Scott Walker: Mathing Is Hard!

Failed Wisconsin Governor and Presidential Candidate Has Been Scott Walker's campaign financial situation is a lot worse than previously reported.

When Walker ended his 70-day presidential bid, it was reported that he was a million dollars in the red. So he did what he did best, beg for money.

According to his end of the year campaign finance reports, those reports were wildly inaccurate. Per WaPo, Walker was able raise a half million dollars. This money and a million dollars he had left allowed him to pay $1.4 million towards his debt. But he still owes over another million!

The presidential campaign committee of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spent $1.4 million last quarter paying former staff and vendors and refunding excess contributions, leaving him with $1.2 million in debt from his failed White House bid, new Federal Election Commission filings show.

Ah, but there's more. With all things Walker, there's always more.

Records also indicated that he used his gubernatorial campaign to help out his presidential one - to the tune of $14,682.

On top of that, Walker has decided that Wisconsin taxpayers will also help pay for his failed campaign by refusing to fully reimburse the state for the costs of his security team's travel expenses:

State officials also said Friday that in the future, Walker's political operations will no longer reimburse state taxpayers for his security team's travel expenses.

Walker's political operations have reimbursed state taxpayers $260,000 to cover hotel stays, airfare and other travel expenses last year for his security team. But in the future, taxpayers will have to pay such costs when state troopers accompany Walker on political trips, said Jim Dick, a spokesman for the state Department of Administration.

Walker decided last year to have his political operations pick up some of those costs while he crisscrossed the country and traveled overseas as he explored and launched his presidential campaign.

So, Walker is unable to raise enough money to pay off his reckless spending and now is going to stiff the taxpayers with them. Nice!

It's no wonder that Walker's approval rating is still stuck at 38%. Well, actually, it is. I'm surprised it's not lower.

Ron Johnson Won't Self-Finance 2016 Campaign Just Like He Didn't In 2010

US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) was recently on C-SPAN where he said that he would not self-finance his 2016 campaign for reelection:

When Sen. Ron Johnson seeks re-election in 2016, don't look for the Wisconsin Republican to open his own checkbook this time around.

Johnson said on C-SPAN that he's not going to self-finance another campaign.

"I made my $9 million investment in this country," Johnson said Wednesday. "I gave it once, I don't think I should do it again."

RoJo has obviously forgotten that he didn't self-finance his 2010 campaign either

His company, Pacur, financed it:

After dropping nearly $9 million from his own pocket to win a seat in the U.S. Senate, Ron Johnson didn't have to feel the pain for very long.

Johnson's plastics company paid him $10 million in deferred compensation shortly before he was sworn in as Wisconsin's junior senator, according to his latest financial disclosure report.

The first-term Republican declined to say how his Oshkosh firm, Pacur, came up with a figure that so closely mirrored the amount he personally put into his campaign fund.

"You take a look in terms of what would be a reasonable compensation package, OK?" Johnson said this week. "It's a private business. I've complied with all the disclosure laws, and I don't have to explain it any further to someone like you."

[...]

Unlike most deferred package deals, however, it appears that the company had not set aside a specified amount annually that would be paid out when he left the firm. Instead, Johnson said the $10 million payment was "an agreed-upon amount" that was determined at the end of his tenure with the company.

Agreed upon with whom?

"That would be me," he said.

Still, Johnson said he couldn't see why anyone would raise any questions about the going-away present he gave himself. His LLC now owns only 5% of Pacur.

Even that is not completely accurate.

Pacur was actually created by RoJo's father-in-law as a supplier to his other company, Curwood. RoJo married into his job.

Furthermore, RoJo was pretty dependent on government loans and HUD grants to keep his company going.

But thanks to the Citizens United decision, it is without doubt that RoJo is counting on the dark money special interest groups to support his campaign for being such a good water carrier for them during his term, so he won't need to tap into his business' coffers to support another race.

Cross posted at Crooks and Liars.

Another Walker Campaign Finance Report, Another Slew Of Violations Of The Law

From the good folks at One Wisconsin Now:

Since 2009, Walker Violated State Campaign Finance Disclosure Law Over 7,500 Times

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's latest campaign finance filing fails to disclose employment information, as required by state law, for 240 large contributions, according to an analysis by One Wisconsin Now. Going back to 2009, when Walker began his run for Governor in earnest, his reports have failed to disclose legally required employer information for 7,512 big money donors giving over $100 totaling $2,330,197.98 in contributions.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross commented, "We're not just talking about one instance of sloppy bookkeeping here. Gov. Walker has a long and well-established pattern of complete and utter contempt for following the law when it comes to disclosing the required information about the big money givers footing the bill for him to pursue his political ambitions."

Wisconsin State Statute section 11.06(1)(b) requires candidates and officeholders disclose, "The occupation and name and address of the principal place of employment, if any, of each individual contributor whose cumulative contributions for the calendar year are in excess of $100," on their campaign finance reports. One Wisconsin Now has filed a complaint with the state Government Accountability Board against the Walker campaign for its violations of this statute.

A table summarizing the instances since 2009 in which Gov. Walker has failed to abide by this requirement can be seen below, and a copy of One Wisconsin Now's complaint with the Government Accountability Board can be found here:
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/files/20130808085351.pdf

Make sure you read the whole press release and their findings.

You would think a lifelong career politician like Walker would finally get it right one of these days.  Well, then again, we are talking about Scott Walker...

$20,000? What $20,000? Oh, That $20,000!

We already know that Justice Patience Roggensack likes to associate with ne'er-do-wells like David Prosser, Michael Gableman and Annette Ziegler.

We also know that she likes to turn a blind eye when one of her thug buddies gets into trouble, even though it's her duty as a Supreme Court Justice not to.

We learned at the end of last week that Roggensack has already been bought and paid for when the campaign financial reports came out:

In her campaign, Roggensack has highlighted the importance of a nonpartisan Supreme Court, but her report showed she took in more than $9,000 from political committees affiliated with the Republican Party. That accounts for more than a quarter of the $34,460 she raised in the second half of 2012.

That's not surprising, but it's not good either.  It's also not accurate.

The truth is she's trying to sell her seat, and her willingness to keep turning a blind eye, to the highest bidders, er, campaign donors.  Right now, that would be the people that want to profiteer off of our kids:

A report by the Fund for Parent Choice filed Thursday shows voucher supporters gave Roggensack $20,550 on Dec. 27. Among those contributing were members of the DeVos and Walton families that have been prominent in the voucher movement nationally.

The donations come at a time when Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature are considering expanding school voucher programs.

The donations did not show up on the report Roggensack filed Thursday. Campaign consultant Brandon Scholz said the campaign did not receive the donations until Jan. 2 -- after the latest reporting period ended -- because offices were closed some of the days over the holidays.

He said the donations would show up on Roggensack's next report, to be filed Feb. 11.

Well, that sure seems like a rational explanation. I'm sure anyone that doesn't follow politics might even buy it.

But with the end of the year being the end of the reporting cycle, most campaigns were making a big push to get those last minute campaign donations to make it look like their candidate was ever so popular.  (Although I'm not even sure that story line holds true anymore since everyone knows that the special interests are pouring money into the races now.)

Scholz would have been better off just saying that Roggensack had stuck that wad of cash in her other robe and forgot about it over the holidays.

The more we are learning of Roggensack, the less patience I have for her and her corruption.

Did Tommy Thompson Illegally Delay Reporting Donation From Troubled Medical Supply Company?

Just last week, I reported how Tommy Thompson, and his son, Jason, had gained some significant lucre from a troubled medical supply company that harmed thousands of women.

For "volunteering" to be on the board of C.R. Bard company, Thompson got about $130,000 in stock options. C.R. Bard is a medical supply company that has paid out $184 million in fines and damages for faulty mesh implants. I have also learned that C.R. Bard and its subsidiaries have outsourced nearly 1,300 jobs since 1994.

Now, after receiving all this money and despite the harm they have caused to innocent victims and outsourcing all those jobs, Thompson has been pushing for massive tax breaks for C.R. Bard.

Pretty bad stuff, right? But as readers of Cog Dis already know, when it comes to the Republicans, there's more. There's always more.

On, September 21, 2012, C.R. Bard made a generous donation of $5,000 to Thompson's campaign, as shown by their report to the Federal Election Commission, which I've also taken a screen shot of for the gentle reader's convenience:

Gee, thanks a lot Citizens United for drowning out the people's voice.

Thompson's campaign recorded and reported the donation on October 30, 2012, per their financial report:

Thompson 48 Hr Report - CR Bard


And therein lies Thompson's problem. You see, by federal election laws, Thompson was required to record and report this donation within ten days of receipt:

Deposit of receipts and disbursements (2 U.S.C. 432(h)(1)).

(a) All receipts by a political committee shall be deposited in account(s) established pursuant to 11 CFR 103.2, except that any contribution may be, within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt, returned to the contributor without being deposited. The treasurer of the committee shall be responsible for making such deposits. All deposits shall be made within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt. A committee shall make all disbursements by check or similar drafts drawn on an account at its designated campaign depository, except for expenditures of $100 or less made from a petty cash fund maintained pursuant to 11 CFR 102.11. Funds may be transferred from the depository for investment purposes, but shall be returned to the depository before such funds are used to make expenditures.

In summary, Thompson tried to skirt the law by illegally delaying the reporting of the campaign donation he received from a company which has made obscene profits by pushing faulty products on thousands of innocent and unsuspecting victims, and which has outsourced so many American jobs. He probably did not want to draw further attention to the way he also profited from their maleficent actions or how he is advocating for this company to get even bigger tax breaks than they already have.

Another thing that Thompson doesn't want Wisconsin voters to know is how cozy he is with so many lobbyists, as Steve Hanson reports.

The choice is clear. You can vote for Baldwin, who will stand up for Wisconsin and against special corporate interests, or you can vote for Thompson who will sell out Wisconsin to the special corporate interests.

Ryan Launches October Surprise -- On Himself

In big elections like this year's, people - well, okay, politically geeky people - are often speculating on what the "October surprise" is going to be. October surprises are generally used to discredit a candidate's opponent just before an election.

However, Paul Ryan sprung an October surprise on himself as well as his running mate.

Hunter Walker at Politicker broke the story and has all the details, but the gist of the story is that Ryan may have spent some of his congressional campaign funding on activities related to his national campaign as the Republican nominee for Vice-President. But that is only one of the problems that they found with Ryan's campaign:

We asked Mr. Seifert for more specific details about who used the rooms, but he hasn’t responded to that request. After reviewing his email, we also noticed that the $4,183.20 was identified in the Ryan campaign’s disclosure report as having been spent at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, while the Wisconsin delegation was staying in a different hotel operated by the same chain, the Hyatt Regency Tampa. Based on their own disclosure reports Mr. Seifert’s claim Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign purchased rooms at the hotel where the Wisconsin delegation was staying is untrue. Mr. Seifert has also not responded to a request asking for an explanation of this discrepancy.

While it may be theoretically possible the as-yet-unidentified “other staff members” from Ryan’s congressional campaign did in fact use the rooms, it is doubtful so many people were integral to his re-election bid. Additionally, paying for guests or essential staffers to attend the convention simply to view Mr. Ryan’s speeches, which were part of his national campaign for the vice presidency, would seem to constitute a clear violation. For example, there was no mention whatsoever of Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign in his keynote speech.

Since we began working on this story, Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign released a new financial disclosure report covering the period from October 1 through October 17. That report contained an additional expense that appears to be connected to the convention. At the start of the month, Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign paid $16,411.36 for “rooms for national convention.” The payment was listed as going both to a Virginia-based consulting firm called the Townsend Group and to the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel. The Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel is approximately six miles from the RNC and, based on Mr. Seifert’s descriptions, would not seem to have been associated with the Ryan for Congress hospitality suite or “beer and brats” event, which were both located at the site of the RNC. Mr. Seifert has not responded to a request for information about this expense. We also reached out to the hotel and the Townsend Group, but, as of this writing, we have not received a response.

Jerry Goldfeder is an attorney with the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP who specializes in election and campaign finance law. We detailed the convention expenditures made by Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign to Mr. Goldfeder and asked whether he thought it seemed like a potentially improper use of campaign funds.

“It sounds as if he used congressional campaign funds for national campaign purposes and that’s highly problematic,” Mr. Goldfeder said.

The FEC typically investigates possible campaign finance violations only after receiving a complaint. We also asked Mr. Goldfeder whether he thought the RNC spending by Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign would be investigated by the commission.

“If they see it, they will,” he said.

Perhaps the person most likely to file an FEC complaint in this instance would be Rob Zerban, Mr. Ryan’s Democratic opponent in his House race. When we informed T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for the Zerban campaign, about our findings, he said they would wait until they had more information about the situation to file an official complaint. However, he characterized the situation as part of a “pattern of dishonesty” on Mr. Ryan’s part.

“It’s definitely something that is troubling to us,” he said. “It’s not surprising to us given, Paul Ryan’s overarching pattern of dishonesty in this race, that something like this could pop up, but we’re going to wait until we have all the details before we rush to judgment or jump to file a claim.”

Mr. Helmstetter also pointed out that Mr. Ryan has faced allegations that his television ads in the race, which do not all specifically mention his congressional campaign, constitute improper use of campaign funds. He said both the issue of the commercials and the RNC spending raise “very important” questions.

“I think these questions are very important and the Ryan campaign needs to answer them,” said Mr. Helmstetter.

And remember, Ryan is supposed to be one of the smarter Republicans.

If this story grows legs, just ten days out from the election, it could spell big trouble for both of Ryan's races. Obviously, this is something that Ryan doesn't want to become common knowledge because of the negative impact it would have for him.

So let's help him out by making sure we tell everyone.

Scott Walker: Tax Delinquent

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the news that Scott Walker's campaign was pinged for not paying taxes.

But not just any taxes, but their unemployment compensation taxes.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin issued an quick press release on Walker's scofflaw nature:

"Scott Walker touts himself as an able CEO, and yet we have seen his campaigns run in a shabby, undisciplined and even criminal way," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Wednesday. "It is significant for the rest of the citizens of Wisconsin who play by the rules. Still, being a tax delinquent may be the least of Scott Walker's problems with authorities."

But there are some things that neither Bice nor Tate covered that I feel is pertinent.

First of all, Walker has collected millions of dollars in his extended unlimited money grab (with a big part of it coming from out of state). With all that money, he couldn't afford to pay his taxes?

And of course, it had to be unemployment compensation, like his policies haven't already caused enough problems with six consecutive months of losing jobs and then delaying unemployment compensation checks for the poor people victimized by Walker's maleficence.

I also recall that Walker claims that he had to replace his campaign treasurer of 18 years, John Hiller, because he didn't think Hiller was up to the job anymore.  So how's that new treasurer working out for ya, Scott?

Of course, that there would be something untoward and even illegal going on with Walker's campaign, it is nothing we didn't already know.

Walker's Leash Is A Long One

The first batch of campaign finance numbers are in for the Walker recall.  They portray a very telling picture of exactly who Walker is representing, and let me tell you this, it's not the people of Wisconsin.

With a tip of the hat to Scot Ross and the good folks at One Wisconsin Now for doing the ciphering for us, here's how it breaks down:

Walker/RPW raked in $5.7 million.
United Wisconsin/DPW took in $1.48 million.

Walker/RPW had 46% ($2.6.35 million) come from outside of Wisconsin.
United Wisconsin/DPW had only 27% ($408,000) come from outside of Wisconsin.

In other words, Walker and the RPW took in $2.27 million dollars of out of state money (read: Koch Brothers) more than the recall effort.

Just as telling is who some of the other people that Walker got the money from, including $250,000 from swiftboater Bob Perry, $205,500 from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein who are beneficiaries of Walker's pay-for-play style of leadership (and I use the term leadership very loosely) and $20,000 from H. Ross "Sucking Sound" Perot, nationally known nut job.

I'm not sure which end of the Walker's leash is scarier.

Yet Walker still expects us to believe it's the people of Wisconsin that are the outside agitators.

It's been so long since Walker has told the truth about anything, I don't know if he even knows what the truth is anymore.

EXCLUSIVE: Privacy Flaw In Campaign Donation System

Miserable Hacks, er, I mean, Media Trackers put a blogpost last week in which they found "a serious flaw" in the recall signature campaign.  The flaw is that anyone could access some of a signer's personal information, such as their name, address and phone number.

What they don't tell you is that this is true anytime you sign a political petition, whether it's for the recall or for nomination papers or to show support for or against any given bill.

But in a Cog Dis exclusive, we found that donating to Scott Walker's recall defense fund has an even greater flaw than the one hyped by Media Trackers.

When a person donates to Walker's defense fund, or his campaign fund at any time, that person exposes not only their name and address, but also their employer's name.  Now any evil-doers would know not only where you live but also where you work! There is no place where you'd be safe.

And as if to aid and abet these could-be trouble makers, the State of Wisconsin makes it so that they can get your information online, from the comforts of their own home!  All one would have to do is access the database at the Governmental Accountability Board.  Heck, the same information is even available at non-governmental sites such as the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Now, the above was written in a satirical frame of mind.  But the following should scare you, whether you've signed a petition or not and whether you've ever made a campaign donation or not.

Even if you're apolitical, your information could be made publicly available.  And not just your name or address, but even confidential information, including social security numbers or personal health issues that you may have received aid for.

And before you blow that off as some sort of partisan hype, I would simply point out that Walker has done it before, as Milwaukee County Executive.  Via Cory Liebmann, we find that Walker had released sensitive data for up to 180,000 cases to his collaborating attack dogs, the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government.  And he released this very private information, which included things that are protected from even the Open Records laws, without even charging a dime.

Now that Walker's is in charge of all the state's information, who's to say what he's already released and to whom?  I know I'm very uncomfortable with the thought that he could have released my records to people like the Koch Brothers or the Bradley Foundation (or any of their many, many front groups).

Some "Revealing" Facts About Walker's Donors

Greg Kowalski, aka Mr. Franklin, thought he'd do a little research into who from his hometown of Franklin, WI, was donating to Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign ahead of a stop Walker has scheduled tomorrow.*

Kowalski's findings were, shall we say, rather revealing.

Walker has received over $1500 from the Hay family (Gerald, Sandra and Danny E.), who all happen to be in ownership of and work at "On The Border" strip club.**

But there's more.

Kowalski also found this tidbit about Sandra Hay:

Perhaps I found one of the reasons why: In digging a little deeper on how Sandra Hay could be listed as "self employed" by "self", I came across an article from the Chicago Breaking News Center, which is a news collaboration of the Chicago Tribune, CLTV & WGN. The article focuses on a controversial methadone clinic in Waukegan, which Mrs. Hay was a co-owner, that closed last year after a death prompted Illinois authorities to inspect the clinic. The article reports that the business likely closed due to the strong possibility of its license being revoked after it did "very poorly" on those inspections. Towards the end of the article, published August 25, 2009, it noted Hay's ownership of On the Border and that IL authorities were investigating a possible connection between the club and the clinic. It is unknown if they closed the case.

I would think that Scott Walker just might want to return that tainted money, what with him supposedly being the son of a preacher man and all.

*Rather telling that Walker won't be at Laborfest. But we already know that he doesn't support working men and women.

**Another possible reason why some members of the local talk radio/right wing blogosphere like Walker.

Lubar Campaigns For Benefactor

Sheldon Lubar has again trotted out his tired and inane idea of demolishing the Milwaukee County government. Of course, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Scott Walker are falling all over themselves in promoting this again as well.

I pointed out some nine months ago that this was simply a dumb idea. First of all, it would require a change in state law for this to happen.

But it is also fiscally irresponsible. At a time when every other governmental body is looking to consolidate their services, either through regional cooperation, or by towns contracting with their counties to provide services like law enforcement. The thought of eliminating one umbrella government and splitting up those duties among 22 different governmental bodies (19 municipalities, the state, a regional park authority and a regional transit authority) would only guarantee that taxes would go up, services would be more cumbersome and less efficient, and it does nothing to address the "legacy costs" that already have been incurred by the County.

So why would Lubar, an undeniably successful businessman, suggest such a ludicrous idea, much less blow the dust off of it and bring it up again and again?

James Rowen thinks that it only highlights Walker's failure as County Executive.

One Wisconsin Now takes the same point of view as Rowen, but they add one interesting tidbit:

Each of these massive failures were in part the result of mismanagement or ineptitude by Scott Walker and his administration, yet Sheldon Lubar, a former president and chairman of Charlie Syke's ultra right-wing Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, is putting the blame on the board, workers and unions -- the same groups Walker has scapegoated in budget after budget, and is threatening to continue doing so if elected governor.

And we all know who hold Charlie Sykes' leash.

While I agree with James and the fine people at OWN that Walker is an undeniable failure, I don't think that is why Lubar said what he said.

He's most likely doing it to benefit his benefactor, Scott Walker.

Instead of reading only the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Steve Schultze's lovefest for Walker, I also like to read news from nonpartisan papers, like the Business Journal, who also covered this event. While they covered Lubar's harping on Milwaukee County and praising Barrett's proposal to take over MPS like Schultze did, they reported on one other thing Lubar said:

With regard to promoting economic development through university research, Lubar said the community’s one shot may be the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. The Freshwater Sciences School represents an opportunity for UWM and the city to put its brand on an emerging technological business sector, according to Lubar.

“We have to understand that the real engines of economic development in the world are not generous giveaways by the state, or clever advertising, but the development of outstanding research institutions that persons like Chancellor Carlos Santiago are struggling to accomplish here in Milwaukee,” Lubar said.

This raised a red flag for me, besides the fact that it's ironic that Lubar would complain about "generous giveaways." Lubar is one of the people that would benefit greatly from the proposed school and other land developments (such as a five-star restaurant and a posh hotel) that they want to build on the county grounds, which Walker wants to sell at about one third of its current value. Unfortunately, it appears that Lubar's group is going to still try to ram this irresponsible plan through, regardless of the cost to the ecological wonders there.

I just wonder if Walker's going to list Lubar's speaking fee as an in-kind contribution on his next campaign finance report. Aw, who am I kidding? Walker is never honest on those things.

Yet Another Supervisor In Trouble

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice and John Diedrich have found another county supervisor, this time Toni Clark, in trouble with her campaign finances.

As I mentioned at MCF, this is not the one I expected to be in trouble, so there is probably more on the way.

I also call for a thorough investigation into the campaign finances of all 19 supervisors and the county executive to get rid of these issues once and for all.