closely allied with Scott Walker?   Our old friend Jim Villa:

Villa’s name appears throughout recently released emails from the governor’s former aide, Kelly Rindfleisch, while Walker was Milwaukee County executive and while he was running for governor in 2010. He’s identified as follows in a 2012 criminal complaint against Rindfleisch:
“Mr. Villa was a former chief of staff to then (Milwaukee) county executive Scott Walker. Mr. Villa served as an informal adviser to the Friends of Scott Walker. He is and was a personal friend to Gov. Scott Walker.”
Rindfleisch was convicted of felony misconduct in office for campaigning on taxpayer time. She is appealing.
In a Feb. 8, 2010, email from Rindfleisch to Brett Davis, Walker’s preferred candidate for lieutenant governor, Rindfleisch wrote:
“I am also working on Villa to get him to agree to host an event. The money guys know him and associate him with Walker, so they would respond to him. That’s the same reason John Hiller is on the list. He’s known as a Walker guy.”

Readers of CogDis remember the name Jim Villa, as the life of the party at the ALEC conventions:

  Jim Villa and Jim Emerson, two state Senate staffers who led the fact finding mission for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), are expected to testify.
"Arrrgh! God, it hurts when I pee," shouted Villa from a ground floor state Capitol restroom. "I thought Clymedia was a flower!"
Emerson is expected to report that legalized prostitution can have a hug upside, including being a tourism attraction for the Wisconsin Dells to take the place of Tommy Bartlett's Robot World, and an employment opportunity in the form of W-2 transition
jobs.
"By the end of the trip it felt like I was hooked up to one of those milking machines," Emerson said. "I will never be able to look at ping pong balls and uneven parallel bars the same way again."
Villa said that the success of the fact-finding mission was the result of NCSL's commitment to research.
"NCSL completely kicks ass," Villa said. "I went to an ALEC conference on blowjobs and it took a week for me to get the taste out of my mouth."

 What better person to represent the University of Wisconsin in an executive position?   Do we still have to pay for his attendance at ALEC conventions or has he earned enough loyalty rewards points?


 

Another Shocking Development In Fitzwalkerstan, Inc.

The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Scott Walker is ready to end the requirement for inexpensive life-saving equipment in building codes. According to the article, he wants to end the requirement for homes to be equipped with circuit interrupters which help prevent electrical fires, electrocution and thermal burns. Walker also want to end the requirement for tamper resistant outlets which protect children from sticking things in the outlet and getting a shock or electrocuted.

Safety inspectors and public safety officials are flummoxed and deeply concerned about this proposal. They are relatively inexpensive, adding about $200 to the cost of a $200,000 home, yet have been proven to be life and property savers beyond value.

So why does Walker want to get rid of these safety devices?

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

If you guessed that it's pay back to some wealthy campaign contributors, you guessed right.

According to the article:

The Wisconsin Homebuilders Association was one source for the code-changing plan, confirmed Jerry Deschane, association vice president.

"We have talked to the department about some changes, mostly because of reliability problems with all three of those devices," said Deschane.

Long time readers may remember the name Deschane.

Jerry Deschane is the father of Brian Deschane, the college dropout with no experience but who does have two DWI's, whom Walker appointed to a $81,500 position in the state's Department of Commerce.

Dan Bice reported on the younger Deschane's "qualifications" for that position:

His father is Jerry Deschane, executive vice president and longtime lobbyist for the Madison-based Wisconsin Builders Association, which bet big on Walker during last year's governor's race.

The group's political action committee gave $29,000 to Walker and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, last year, making it one of the top five PAC donors to the governor's successful campaign. Even more impressive, members of the trade group funneled more than $92,000 through its conduit to Walker's campaign over the past two years.

Total donations: $121,652.

That's big-time backing from the homebuilders.

After catching too much flak about this, Walker thought he'd resolve the issue by demoting Deschane to a $61,000 job for which he also was not qualified. Not only that, Walker bypassed two other much more qualified applicants.

In fact, this stunt was one of the things Walker got grilled on when he had to testify before a congressional committee:



Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA), the congressman who tore into Walker about this, also made a formal request for an investigation into this obvious pay for play business.

Too bad that the Republicans never allowed this to happen. If they had, they would have found another incident of Walker committing perjury. When Walker testified, under oath, that the hiring of Deschane was five levels below him, he was lying his butt off. It was Walker's Chief of Staff, Keith Gilkes, who "made the recommendation" for this hiring, regardless what the Commerce Secretary's opinion of his qualifications.

Now, this move to remove important pieces of safety equipment from homes as a pay back to a large campaign contributor is nothing new in Fitzwalkerstan, Inc. Walker has a long history of kowtowing to wealthy campaign donors.  But as the gentle reader already knows, when it comes to anything dealing with Walker, there's more. There's always more.

The reason Deschane the elder wants this done is, well, your guess is as good as mine since Deschane is just making crap up as he goes along (emphasis mine):

Deschane was critical of the AFCI, GFCI and tamper-proof outlets because "some electricians have been talking to us about reliability problems." A home security system or a sump pump, for example, can trip an interrupter, he said. And the tamper-resistant outlets, which use small plastic covers over the prong openings that are moved aside only when both sides are engaged at the same time, cause problems for "some people who have trouble putting plugs in those sockets."

He knew of no tests or statistics or reports that support those claims, but "the concerns we have raised come from complaints from people who have been installing (the devices) in Wisconsin."

So, now we have Walker being bought off to eliminate the use of these safety devices, they can't even give a valid reason for it, except for the mysterious, unnamed "them."

Ah, but there is still more (again, emphasis mine):

There is no timetable for the task, said department spokeswoman Angie Hellenbrand, who referred questions to Deschane, of the builders association, for more information.

The proposal estimates it will take 600 hours of staff time to develop the rules.

WTH? Now we have state officials deferring to lobbyists for answers on state policy?! And whose staff is going to be putting in the 600 hours of work to eliminate something that will be put back in two years when Kleefisch (Walker will be in prison by then) loses to whoever the Democrats put up against her? And who will be paying for it?

Knowing how Walker's masters' minds work, I'm guessing taxpayers will be paying the lobbyists' staff to come up with these rules, which will be so fouled up that it will take 1200 work hours to straighten them out again.

What sickens me the most out of this whole sordid affair is how Walker isn't even bothering trying to put on the airs of being a respectable man anymore, but is openly flaunting his corruption, thinking himself to be infallible.

As God as my witness, no one will be celebrating the news of his indictment more than I.

Brett Davis

Remember this guy? Rumor has it he is a "taxpayer watchdog": Brett Davis was the guy who Scott Walker wanted as his Lieutenant Governor, (yes lets not forget Scott Walker wanted NOTHING to do with Rebecca Kleefisch and worked very hard to make sure it was not her)! Well Mr Davis after he lost, vowed he was NOT done with Wisconsin politics.

"I plan to be involved in Wisconsin politics for a long time to come," Davis said.

We did not know at the time just how involved in politics Mr. Davis was, and I do not mean the cushy crony state job he was given as State of Wisconsin Medicaid Director (Was Brian Deschane busy). No we found out recently that Brett Davis is so involved in Wisconsin politics he had his house raided like the rest of the Walker Administration.

From WisPolitics.com ... -- The attorney representing former Walker aide Kelly Rindfleisch says he plans to challenge evidence seized from the homes and offices of other former Walker staffers as well as former state Rep. Brett Davis as part of his defense for Rindfleisch against the charges filed against her in the ongoing John Doe investigation. Attorney Frank Gimbel said court records he’s now reviewing show the raids were executed in 2010 at the homes and/or offices of former Walker aides Tim Russell, Darlene Wink and Jim Villa, along with Davis. He said prosecutors also seized email and phone records for all of them in the raids, which he learned of recently after filing a discovery request. He said he’s only gone through a portion of the thousands of documents prosecutors have turned over to him so far.

So Brett Davis, who probably oversees more contract dollars than any other state official is having his house raided and files seized for illegally using taxpayer money, and still keeps his job. I wonder if Scott Walker has made any other hires this bad? At least he tells the truth right? Oops, not so much! My question is what does a "Strong Conservative" like Brett Davis tell his kids as the FBI is raiding his house?

Contact Scott Walker and let him know that Brett Davis can NOT be trusted with our Medicare dollars and to remove him immediately

!! Email govgeneral@wisconsin.gov Mail Office of Governor Scott Walker 115 East Capitol Madison, WI 53702 Phone (608) 266-1212 OR

Division of Health Care Access & Accountability Administrator Brett Davis 608 266-9622 Brett.Davis@wi.gov

Walkergate: Only Cronies Need Apply

The news for the past couple of months have been filled with a mind-boggling amount of stories regarding Scott Walker appointing cronies to high paying state positions.  Many of these appointees were not even qualified and were appointed by Walker over people who were much more qualified.

Here's a list of a few of them just off the top of my head:

• There was Brian Deschane, the son of a wealthy lobbyist, who had no college degree, no experience but did have two drunk driving arrests.  That earned him an $81,500 job, with a 26% raise, from the Walker administration.  Walker passed over two or three more qualified applicants to reward this fortunate son.
• There was Stephen Fitzgerald, the father of the Twins of Tantrums, Scott and Jeff, who was appointed at the state's top trooper for a cool $105,700 a year.  At least the senior Fitzgerald was a police officer, but was coming off a stinging 2-1 loss for Dodge County Sheriff.  Fitzgerald's biggest qualification was probably his willingness to use his troops to go after Walker's political opponents, even the pregnant women.
• And who could forget Valerie Cass? She was the lobbyist who won her position by winning over the heart and marriage of Randy Randy "Bed" Hopper. I don't think we need to go into her qualifications.
• Included in this list is Jeff "Judas" Plale who earned his thirty pieces of silver by selling his vote to Walker and shooting down the union contracts at the end of 2010.  Since this payback appointment, Walker has moved Plale up to an even higher paying  with less responsibility job. Who wouldn't want to get paid $90,000 a year for sitting in an office going "choo-choo?"
• Don't forget Tom Nardelli.  Nardelli was an opponent of Walker's when the Milwaukee County Executive's seat was open in the recall election of 2002.  There was rumor going around that Nardelli backed out of the race on the promise of a position in Walker's administration.  Nardelli ended up being Walker's Chief of Staff and enforcer.  Nardelli, like Plale, was given a job in the Walker administration, only to be jumped up again later.  Nardelli was on his way to his fourth pension when he abruptly left his job, only days into his most recent promotion.  Nardelli claims it had nothing to do with Walkergate.  But so far, only Nardelli has expressed confidence in this reason.
• Following the same pattern, Cindy Archer was Walker's Director of Administration at Milwaukee County and held a similar job at the state.  Like Nardelli, Archer abruptly left her job, but had hinted at coming back to the state.  Unlike Nardelli, Archer already had a new job at the state before she left the new one.  Her appointment, which came directly from Walker's office, overrode the job interview of another applicant.  This poor woman ended up interviewing for a job that Walker already had given to one of his cronies.I would be remiss if I failed to also mention that Walker gave Archer $40,000 more than the person who had it previously.
• There is also John Scocos, who Walker reappointed to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Scocos is apparently so incompetent and corrupt that two ranking member of the Board of Veteran Affairs has resigned directly due to his appointment.  It was pointed out to me just tonight that Scocos got the appointment over two other qualified applicants who were never even interviewed for the job.

It would be naive to think that there weren't more examples of this sort of Cronyfest.  After all, Walker did get 37 positions switched from civil service jobs to political appointee positions, almost always with a higher salary than when they were civil service and you had to be qualified for the job.

Now, given Walker's propensity for dishing out state jobs to his cronies, his supporters and his campaign workers like it was candy at a parade, the gentle reader might wonder if he has a history of doing this.  The gentle reader would be exactly on target.

Three years ago, when I was still a novice blogger with privileges at folkbum's rambles and rants, I wrote about the very same thing, that being Walker's appointing unqualified campaign workers to high level positions.  The key snippet which I cited then still tells the story (emphasis mine):

Walker’s last two choices to lead the county economic development office, Bob Dennik and Tim Russell, came from his campaign and lacked depth in the development business, Clark said. Dennik left the post this week to become an executive with a Pewaukee construction company. Russell is now Walker’s community relations director.

“Walker chooses folks who don’t have (the necessary) experience,” she said. Dennik came under repeated fire from the board the last two years over disappointing land sales results that put the county budget in a jam. He didn’t return several phone calls seeking comment.

Only about $226,000 of the $7.2 million in budgeted land sales revenue for this year has materialized, contributing to a projected multimillion-dollar, year-end deficit. The land-sales budgets have been off $1 million or more in four of the last seven years, county figures show.

Yes, that is the same Tim Russell who is one of the key subjects of interest in Walkergate.

Even to this day, there are still some of Walker's cronies safely ensconced in county positions, some of them who have worked with him for the length of Walker's entire political career, which is most of his adult life.

When Walker was campaigning for thegovernor's seat, he promised to create 250,000 jobs. He appears to be bound and determined to do it too, one crony at a time.

RMS Scott Walker

On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic ran into an iceberg. In the early hours of the next day, the Titanic went below the waves forever, taking the lives of 1,517 people with it.  The real tragedy behind the Titanic's sinking is that the whole thing could have been utterly avoidable at so many junctures.

If they hadn't tried to cut corners, they might have used a better grade iron for the rivets. If the company wasn't trying to cut corners, they might have had enough lifeboats on the ship.  If it wasn't for their hubris, they might not have been going too fast or ignored the warnings from other ships that icebergs were in the area. The list goes on and on of things that could have been done differently, done smarter, which could have kept this from happening.

Instead, out of greed, corporate hubris and the overwhelming desire to cater to the upper (richer) passengers, the ship barreled ahead regardless of the dangers, and the completely unnecessary tragedy unfolded.

Ironically, on April 14, 2011, 99 years later, Scott Walker ran into the US Congress.The results to Walker's career and future political aspirations will not be known for a while, but it doesn't look that much better.

Like the fabled ship, RMS Walker went to sail with less that quality ideas, insufficient forethought, but enough hubris to fill ten Titanics.  The results of Walker's folly was utterly predictable and utterly preventable.  However, unlike the horrors of more than 1,500 people losing their lives, on this fateful ego trip, the only lost by Walker was whatever credibility he might have had, much less any chance at a national office.

Now, I admit I did not get to witness the repeated rectal reamings that Walker received, but I have seen some of the YouTube clips and read some of the stories.  So please forgive me if I don't lay them out in the chronological order of their occurrences, but here are some of the more exceptional moments of the day.  In each clip, pay close attention to Walker's expressions has his day just keeps getting worse and worse.

The first one is our own Congresswoman Gwen Moore who lays out the hypocrisy of Walker's claims of there being a fiscal crisis while he is giving money hand over fist to his buddies, the road builders, as well as some of his other lies regarding the budget, including pension plans:



Next up is Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA) who hammers Walker on the hiring of Brian Deschane, the 20-something year old with no college degree, little experience and two DWI who landed an $81,000 a year job due to his lobbyist daddy buying it for him:



Noteworthy from that clip is that Walker claimed that Deschane's hiring was "five steps below" him. Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is quick to point out that this isn't exactly true, since it was Walker's Chief of Staff that was involved in it, at Walker's bidding no doubt.

As fun as those were, they were just the warm ups. The third clip is Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) who had to repeatedly redirect Walker's evasive answers until Walker had to finally admit that he did not indeed mention attacking workers' rights during his campaign, contrary to his previous statements:



But it was Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who took away Walker's bag lunch and ate both of his ham and cheese sammiches in front of him, by cornering the elusive Walker into admitting that his union-busting bill doesn't do one darn thing for correcting the state budget, whatsoever:



The similarities between the Titanic doesn't end with the entirely avoidable collision and eventual sinking of both of these symbols of hubris.

After the sinking of the Titanic, there was an investigation into the cause. The surviving crew members testified, usually in order to point the finger at the deceased officers, or anywhere but themselves.  Likewise, after he was in an environment he controlled instead of the harsh reality of the world, Walker used both of his twitter accounts to blame the media and to blame Governor Jim Doyle or the bipartisanship of the legislature.

There is a huge difference between the Titanic and Walker which is relatively simple to see.

As mentioned above, when the Titanic went down, more than 1,500 people lost their lives.

However, if we don't get the floating piece of hubris known as Walker to go down, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, will suffer for it.

Walker Expounds On De Same Deschane Shame

Yesterday, we learned that Scott Walker was continuing his long time practice of rewarding cronies and/or campaign donors (or their relatives).  In this most recent incident, Walker had promoted a highly unqualified young man to a lofty position in his administration worth more than $81,000 a year.  The young man's only redeeming factor, it appears, is that his daddy is a wealthy lobbyist that gave more than $100,000 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign.

This morning, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel again brings us news of the Deschane shame.  This time, Walker ripped this unearned promotion from the young man, demoting him to his previous position.  Which still pays him more than $62,000 a year and still without any proof that, other than his daddy's money, he has any qualifications for this job either.

In fact, Bice points out the two people that were passed over to give the lobbyist's son the position, both of which were much more qualified:

But check out the two candidates Deschane beat out to get the position as head of environmental and regulatory affairs in the state Department of Commerce:

The first,Oscar Herrera, is a former state cabinet secretary under Republican Gov. Scott McCallumwith a doctoral degree and eight years' experience overseeing the cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites.

The second,Bernice Mattsson, is a professional engineer who served since 2003 in the post to which Deschane was appointed.

By contrast, Deschane has no college degree, little management experience and a couple of drunken-driving convictions. His father represents a trade group that gave more than $121,000 to Walker and his running mate.

Herrera and Mattsson didn't get far in the process.

"Neither candidate was interviewed," said agency spokesmanTony Hozeny.

And if you're not sick to your stomach yet, remember that this is only the latest in a long string of similar behaviors from Walker.

And for an added kick of irony to start your day, commenter Jim Spice reminds us of this doozy, an op ed piece from the paper in which Big Daddy Deschane, the guy who bankrolled his son's job, pointing out how "tough decisions" need to be made and how state workers need to feel their fair share of the pain that his family is not not.  The most sickening part is Daddy Deschane's last line:

While benefit reductions are something no one cheers about, these private-sector workers understand the pain that public-sector workers feel but also recognize that these painful decisions are necessary.

Is it November yet? I am so ready to start collecting those signatures...if Walker is still in office by then.

If You're Shocked By The Deschane Affair, You Shouldn't Be

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covered a story of one of Scott Walker's most glaring abuses of his newly-grabbed power.  This latest saga is about the appointment of Brian Deschane, a twenty-something college dropout who is the proud possessor of an arrest record of not just one, but two, drunk driving arrests. Walker appointed Deschane to the position of turning a blind eye to environmental and regulatory violations and making sure dozens of state employees do the same.  For this, Deschane is receiving $81,500 per year, which is 26% higher than he was making when he started as a state employee two months ago.

What made Deschane qualified for this if he was a dropout and had very little real world experience? His daddy is a very rich lobbyist that dropped quite a bundle into Walker's campaign fund.

Many people, including my own uber-conservative father, were outraged and shocked by this revelation.  Outraged I can understand and agree with full-heartedly.  But when my father told me that this is the first time he's actually seen it in print, my jaw hit the floor.

It makes me wonder where he and everyone else has been for the last decade.

Just two weeks ago, Bice had reported about how Senator Randy Randy "Bed" Hopper's girlfriend, Valerie Cass, had gotten a nice $20.35 per hour job from the Walker administration.

And before Cass, there were the appointments of Cindy Archer, Walker's former head of the Milwaukee County Department of Administration; Jeff Judas Plale, former state representative who sold his vote for a job; Steve Fitzgerald, father of the Twins of Tantrums; and Tom "Executhug" Nardelli, Walker's former chief of staff.

And the above noted examples are just from the last three months, since Walker became governor.

As Milwaukee County Executive, Walker amassed a lengthy list of crony appointees, as Cory Liebmann has already listed.

Two of those on Cory's list also show that Walker didn't have a high regard for being qualified as he was handing out these appointments.  Walker had appointed Bob Dennik to the economic development office where they proved themselves to be utter flops (emphasis mine from then):

Walker’s last two choices to lead the county economic development office, Bob Dennik and Tim Russell, came from his campaign and lacked depth in the development business, Clark said. Dennik left the post this week to become an executive with a Pewaukee construction company. Russell is now Walker’s community relations director.

“Walker chooses folks who don’t have (the necessary) experience,” she said. Dennik came under repeated fire from the board the last two years over disappointing land sales results that put the county budget in a jam. He didn’t return several phone calls seeking comment. 

Only about $226,000 of the $7.2 million in budgeted land sales revenue for this year has materialized, contributing to a projected multimillion-dollar, year-end deficit. The land-sales budgets have been off $1 million or more in four of the last seven years, county figures show.

Obviously, Walker's abuse of office by appointing unqualified cronies or family and/or friends of donors is nothing new at all, but rather is an ongoing thing.

For anyone shocked by the latest rendition of Walker's long standing behavioral pattern should save some of their outrage for themselves for not paying attention all this time.