Walker Continues To Skirt Campaign Finance Laws

A couple of months ago, a watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding Scott Walker's 527 group, Our American Revival, accusing Walker of using the group to skirt campaign finance laws:

The American Democracy Legal Fund released a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission saying Walker “is testing the waters for a campaign for president of the United States,” and using his 527 political group, Our American Revival, “as his exploratory committee, and in doing so is raising and spending funds that are beyond the contribution limits and source restrictions of the Federal Election Campaign Act.”

Citing press reports, the complaint says Walker’s group received at least two donations of $25,000 and $100,000. Individual contributions to an exploratory committee are limited to $2,700, the complaint states.

Apparently, this isn't the only way Walker's trying to get around campaign finance laws.

Right wing blogger and disgraced Marquette University professor John McAdams has a post up which includes links to two fundraising emails he received from Friends of Scott Walker, Walker's state-based campaign.

The emails are Walker trying to raise funds by carping about Obamacare and boasting about voter suppression.

McAdams notes something interesting about the two emails - they were sent via Mitt Romney's email list from his failed presidential bid in 2012.  At the bottom of each email reads this disclaimer:

"This email was sent by: Romney for President Inc. 500 Cummings Center, Suite 4400, Beverly, MA 01915

This message reflects the opinions and representations of Friends for Scott Walker, and is not an endorsement of Mitt Romney. "

It will be interesting to see if Romney sold his email list to any of the other GOP presidential wannabes. Somehow, I'm thinking not.

It is obvious that Walker is sending these emails out nationwide to raise money for his presidential bid.

In the email regarding voter suppression, Walker writes "By supporting my campaign, you will say in a loud, clear, conservative voice that Big Government's days will soon be over."

And in the email where he's complaining that people are actually getting health care coverage, Walker wrote: "I am convinced we need to shake up the status quo and shrink Washington."

Hmm, what odd things for a governor to say, although they would make perfect sense if they came from a presidential candidate.

But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.  We all know that Walker's hunger for money and power are all consuming and he has shown on multiple occasions that he has no qualms about breaking the law to obtain more of either of those things.

Lastly, another odd thing I noted about those emails was the image that he chose to use:

Not only did he pick a picture from 20 years ago, he is distancing himself from the Republican Party.  It makes one wonder if he knows he is a long shot and is considering the possibility of running as an independent or Tea Party candidate.

Jessie For Assembly

Not all political campaigns are created equal.  Some are better than others.

Whatever you think of the man or his policies, an objective, honest person would have to admit that President Barack Obama had run two very effective campaigns.

Likewise, there are people like Scott Kenneth Noble who would be able to campaign their way out of a paper bag even if they had a map.

There is another campaign, although only days old, that is showing that it could be one of the worst campaigns if it doesn't prove to be too forgettable.

The candidate is Jessie Rodriguez, the wife of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blargher Aaron Rodriguez, aka The Red Fox, Hispanicon and A-Rod. (Not to be confused with the PED-using ball player - the local A-Rod could never hit one out of the park, no matter what).  Jessie is running for Assembly District 21, whose seat is being vacated by the retiring Mark Honadel who was snubbed by Scott Walker but still wants his slice of the pie and thus is going into lobbying or something.

So even as she hits the ground running, she is disadvantaged with the craziness of her husband.  Aaron Rodriguez has such claims to fame as:

• Claiming that one should listen to what Scott Walker said he said and not actually what he said.
• Either lying about knowing facts regarding Walkergate or knowing about the criminal activities and doing nothing about it.
• Being one of Chris Abele's ghost writers.

Unfortunately for Jessie, it looks like she might be using her husband as her campaign manager.

If one looks at her Facebook campaign page, the first thing one might notice is that it's rather stark:

Click to embiggen

The second thing one might notice is that it doesn't even give her last name.  How is anyone supposed to know who she is. Thirdly, the page is missing any "paid for by" information.  Who is running her campaign? No one knows.

If you check her "About" page, one will find that it also doesn't include the "paid for by" information.  But it does show she's as whackadoodle as her husband:

Again, click to embiggen

Yes, she really said that the state was moving in the right direction on job creation and education.  

On the bright side, she's already gotten the support of such winners like Dan Sebring, whose running for the umpteenth time against Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Chris Abele's very own personally bought and paid for supervisor, Deanna "Purple Unicorns" Alexander.

After several minutes of searching, I did manage to find Jessie's campaign website, which is most definitely not ready for prime time yet:

Now, as I've stated at the beginning, this campaign is only a few days old, but with her loadstone of a husband and the apparent lack of knowledge of whoever is running her campaign, I hope she hasn't gotten her sights set too high for this campaign.

Scott Kenneth Noble's Troubled and Troubling Campaign

Now that Scott Suder has been given his thirty pieces of silver for betraying the citizens of Wisconsin and has vacated his seat in the state senate to further do the biddings of his corporate overlords, that leaves his seat wide open for a special election.

To the best of my knowledge, there are three Republicans running to replace him, even though no formal announcement has been made.

Well, that's not exactly right.

There are two Republicans and one really troubled and troubling Teapublican.

That Teapublican is Scott Kenneth Noble.

The gentle reader might recall Noble from last year when he ran unsuccessfully against State Senator Julie Lassa.  One of the reasons he was so unsuccessful was that he had the slob Glenn Grothman endorsing him - while drinking in a bar.  Or it could be he was one of those idiots that wanted to go through the illegal act of nullification of Obamacare.  Poor people - especially them minorities - getting health care is against all he believes in or something like that.

Or maybe he lost on account of his boorish and rude behavior, as told in this eyewitness account (the person's name shall remain anonymous for fear of retaliation):

Well, the chair of the Wautoma school Board had organized the forum, but he has better known for his job as the Waushara County Sheriff. The moderator of the event was Guy Dutcher, who was better known as Circuit Court Judge Dutcher
In the middle of the forum Scott Noble started attacking Julie Lassa and he was told by the moderator/Judge to stop. Then Scott Noble started arguing with the judge. For a while I thought we might see Noble get arrested because he was a furious deep red and kept yelling at the judge.

Judge Dutcher was not going to let that go and he finally read Noble the riot act. Noble realized that he could get in real trouble with Dutcher so he finally shut up and sat down.

Afterwards, Noble was also rude beyond belief and refused to shake hands.

After losing to Lassa, Noble went back on the campaign trail, this time running for the local school board.  If you have a strong stomach and a strong mind and a half hour of your life you don't care how badly it gets wasted, you can watch this interview of Noble, where even the interviewers (one of which is a former professor of Noble's) making him look like a chump.

He came in a distant third in that race.

But now Noble wants to run for Suder's seat. He's already got himself a campaign manager as noted from this email:

Hey Patriot,

I'm in, that's right i'm [sic] all in!

You might have heard that Representative Scott Suder has announced he will be taking a position with the Public Service Commission?

What this means is that his Assembly seat will be up for a special election very shortly.

A very good friend of mine, Scott Noble called me up and asked me to be his Campaign Manager!

I must say it is a great honor to be asked by a man that has fought along side me in the fight for liberty and freedom.

Scott Noble is a grassroots Tea Party Liberty Republican if there ever was one. He is exactly what you and I are looking for in the legislature.

And we must get him elected, this is the best opportunity you and I will have to get a Liberty Republican elected in Wisconsin.

The problem though is that two establishment Republicans have already announced for this race.

This means that at a minimum this will be a three way primary but there are rumors of another candidate which would make it a four way.

If you and I are going to win this race we are going to need to raise enough money to run the type of campaign that it will take to win.

Now, I have the plan laid out but I need you to help me execute it.

Can I count on you? Will you click here right now to chip in $5 or $10 to help us win this campaign? $500 is the legal maximum.

The establishment candidates will be pulling in donations from their big wig supporters I am sure.

Our campaign will rely on grassroots supporters like you to win.

I know that if we come together from around the state we will win, but only if we come together.

Please dig deep, then click here to donate as much as you can.

This is the chance you and I have been looking for. A chance to elect a Liberty Republican to the Assembly.

Scott Noble will fight for you to ensure your freedom and your prosperity are protected.

Help Scott go to Madison to fight for you and the values that make this a great state and a great nation.

Freedom is a Noble Pursuit

In Liberty,

Todd Welch

Campaign Manager
Noble Campaign Committee

P.S. If there ever has been a time to give for Liberty the time is now. Opportunities like this do not come along every day. Click here right now to chip in $5, $10, or more to help me elect Scott Noble."

An interesting thing about Scott Noble is that in the last 7 months hes managed to lose a ton of weight

I wondered who Todd Welch was and found out quickly.

Welch is the head of the Wisconsin chapter of a group called "Campaign for Liberty".

And that is where Noble's problems start.  The problem is not just that Campaign for Liberty is an extremist right wing/Libertarian teahadist group or that Welch is so whackadoodle that even the Republicans don't want him around.  The real problem is that it is a 501(c)4.  Welch shouldn't be involved in a campaign if he is part of 501(c)4.  This is an abuse of the groups tax-exempt status, much like it is with MacIver, Media Trackers and the other propagandist groups.

But that's not all of Noble's problems.  Not by a long shot.

If you look at Noble's website:

or his Facebook page:

You will notice that neither site has the required "paid for by [fill in the blank]" wording that is required.  In other words, who's paying for the sites?

Now some wingnut might try to make the argument that all of these issues are just some misunderstanding, but that is doubtful considering he had gotten slammed for accepting illegal campaign donations at the end of 2012.

I'm not sure which is worse - his outlandish attitude towards the law or his outlandish attitude towards the people.

Either way, we know one thing - Scott Kenneth Noble is not fit for office in any way, shape or form.

Walker Campaign Verifies Their Campaign Fraud

It recently came out that Scott Walker's campaign dropped over $100,000 on an Illinois company to review the recall signatures, although what they got for their money isn't exactly clear:

Gov. Scott Walker's campaign paid more than $100,000 to have recall signatures reviewed by a Chicago consultant that holds private investigator licenses and specializes in anti-corruption operations, among a broad array of other services.

Walker's campaign finance records show he paid a total of $109,255 to Navigant Consulting in November and December.

Walker spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said the firm "provided consulting services to the campaign on the petition collection and verification process," but declined to elaborate.

Mike Tate of the Democratic Party came up with a zinger in his comment on Walker's expenditure:

"When I first heard Scott Walker's campaign was spending money on "anti-corruption" private investigators, I figured he was looking to weed out more criminals from his inner circle," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Friday. "But that Scott Walker, whose top aides and advisers are involved in a criminal corruption probe and who is the first governor in Wisconsin history to require a criminal defense fund, is hiring private investigators isn't even the most ironic part of this story. That the man who is the steward of our tax dollars would spend almost $30,000 per fake signature and whose failed economic policies have Wisconsin leading the nation in job loss continues to hire people from Illinois to work for his campaign and on his criminal defense is even more unbelievable."

I would add a couple of things to this though.

One, it is logical that Walker would do this. After all, he has a long history of sending Wisconsin's money and Wisconsin's jobs to Illinois.

Secondly, it also proves what I've been saying through the whole recall process - he had the money and should be using it instead of taxpayers' money to verify and challenge any of the signatures, as the law reads. But to be fair, I suppose he is trying to save as much as his campaign war chest as he can so that he can get it transferred to his legal cooperation fund.  With the case that they're building up against him and his underlings, he's gonna need every penny he can get.

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).

Was Sensenbrenner Violating Campaign Rules?

Todd Lohenry, of the website "Party of KNOW" (or No or Know-Nothing, if you prefer), has an interesting post up regarding a conversation that allegedly took place between Terri McCormick and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R- Liechtenstein).

The intent of Lohenry's post is obviously to discredit McCormick, who is running for the honor of running against Congressman Steve Kagan. I don't know much about that race and don't really have much to say in support or against McCormick.

What I do find interesting is the document Lohenry provides for his readers. Said document is supposedly some notes that were transcribed by McCormick, or at least by someone using her computer, which detail the course of their conversation.

The document is dated October 3, 2009, which was a Saturday, which was the date the notes were transcribed. Reading further down Lohenry's post, it shows that the notes were written at 5:50 am on that Saturday morning, but the meeting actually had taken place on October 2, 2009, which was, of course, a Friday. Furthermore, the meeting took place from 10:05 am to 10:35 am that Friday, which is safe to assume it was during work hours.

McCormick also notes that the meeting took place in Sensenbrenner's district Congressional office.

So why are the date, time and place relevant? Well, if you read through the notes you can see that McCormick started talking about her bid to run for the 8th Congressional District seat and Sensenbrenner responds in a very negative way, informing her in no uncertain terms that the NRCC will never support her campaign in any way, shape or form.

Now, I don't know all the ins and outs of election laws, but I do know that it is illegal to be campaigning on the government's time or in a government office.

Since Sensenbrenner was talking about campaign issues (even though not his own) and he was on the clock in his office (albeit the local one), it would appear that this was in violation of the law as I understand it.

Perhaps some political wonk could either tell me I am correct in this, or why I am not.