Cindy Archer Loses Again!

By Jeff Simpson

For those that do not remember her, Cindy Archer, was one of Scott Walker's cronies.   Archer was one of the people in Scott Walker's inner circle who was in on the private server that Scott Walker set up in his County Executive office. so the taxpayers of Milwaukee County could pay his campaign staff!  

Archer was also one of the minor minds behind ACT10, but did her best to perpetually play the victim.  However, while she was keeping quiet and covering for her boss - John Doe - Scott Walker, her boss was doing a quid pro quo and kept moving her around, with monster raises, to different Wisconsin Government jobs.  She had to keep moving because she was never qualified for any of them, too long in one place would show her incompetence.

One morning, the police knocked on her door, served a search warrant and seized some of her personal items.   The problem is the main millionaire Eric O'Keefe, is apparently a relative of Doug and Wendy Whiner.  

While O'Keefe was using his money to whine about his treatment all over the country, his gophers like Matt Kittle was repeating the BS.  While the "reporters" who called the John Doe probe a political witch hunt, set back journalism and the truth a millennium, but is the best way to stay employed in the Wisconsin right wing.

Cindy Archer, never one of the brightest bulbs on the tree, actually believed the Kittle propaganda and filed suit against DA John Chisholm and others.    Frivolous lawsuits are like an initiation ritual on the right.

Like frivolous lawsuits do, her suit got tossed out quicker than a doggy bag from Ground Round.

With unlimited cash reserves to take their best shot at punishing anyone who would dare question the WisGop, Archer appealed the dropping of the lawsuit to the 7th Circuit Court,

After a good laugh they also dropped the lawsuit.  However there was one difference here than the lower courts ruling.

   The appeals court on Tuesday agreed with that decision in a ruling that said there was no evidence suggesting Archer's support for Walker played a role in the investigation. The court similarly disagreed with her claims that she was subjected to an illegal search."Unpleasant as the events undoubtedly were, we see nothing objectively unreasonable in what occurred," Wood wrote of the early-morning raid of Archer's home.
Joining Wood in Tuesday's ruling were Judges William Bauer and Ilana Rovner.
Wood was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton; Bauer by Republican President Gerald Ford; and Rovner by Republican President George H.W. Bush.
The judges also sided with a part of Adelman's ruling that allowed the federal court to hang onto documents investigators gathered as part of a probe of Walker's campaign known as John Doe II.
That probe was conducted under the John Doe law that at the time allowed prosecutors to operate in secret and compel targets and witnesses to turn over their records. The state Supreme Court shut down that investigation in 2015, saying nothing illegal had occurred.

Two courts both said we need to keep all of the records of John Doe just in case.   The Bought and Purchased five on the Wisconsin Supreme Court tried to get them to destroy all of the evidence of Scott Walkers criminal wrongdoings.  

Luckily, outside of Wi, there is an actual independent judiciary.

The question is now what is next for CIndy Archer?     WIll she be appointed to another state job, with another raise?   Will she file yet another lawsuit?   Will she retire with her partner off the State Pension she has accrued??    Hopefully she uses her Government supplied healthcare to get her delusions of grandeur taken care of!


PS:  A blast from the past.  It was Cindy Archer that sent an email to Scott Walker and convicted felon Kelly Rindfleisch to fire our very own Capper!   If we could mine irony, we would be the richest state in the Universe.  

John Doe Lives!

As the gentle reader surely remembers, Scott Walker was the subject of not just one, but two, John Doe investigations.

The first investigation was into illegal campaign donations and illegal campaigning while Walker was running for governor the first time. It resulted in six felony convictions of Walker's closest friends, allies and staffers.

The second investigation, which was born of the first one, delved into the illegal collaboration between Walker's campaign and various dark money groups.

The Walker, the other state Republicans and the dark money group, led by the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCfG) have tried anything and everything they could to kill the John Doe investigation, including a coordinated series of lawsuits against the prosecutors. Eventually, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, being as corrupt and beholden to the dark money groups as Walker, ruled against John Doe. They ordered the investigation stopped and that the prosecutors should turn over all their evidence and destroy all the copies thereof.

But one thing that the right wing dark money groups didn't count on was their own greed and overreach.

In another case, former top Walker aide Cindy Archer filed a frivolous lawsuit in federal court against Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and the other prosecutors, claiming they violated her civil rights by investigation the commission of a crime to which she was a party. In what was surely pure coincidence, the lawsuit was funded by WCfG and had the same lawyers as the other anti-John Doe suits.

It was obvious early on that the lawsuit was bogus. Not only were the facts in the case incorrect, but an audio tape of the actual investigation showed that almost every claim she made in her lawsuit was a flat out lie.

On Thursday, The Honorable Lynn Adelman ruled against Archer and her dark money supporters, as he should have:

In his decision, Adelman struck down several charges of Archer and her attorney, including that the warrant executed in her home was improper. He outlined a timeline for the development of both John Doe investigations and noted how conservative advocacy groups launched a "full blown campaign against the investigations and against the defendants," led by Eric O'Keefe at the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

“The plaintiff’s allegation of a lack of probable cause for the search of her home is contradicted by the warrant,” Adelman wrote.

He said the warrant was properly executed and issued by Judge Neal Nettesheim, who concluded investigators had probable cause to search Archer’s home.

Good news indeed. But there's more. There's always more.

Adelman went a step further and really foiled the dark money groups by reversing the Wisconsin Supreme Court in regards to destroying the evidence:

On Thursday, Adelman rejected those claims, and allowed for some of the evidence in the John Doe probes to be preserved with his court. Archer's attorneys had asked for the court to bar Chisholm's investigators from having access to evidence in the John Doe probes. Adelman rejected that request in part, allowing the investigators to file evidence from the second John Doe probe with his court clerk, but said the evidence will remain under seal and not be docketed.

He noted that the order does not violate Wisconsin's Supreme Court order calling for the evidence to be collected and destroyed.

"My order does no more than permit the defendants to provide copies of the relevant materials to the clerk of this court. It does not address the issue of access to the materials or whether the state Supreme Court or this court should decide that issue. Thus, the order does not in any way weaken the state court’s determination that the records should remain secret."

That odor you smell is Walker and his buddies soiling themselves.

Then it just keeps getting better when the reporter, Katelyn Ferral of The Cap Times, listed some of the things Adelman cited in his ruling, which shows just how corrupt things have gotten:

The evidence included:

– emails from Walker’s staff advising him to “[s]tress that donations to WiCFG are not disclosed” and to tell donors “that you can accept corporate donations and it is not reported;”

– a $1 million deposit into WiCFG from Stephen Cohen, founder of SAC Capital Advisers, shortly after Walker was scheduled to meet with an SAC representative;

– a March 2012 email from Walker to his fundraiser stating that “Bruce and Susie Kovner said that they want to give more” and 10 days later a $50,000 check from Bruce Kovner arrived in WiCFG’s account. The check’s memo line read “501c4-Walker;” and

– a 2012 email from Walker’s fundraiser to Walker regarding “meetings to make happen while in Sea Island . . . Paul Singer: Grab him.” A few months later, $250,000 was deposited into WiCFG’s account from Singer.

In the meantime, we are still waiting to see if the Supreme Court of the United States will hear a petition filed by Chisholm, asking them to vacate the state's supreme court's decision. They should since at least two of the justices had benefited greatly from WCfG in their own races.

Folks, make sure you keep a lot of popcorn in stock. This could get real interesting.

Great Scott Walker Quotes

By Jeff Simpson

I found this fun website recently which is a tribute to our very own former Governor, Scott Walker. I am not sure if Mike Huebsch or Cindy Archer are the creators and administrators of the website but one of them has to be.

They count down the Top Ten great quotes from Scott Walker.   Here is a sampling:




"I hate big Government, " says Scott Walker who ordered his personal police force to arrest anyone who sang or held a sign inside the publicly funded Capitol building.  These illegal and Unconstitutional actions just cost the taxpayers over $245,000 in legal fees.

"I really hate Government that does not work." says Scott Walker, who spent 1 day in Wisconsin in July(for our friends at RightWisconsin, there are 31 days in July).

" So when they say we either have to raise taxes or cut services, it's actually a false choice." says the Governor who has to delay major road work projects in Wisconsin because we do not have the money, thus costing Wisconsin taxpayers over $160 Million wasted dollars.

But wait there is more!




Says the Governor who was Chairman of the Board of his signature "jobs"agency, where he gave out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to donors and received little to nothing in return.

Those are definitely some great quotes, but more along the lines of why he crashed and burned in his miserable attempt to be the next President of the US, not in terms of his poorly perceived competence as a legislator/Governor.

How Scott Walker Caused The John Doe Investigation

As I recently wrote, Cindy Archer, a long time aide and friend to Scott Walker, had filed a frivolous lawsuit regarding the John Doe investigation into Walker and his gang of crooks.

Walker is probably really wishing that Archer never filed that lawsuit because not only did she get burned by it, but Walker is being dragged down with her.

But first a little backstory.

When Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, he started a thinly-veiled campaign stunt he called "Operation Freedom." "Operation Freedom" was supposed to be a charity fund that Walker used to honor veterans by giving them and their families a free day at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Despite it supposedly being for the veterans, Walker used the opportunity to tell people how great he was.

In 2008, a Walker aide noticed that there was money missing from the fund. Walker sent his then Chief of Staff, Tom Nardelli, to the District Attorney's office to file a complaint and ask for an investigation.

Eventually, two Walker aides, Kevin Kavanaugh and Tim Russell, were charged, tried and convicted for embezzling money from the fund. (Some of the money Russell stole from the fund went to pay for Walker's campaign websites.)

During Russell's trial, an interesting tidbit came up. The John Doe investigation was originally started when Walker started stonewalling the investigation that he originally asked for:

Milwaukee County prosecutors opened the secret John Doe criminal investigation more than two years ago after being stonewalled by Gov. Scott Walker's office when he was county executive, according to a newly released record.

The document appears to cast doubt on some of Walker's claims about his role in launching and cooperating with the investigation.

On May 5, 2010, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf filed a petition with court officials asking if his office could initiate a secret investigation into what happened with $11,000 in donations intended for Operation Freedom, an annual event honoring veterans.

By making it a secret John Doe investigation, Landgraf wrote that prosecutors might get better cooperation from Walker's office, which had been "unwilling or unable" to turn over records and information needed in the investigation. He said he would need to subpoena county records and officials.

"It may be the County Executive's Office is reluctant to provide information to investigators due to a fear of political embarrassment," Landgraf wrote, noting that Walker was then running for governor.

Well, it might be. Or it might be they were getting awfully nervous about what the DA's office was looking for.

Which brings up to Archer's lawsuit.

In their response to Archer's lawsuit, the John Doe investigators confirmed that Walker was indeed trying to obstruct the investigation that he had asked for:

On Friday, two of the defendants, chief investigator David Budde and investigator Robert Stelter, filed a response. In it, they reaffirmed that the John Doe investigation began after one of Walker’s top staff reported funds missing from “Operation Freedom,” an annual event held by Walker’s office to thank veterans for their military service.

They said the secret probe was necessary only because Walker’s office “was uncooperative and obstructed the District Attorney’s Office’s efforts to obtain documentation of the County’s receipt and disbursement of donations from Operation Freedom.”

“As a consequence, the District Attorney’s Office was forced to petition a John Doe proceeding in order to have legal mechanisms to obtain relevant documentation from the County Executive’s Office,” they argued.

While the John Doe investigation known as Walkergate was originally started to investigation into the theft from the veterans/campaign fund, it quickly expanded as investigators found evidence of illegal politicking, illegal donations and bid rigging.

Investigators also found evidence of the illegal collaboration between Walker and dark money groups like Wisconsin Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity.

Is it any wonder why Walker and his dark money masters went all out to kill the investigation?

Fortunatley, while they might have stopped the investigation - at least on the state level - but they cannot conceal the depth of their corruption.

Former Walker Aide Gets Slammed In Her Own Lawsuit

Leading into the week of the first GOP presidential debate, Scott Walker had a visit from an old friend he hoped to never see again - John Doe.

At the beginning of July, Walker's long time aide and right hand woman, Cindy Archer, filed a frivolous lawsuit against the Milwaukee County District Attorney, claiming her rights were being violated by being investigated for the illegal politicking she took part of during Walker's stint as Milwaukee County Executive.

Archer claimed in her lawsuit that she was the victim of District Attorney John Chisholm's alleged vendetta against Walker for his passage of Act 10, which stripped public sector workers of their rights and pay. She also claimed that the investigation had cost her a high level job in the Walker administration.

The lawsuit and Archer's claims are ridiculous. For one thing, the lawsuit started long before Walker was even elected much less dropped is fiscal bomb on the state. Secondly, the emails released from the investigation showed that Archer's hands were as dirty as anyone's. The most notable one is where she welcomed fellow Walker aide, Kelly Rindfleisch, to the secret email system and to Walker's "inner circle."

On Friday, the investigators from the DA's office filed their response to the lawsuit, much to Archer's and Walker's chagrin.

In their response, they point out that Archer was indeed under criminal investigation for illegal politicking and for trying to arrange a sweetheart deal where the county would rent some property being represented by John Hiller, Walker's then campaign treasurer. That pretty much wipes out Archer's claims of innocence. Just because she wasn't charged doesn't mean she didn't do it.

Archer's claims that the investigation caused her to lose her job might have a twisted sense of merit to it. Her being a target of the investigation probably didn't cost her high level position, per se. It was more likely that it was that she was trying to strike a deal with the DA's office to rat Walker and her fellow henchmen out.

Walker is probably starting to drink Pepto Bismal by the gallon by now. Not only is he down in the polls, but to have people reminded of his corruption leading into the first GOP presidential debate will make him ripe as a target.

On top of all that, as well know, when it comes to all things Walker, there's more. There's always more.

Scott Walker Plays Good Despot, Bad Despot

It is not news that Scott Walker, due to his complete lack of anything even remotely resembling leadership skills, has a propensity to lavishly reward benefactors and loyalists while retaliating against those who oppose his regime.  What is news is that he is continues to do so very blatantly and egregiously.

As an example of the former, we recently saw how Walker violated civil service codes by rewarding long time loyal vassal, Cindy Archer, by appointing her to a position that she is not only unqualified for, but for one that she did not even apply for, much less end up as a finalist.

As it turns out, and as we should have expected, there is more.  There is always more.

It turns out that not only was Archer appointed to a position she had not applied for and given a pay rate that was 31% higher than her predecessor but that pay was above the top pay for that job.

Adding to the fun, the person who is claiming to have hired Archer for the job is Kelli Thompson, daughter of former governor TOMMY!!! Thompson.

In other words, we have a political appointee taking the fall for the hiring of another political appointee at a pay level way above where it should be and in violation of the civil service code.  I would not be surprised if Thompson finds herself on the receiving end of huge raise in the not too distant future.

What would surprise - and disappoint - me if no one files and ethics complaint and/or grievance about this stunt.

Then again, they might be afraid to.  As I noted above, as much as Walker is generous to his faithful servants, he is very maleficent to those who stand against him or fail to please him.

This was evidenced by the way he retaliated against several people across the state after having his way bought through the recall election.  And let us not forget how easily he finds it to through people under the campaign bus as he did to Taylor Palmisano, whose only crime was to let her name be put on the infamous Black Friday fundraiser email.

Attorney Frank Gimbel might be the latest victim of Walker's pettiness:

Gimbel has served on the board since 1994. He was first appointed by then Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and was reappointed by three successive governors every three years.

In 22012, his appointment to the board expired, but Walker did not act on it. In a letter Gimbel sent the governor's office in June 2013, he asked Walker to either reappoint him, or name someone else to replace him.

Walker did neither until recently, naming James C. Kaminski, who had been serving an expired term on the board. Kaminski had previously been a Barrett appointee. He now is a Walker appointee.

Given Walker's pattern of punishing those who disappoint him, being the petty despot that he is, it is not a great leap of imagination to believe that Walker was upset with Gimbel, who is the attorney that represented Kelly Rindfleisch in the Walkergate trial and is representing her in her appeal.

 Not only was Rindfleisch convicted for illegal politicking while working for Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive, but it was because of her appeal that a lot of damaging and damning documents were released, including the racist jokes that Walker's people often shared or the way they tried to cover up the problems with the O'Donnell Park tragedy and the devastation of the mental health system.

Cindy Archer Gets Another New Job

A couple of days ago, my Brother in Blogging, Jeff Simpson, pointed out that Cindy Archer, long time aide to Scott Walker, just got a new job.  Not only did she get a new job but she got the job without applying for it, interviewing it or being among the finalists for the job.  And not only did she have this job handed to her, she also got a huge raise, 31% higher than what her predecessor got paid.

However, Jeff did make one mistake and omitted a few things.  Jeff titled his post "Cindy Archer - Part Deux."  He should have named it "Cindy Archer - Part Quattro."

When her boss was able to con the majority of the people of Wisconsin into voting for him, Walker took Archer along with him to Madison, making her a deputy secretary in the Department of Administration.  Her pay was $124,000 in this position.

Not only did Archer land this high-paying, cushy job, but she was instrumental in many facets of Walker's early days.  Not only was she instrumental in the dropping of the Act 10 bomb, but was also ironically named to the fraud commission.  (There are no reports that she turned herself or Walker into the commission for their fraud and waste.)

Archer suddenly left her job for reported medical reasons.  But there were no worries for her.

She came back to a guaranteed job in the Department of Children and Families.  And yes, even though it was less money than she had been making in the Department of Administration, it was unbelievably higher than that of her predecessor in that job:

Now, documents provided by the state show she actually was already hired a day earlier on Aug. 18 to a $99,449-a-year job in the Department of Children and Families, as the department's legislative liaison, according to a letter released Friday from Eloise Anderson, who heads the department. Her appointment to the new job was effective Aug. 20. Anderson's letter says Archer would be "performing duties as prescribed by this office."

Whether she's drawing it yet or not, Archer's new salary is about 61% more than the last person to hold the position. Kimberly L. Collins, who held the same liaison job until May, was paid $61,859 in 2010, according to state figures.

Last summer, Archer jumped jobs again, this time going to the Public Defender's Office, where she was again making six figures:

Cindy Archer, a key cabinet member on Walker's county staff, is set to start a new six-figure job with the state on Monday.

Archer — who has bounced around the Walker administration for the past 21/2 years — beat out more than two dozen other candidates to be named an administrative services director at the state Public Defender's Office. She will be paid $101,510 a year.

And now, less than one year later, she was literally given this new job.with its hefty pay hike.  I guess Walker just couldn't wait until he demolished the civil service code before he started trouncing all over it.

Walker is trying to claim that Archer got the job on merit and her knowledge of the arcane computer system.  Critics are decrying the move as Walker's typical cronyism.  Some have said that it is pay off to buy Archer's continued silence in the Walkergate investigations.

All three arguments have their merits.

Walker's blatant cronyism is well documented.

Archer's home had been raided in the original Walkergate investigation and her name appears all over the emails sent via the secret router, including giving Kelly Rindfleisch directions to check it frequently during the day to keep the campaign humming.

As I noted when Archer first moved over to the Public Defender's Office:

But I can't help but notice the irony of the fact that Archer is getting paid richly for working for the Public Defender's Office, the one area of the state that she should be a client, not in the hierarchy.

But when translates Walker's explanation for the move, that makes perfect sense.   Obviously he would want someone intimately familiar with the illegal politicking Walker has done and continues to do to be high up int he Public Defender's Office.

When people start getting charged with crimes related to all of this politicking, it would not be surprising that they will end up spending all their money on their legal defense and eventually ending up needing a public defender.  That is exactly what happened to Tim Russell.  (And not everyone is fortunate enough to have millionaire and billionaire donors to their legal defense cooperation fund.)

Regardless of the reason Walker chose to violate civil service laws and hand this job to Archer over the two finalists, along with the exorbitant raise, it should be enough to give pause to most people that Walker is not fit for any kind of position that has even the most minute iota of responsibility or authority.

Now You Know Scott Walker Is In Trouble

Via digby, we see an excerpt of Scott Walker's appearance on Faux Newz.

One would think that it would be a snap for Walker, with the hosts fawning all over him and only giving him softball questions so he can trot out his campaign talking points.  Instead, Chris Wallace asked Walker some basic questions regarding the emails that came out last week.  Watch as Walker starts getting histrionic and actually lashes out in anger:



You can tell Walker is flustered by the way he is yammering and his voice is breaking. Many people from both sides of the political aisle have complemented Walker on his political savvy and his smooth talking.  However, those of us that have had to deal with Walker for over a decade know that he is rather flappable once he is knocked off his script and his talking points.

It should be noted that Walker did try to stick to his script by repeatedly emphasizing that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm is a Democrat and that John Doe ended last year.  What he doesn't mention - nor does Faux Newz mention - that thee is a second series of John Does going on and that there are both Democratic and Republican district attorneys that requested these investigations.

As expected, Walker then tried to deflect the question by moving the focus to his false claims of success.  He trotted out the same tired, threadbare stories of balancing the budget, finding a surplus or creating more than 100,000 jobs.  But when this didn't work for even on a toady like Wallace, you could see the panic rise in Walker.

But of all the lies that Walker told in that short time, the one that really made my jaw drop is the one where he said that he did not have any of the staff from the Walkergate documents working for him.  What utter rubbish!

Just take a look at some of the people that were named in those documents and where they went after the election:

• Tom Nardelli - Walker's former chief of staff was not only given a state job but then a handsome promotion before the pressure got to him and he skulked off, hoping not to be noticed.
• Cindy Archer - Walker's Director of Administration is still working for Walker.  Although he has tried to distance himself from her, he still makes sure that she is well rewarded
• Brett Davis - Lest the gentle reader forgets, at the time of the emails, Kelly Rindlfeisch was working for Davis, whom Walker had chosen to be his lieutenant governor.  Davis is now Walker's Medicaid director.
• Keith Gilkes - After the election, Gilkes worked for Walker as his chief of staff and as his chief of graft before leaving to once again take over Walker's campaign.

Now, I can just hear the Walker apologists and trolls say, "But, capper, those people weren't convicted. Walker was only talking about the convicted people."

OK, fine.  

I would then point out Brian Pierick, Tim Russell's significant other, who was convicted for going after teenage boys.  He worked for the state even though he was under investigation.

And then there was the center of attention, Kelly Rindfleisch.  Even after her office and her home had been raided by the police, Rindlfeisch continued to work for Walker's campaign.  And if she wasn't working for Walker directly, he and Gilkes were pulling in favors to get her some income, or as most people call it, hush money.

As an added bonus, make sure you watch the video all the way to the end.  When Wallace starts talking about Walker running a presidential campaign, Walker finally stops falling over his tongue and starts talking like it's a given he's running for president, despite all of his denials to the local press.   

He was happy because he was able to get back on script.

Silence Is Golden

It's common knowledge that Scott Walker is a strong believer in quid pro quo.

Lobbyists - or at least their sons - get high paying, cushy jobs, regardless of whether they are qualified.

Disgraced politicians also get high-paying, cushy state jobs, even the Democratic ones.

So it's no surprise that Walker's top aide at the county, Cindy Archer, would get a lot of golden opportunities.

After Walkergate started getting people's attention when the authorities raided her home, confiscating a computer and boxes of papers, we learned that Archer wasn't above politicking while at work:

Archer was Walker's Director of Administration at Milwaukee County. We have already known for some time that Archer was in contact with Walker's campaign and was developing strategies on how to deal with events and issues that would paint Walker in a bad light. In other words, she was part of the damage control team. Walker rewarded her with jobs in the state, including lucrative pay raises...

Stemming from the upcoming case regarding the tragedy at O'Donnell Park where 15 year old Jarred Kellner was killed when a facade fell on him, we see tat Archer's involvement in the campaign was much deeper.

However, when it came to be time for Archer to meet with the DA in the Walkergate investigation, she apparently gave up nothing and was not charged with any of her apparently crimes.  Of course, it was easier for her to stay mum when the prosecutors had no leverage on her, thanks to the Walker-funded legal defense of Kelly Rindfleisch.

Because of her silence, Archer has been rewarded with her third high-paying state job, the second one in six-digits:

Cindy Archer, a key cabinet member on Walker's county staff, is set to start a new six-figure job with the state on Monday.

Archer — who has bounced around the Walker administration for the past 21/2 years — beat out more than two dozen other candidates to be named an administrative services director at the state Public Defender's Office. She will be paid $101,510 a year.

Walker and his administration is, of course, denying that there was any finagling in Archer getting this job. Yeah, and he also said that he wasn't John Doe.

But I can't help but notice the irony of the fact that Archer is getting paid richly for working for the Public Defender's Office, the one area of the state that she should be a client, not in the hierarchy.

Walkergate: The Next Wave

OK, now that we've reviewed what has already come out of the ongoing Walkergate investigation, it's time to see what might be coming down the pike, some of which is already happening.

When Kelly Rindfleisch was sentenced last month, we gained a greater glimpse of the extent that the corruption that was the rule of thumb for Scott Walker and his motley crew. I then expanded on that, giving the gentle reader a reminder of who's who in the Walker syndicate.

As I had just mentioned, some of it is already happening:

Keith Gilkes, Gov. Scott Walker's former chief of staff and campaign manager, told reporters Thursday after a forum at Marquette University that he is cooperating with prosecutors investigating Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive, WisPolitics reported Friday.

Gilkes did not return a phone message left on his cellphone Thursday.

Gilkes is the latest former top Walker aide to provide information in the ongoing John Doe investigation that has resulted in convictions for four former Walker associates for illegal campaign activity and embezzlement.

Also cooperating are Walker's current spokesman, Cullen Werwie, and past spokeswoman, Fran McLaughlin; and his former chief of staff in Milwaukee County, Tom Nardelli.

Keith Gilkes

I wonder if Gilkes' supposed cooperation is the Darlene Wink type where he's singing like a bird or the Scott Walker type where he's stonewalling the investigation as much as he can.

My guess is that it will be more of the latter type, based on this:

Gilkes told reporters that he "had no knowledge" of a private wireless router system that allegedly was part of a secret email system in the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

Asked if a similar router exists in the state Capitol, Gilkes became angry.

"That's just absurd, I'm done," he responded and walked away.

Is it really absurd?

Remember that when Gilkes was Walker's Chief of Staff, he had lobbyists contacting him via his consultancy group's email address instead of through official channels. It would seem that there were trying to circumvent the open records laws in order to put the strong arm on people and companies wanting things from the Governor, such as Gogebic Taconite.

Gilkes also went on with the claim that the large amount of contact between the campaign and the county staff was just routine type of stuff.

For some reason, I don't see the advocacy of destruction of legal documents as being routine:

Gilkes, in an email written the day of the accident, advised Walker's county staff to "make sure there is not a piece of paper anywhere that details any problem at all." News organizations and lawyers representing victims and others filed numerous open record requests after the O'Donnell Park accident for inspection reports and other documents on its construction.

Then again, maybe destruction of documents is normal...for Republicans. I wonder how much they spend on paper shredders each year.

It should be noted that Gilkes was recently engaged, so that might give him some incentive to stay out of prison.

I recently wrote that Cindy Archer is also cooperating with the investigators, but to what extent is anyone's guess:

I have recently heard that Phase II of the Walkergate investigation has already commenced. Apparently Kelly Rindfleisch did give some information after all and gave up Cindy Archer.

Archer had been Walker's Director of Administration during the time Walker was Milwaukee County Executive. Criminal complaints and other documents from Walkergate show that Archer was deeply involved with the illegal campaigning and the collusion between county personnel and campaign staff.

Cindy Archer

Word is that Archer is already working on a plea deal even though she hasn't been arrested yet, much less charged. It's a maneuver called a negotiated issuance.

Interestingly, it's also been noted that Archer is selling her house, which she's owned for a long time. Speculation would be that she is selling it to pay her legal bills, but it should also be noted that she is reported to have a serious illness.

There's a couple of other things that I have heard about Archer. Besides raiding her home in Dane County, the authorities also did a search of her Milwaukee County home. Neighbors have reported that just days before the raid, they saw Archer and other moving a lot of boxes out of her home to another house just down the block.

Could there be a mole in the county somewhere that was giving the heads up on the potential searches. But who would have knowledge of the impending searches and have the ability and the interest to get in contact with Archer?

Well, let's not forget that Fran McLaughlin, who was eventually granted immunity in Walkergate, became the spokeswoman for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. She would have the the knowledge of the search warrants before they were executed, the ability to contact her friend Archer and an interest in keeping things on the hush, since she was also doing campaign-related activities on county time.

The other thing about Archer is that she had a major argument with the director of Milwaukee County's IT Department. He quit shortly thereafter and moved out of state. I have long wondered if that argument might have had to do with secret routers, secret email systems and open record requests.

But methinks that the person who could be the most interesting to watch is Tom Nardelli. Nardelli has long been known to be rather unsavory and untrustworthy. Nardelli has denied knowing anything about anyone, even denying he knew who hired Rindfleisch to be his Deputy Chief of Staff (we all know it was Walker). But the emails released during Rindfleisch's sentencing shows that he was in the thick of things as much as anyone else.

And Nardelli is no stranger to pay for play and strong arming tactics:

Nardelli had effectively neutered the Milwaukee Public School Board with his threat. The message was clear — do what I want or you’re screwed and I’ll make you look like idiots.

But there was something else. Why was Nardelli so adamant about this developer getting a slice of the city?

It turned out that the same family who had contacted me to work on their behalf had also contacted a reporter. I don’t recall the reporters name but he had uncovered that Nardelli had received fat campaign donations from the developer. Amazingly, it was swept under the table.

Also of interest is the fact that Nardelli's house is or was up for sale.*

It's also been reported that Nardelli has been looking pretty rough. Stress will do that to a person.

But I think Nardelli might be the most interesting to watch since he has the most to lose. He's closing in on being 70 years old and any lengthy sentence could be a life term for him.

Tom Nardelli

However, what is probably more important to the money-grubbing Nardelli is the fact that he is collecting three pensions - one from the military, another one from the City of Milwaukee and one from Milwaukee County. The ones from the city and the county add up to around $40,000 a year alone.

If Nardelli is convicted of a felony, he loses his pensions.

The loss of all that free income and health care, as well as the prospect of potentially facing the rest of his life in prison, is a pretty strong incentive for him to turn on whoever was above him in the food chain.

And the only person that is above Nardelli - and Archer, McLaughlin and Gilkes for that matter - is Scott Walker.

And let's not forget there are also many other unanswered questions and issues that need to be addressed.

There is the bid rigging and pay for play that was involved with county contracts for rental space.

Although if the DA's Office is following the trail of the illegal campaigning, the other stuff might be left to the feds for wire and mail fraud charges, or even RICO charges when one considers the apparent collusion between Walker's campaign, Walker's county office and the Koch/Bradley Foundation-funded groups like Americans for Prosperity and the other various propaganda groups.

Which leaves only two questions.

One is when - no if - Walker will meet John Doe.

That really depends on how cooperative Archer, Nardelli, Gilkes and the rest are. If they are able to reach plea deals with each of them, it could happen relatively quickly. If they try to fight it the charges out, like they did this year, that would obviously stretch things out, but would still be only delaying the inevitable.

And the other question which has been asked more and more often lately is whether this will also ensnare Reince Priebus, who was the chair of WISGOP during the time the scandal was occurring.

To be frankly honest. I have no idea. We do know that he was exchanging emails with Walker's county staff during the campaign. We also know that there were some events, such as Senator Scott Fitzgerald sharing his donor list with Walker, which would have been very difficult, if not impossible, without a high level of influence.

But no matter when it finally happens, or who else gets dragged down because of Walkergate, there is one thing that is undeniable. something that conservatives are starting to realize, which is making them exceptionally ornery.

That thing is that with Walkergate, there is always more. And no matter which arm of the investigation you follow, the path always leads to one person - Scott Walker.

*Perhaps so many people being dragged down in Walkergate accounts for the uptick in home sales this year.

Walkergate: Kavanaugh and Phase II

A couple of short and sweet items of interest regarding Walkergate, one of which just might knock your socks off.

Kavanaugh

Friday is the date for the sentencing hearing for Kevin Kavanaugh, the first person to embezzle money from the Scott Walker campaign promotion veterans fund known as Operation Freedom.

Remember that Scott Walker claimed and is still claiming that he "started the investigation" by having his Chief of Staff Tom Nardelli go to the DA's Office with concerns about missing money.  What he doesn't want to talk about is how he also immediately started to stonewall the investigation, opening the door for Walkergate.

I don't expect any big revelations from this, but you never can tell.

But that's OK, because there's other things to chew on.

Phase II

Cindy Archer

I have recently heard that Phase II of the Walkergate investigation has already commenced.  Apparently Kelly Rindfleisch did give some information after all and gave up Cindy Archer.

Archer had been Walker's Director of Administration during the time Walker was Milwaukee County Executive.  Criminal complaints and other documents from Walkergate show that Archer was deeply involved with the illegal campaigning and the collusion between county personnel and campaign staff.

Word is that Archer is already working on a plea deal even though she hasn't been arrested yet, much less charged.  It's a maneuver called a negotiated issuance.

If this is true and they are going after Archer, there's a good chance that they are going after others, like Tom Nardelli, who was Walker's Chief of Staff during this time.

This would also explain why they let off people like Rindfleisch or Tim Russell with relative slaps on the wrist.  Many people wanted the DA to get these two to flip on Walker.

But neither of these people were, as far as the Milwaukee County hierarchy goes, closer than two degrees separated.  The highest position that both Rindfleisch and Russell reached was Deputy Chief of Staff, two spots below Walker.

But if they turned on Archer and Nardelli, well, now we're at the level just below Walker, as his Director of Administration and Chief of Staff, respectively.  They testimony would be much harder for Walker to explain away.

Yup, 2013 is shaping up to be a most interesting year.

Now, if only we could figure out who John Doe is...

Walkergate: Was It Worth It?

One of the things that I hope someone will eventually ask the players involved in the ongoing Walkergate scandal is if it was worth it?

Dan Bice is reporting on some of the cost tax payer-borne costs related to Walkergate.   As we pointed out at Milwaukee County First, this is only a partial reporting and does not included the cost of the deputies (from at least two counties), the FBI, computer forensics specialists, and who knows what else.

And those are just the public costs.

We know that Scott Walker has dropped at least $60,000 already on his favorite law firm to retain the services of former US Attorney Steve Biskupic.  The other people that got entangles in Walker's weaselly ways have also hired on some high-profile, high-fee attorneys like Michael Maistelman, Frank Gimbel and, if rumor is true, Paul Bucher.

There are also human costs to consider.

The one conviction so far, that of William Gardner, were for two felonies.  Many people feel that he got a slap on the wrist as part of a plea deal.  His company, not him personally, has to pay a $166,900 fine.  And his company got millions of dollars in grants and loans from the state.

Gardner himself received two years probation, based in a large part by his self-reporting to the GAB and for cooperating with investigators.  But he is also a felon for life.  He can't vote, he can't carry a firearm and a myriad of other things that may or may not be important to him.

And like I said, he's the only one so far.  I feel confident that there will be more that will be indicted.  If they are found guilty as well, some of them might very well possibly fail jail time as well as fines and the other things that come with being a convicted felon.

Some of the others, like Tim Russell and Cindy Archer, if convicted, could lose their pensions. Tom Nardelli, if involved and if convicted, could lose three pensions.  That is on top of the other stuff.

As I stated at the beginning of the post, I wonder if they feel that it was all worth it.  Yes, their alleged misdeeds got Walker elected and gave him the capability to implement his maleficent and destructive agenda - at least for a short while.

As people start to learn more of the corruption, they are being turned off by him.  And this is not Walker's only problem.  As people realize that not only did he not lower their taxes, but raised their fees, they will become angrier.  And as people keep seeing that Walker's policies are actually destroying the good paying jobs instead of creating them, it could very well be enough to set off the biggest recall of them all.

As the Republicans continue to lose power and their damaged is reversed, I wonder if these people will think it was worth it.  Or are they angry beyond words for having paid so much of their personal money and sacrificed their personal freedoms and stained their won names, just so some rich out-of-state so-and-so could reap even more profit. And even then, their gain is only for a little while before the people take our state back and reverse the damages they caused.

Then again, squandering resources and disrespecting the little people does tend to be a Republican strong suit, so they might not even see anything wrong with all of this.

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.

Crime Might Not Pay, But Cronyism Sure Does

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a couple more articles about Cindy Archer, the Scott Walker minion who has been put into a fish bowl when the FBI raided her home, among others, last week as part of an ongoing John Doe investigation which has been dubbed Walkergate.

In one article, they find that when Walker changed dozens of civil service jobs to political appointments, not only was he able to give jobs to a lot of his cronies and campaign donors (or at least their sons), he was also allowing them to have a double win day by also jacking up their pay considerably.

As MJS shows in this chart, Archer was the big winner in Walker's appoint-a-crony game:

Courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It could be that Walker wanted to distance himself from Archer due to her involvement in Walkergate, but also didn't want her to turn on him so gave her a position that she doesn't really have experience in, but sweetened the deal to appease her for having to take a step down.

What is surprising is that no one in the media is making a bigger deal about the fact that she's been lying to them all along, saying she was hoping to come back to the state when she already had the new job with its exorbitant pay raise.

On the bright side, it's entertaining to watch one of the local yokel teahadists get his tea bag all tangled up while trying to rationalize the crony promotion. I guess massive increases in spending for government employees is OK after all, as long as a Republican does it.

In the other article, they interview some County Board Supervisors who all point out Archer's fierce loyalty to Walker.  Meh, it only means she knows which side of her bread has the butter on it.

But what is a bit odd about this article is that, towards the bottom as they give an abbreviated recounting of recent events, they include this non sequitur:

Authorities took Wink's work computer and executed a search warrant on her home. They also took a work computer from Tim Russell, a longtime Walker ally who was county housing director.

Russell recently lost his west side house to foreclosure.

He had taken out a mortgage for $184,000 with a 9.7% interest rate in 2003 for his house on N. 49th St. He was sued by his bank in July 2010 for defaulting on the loan.

At first, Russell mounted an aggressive defense. But he reversed course earlier this year, agreeing to give up the house. Last month, a Milwaukee County judge entered a judgment against Russell. The house is expected to be sold at a sheriff's sale soon.

I'm not sure what that has to do with the rest of the article, unless they are trying to infer he lost the home because of legal costs. But even that wouldn't make much sense, since Russell was already living in Sun Prairie long before any of that happened.

What would be interesting to know is why a person with an apparently successful business in Milwaukee would move to a place more than an hour away from said business.  This is especially true when one considers gas prices and that he apparently was having money problems from legal costs and/or losing his job with the county after Walker left him high and dry.

Where's Cindy Archer's Medical Slip?

Cindy Archer, one of Scott Walker's top cronies and the subject of an FBI raid on her home as Walkergate continues to unfold, is currently on medical leave from her new state job:

Archer, 52, until recently was deputy administration secretary to the Republican governor. She now holds a different state job but is on paid sick leave, records show.

Her sick leave started Aug. 22 - the first day she was to have been on the job as legislative liaison in the Department of Children and Families. Originally, she was to return this coming Monday, but her medical leave has been extended.

One of my readers left a most excellent point and question regarding this factoid:

Cindy Archer seems happy to be interviewed by anyone who drops by her house. Why hasn't anyone asked about the nature of her medical leave? After all she doesn't look sick and we had to make sure we punished teachers who weren't sick when they called in last winter during the protests. She's defrauding the state, pure and simple, and thus far has grossed at least $8250 doing it.

So, where is Cindy Archer's doctor's slip? If the teacher's had to show theirs, Archer should bloody well have to as well!

And why isn't the MacIver Institute of the Wisconsin Reporter delving into that? Or doesn't that fit into their dishonest propagandist agenda?

An Introduction To Walkergate

With the big news of the week, the FBI serving a search warrant of Cynthia Archer's house, there has been an increase in speculation regarding the ongoing John Doe investigation, which is quickly becoming known as Walkergate.  The investigation has to do with possible illegal campaigning and other misdeeds by Scott Walker's campaign and the actions of his staffers who served under him as county executive and now governor.

But it has come to my attention that there is a lot of misinformation and confusion, from both sides of the political aisle, regarding what is happening, what things could mean and even what is relevant.  Some of fellow lefties, in their zeal, are getting lost on irrelevant details and tangents.  Meanwhile, there are those on the right that are trying to minimize the ramifications and/or distract the people's attentions from what is happening.

To clarify things, I will present a history of events, and introduction to the players and the inclusion of some things that seem to have gotten lost in the coverage of the story.

It started in May 2010 when Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's coordinator of constituents services, Darlene Wink, was caught leaving comments on JSOnline during work hours and using county computers. Wink was posting under the handle of "RPMCVP" which stood for  her other position - Republican Party of Milwaukee Co-Vice-President.  Within hours of Dan Bice filing an open records request, Wink quit her job.  However, even I, one of Walker's most ardent critics, found the whole Wink affair to be rather innocuous.  Later it was learned that Wink had lawyered up pretty quickly.

Others were more suspicious.

Milwaukee County Supervisor John Weishan filed an open records request of his own to find out if any of Walker's other aides were also doing something similar.  Several months and thousands of dollars later, Walker gave Weishan an unsatisfactory few sheets of paper indicating that Walker and few other aides had gone to various sites like WisPolitics.com.  Apparently, this information, besides costing more than it should have, was not accurate.

Because of Weishan's tenacity, some of Walker's allies, the misnamed group Citizens for Responsible Government, filed a criminal complaint in retaliation against yours truly, using, shall we say, very irresponsible "documentation" to support their allegations.

Also in May of last year, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin followed Walker on his annual bike ride to promote his candidacy Milwaukee County.  This bike ride has long been a source of contention, with many, including myself, who kept pointing out that it was a thinly veiled publicly-funded campaign exploit.  Sure enough, they got lots of evidence, including footage, of long-time aide, campaign worker and close friend, Tim Russell, doing non-county work, even though he was traveling as a county employee. In August 2010, the Sheriff's Office did a search of Russell's office, confiscating his computer, his Blackberry and boxes of papers.

Interestingly, at the same time interest in Wink and Russell were growing, there was a website called "ScottforGov.com," which was a strongly pro-Walker blog and was staffed with people who had obvious political connections.  There had been speculation that the writers were members of Walker's county staff, his campaign staff (or both, since Walker has a long history of blurring that line).

Around the time of Wink's outing, they stopped publishing new posts.  A week later, they killed their twitter account.  Before 2010 came to a close, they had removed all comments and then took the entire site down.

At the beginning of 2011, it was learned that everyone that could possibly be involved were lawyering up but good.  Walker's campaign hired Steve Biskupic and his favorite law firm, for a mere $60,000, to make sure all their i's were dotted and all their t's were crossed.  Other big names, including Frank Gimbel  and Paul Bucher, were being floated around.  (Gimbel was believed by some to be hired by Tom Nardelli.)

And speaking of Nardelli, long considered a possible subject of Walkergate, he had recently and abruptly left public service on a very flimsy excuse.

Hot on the heels of that news, Cynthia Archer announced that she was taking a personal leave from her job, to which she had no intentions of returning.

Which leads us back to how we got into this - the raid on Archer's home.  Now Archer has said that she's done nothing wrong and doesn't need legal representation. Deserving of skepticism and cynicism, it should be pointed out that Archer also said she had nothing to do with Walkergate just days before they did the search of her house, confiscating a lot of things, including computer hard drives.

There are some on the right, including radio squawker Jeff Wagner, who are trying to minimize the ramifications of the Archer incident by questioning if it is an appropriate use of resources for just some political comments left on the paper's website.

This is misleading in the sense that this is so much more than just Wink's misdeeds.  It's already led to one conviction, that of William Gardner, who was found to having made illegal donations to Walker's campaign.  It also involves the possible illegal campaigning by Russell and the rest of Walker's cronies.  There has also been rumors of many more people who might be persons of interest in this investigation, but I won't name them until I have more confirmation of their involvement.

I would also not be surprised if the fact that Walker and his gang left the county executive suite with most of the files and computers missing is tied into the investigation as well.

And on a final note, I must point out that while Walker has been backpedaling like crazy and denying any knowledge of anything (well, OK, that's plausible at least), one of his repeated phrases is that the investigators have not asked him any questions.  That is to be expected.  They are building the case up to him, if it indeed reaches that far.  But if it does, he is probably sitting in the governor's mansion, sweating bullets and drinking Maalox by the case, hoping none of his cronies turns stool pigeon.

Is John Doe's Other Shoe About To Drop?

During Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign, there were repeated incidents of, to be tactful, questionable activities.  One of his office staff, Darlene Wink, who just so happened to be also a ranking officer in the Milwaukee County Republican Party, was caught leaving comments at JSOnline during work hours.  Tim Russell, an old friend of Walker's, who worked many of his campaigns when he wasn't receiving political appointments to various jobs in Milwaukee County, was accused of using county time and county equipment for politicking for Walker. There were rumors of other members of Walker's staff doing similar behaviors and manipulating and/or coercing people to hush up any negatives.

All of these sordid and sinister activities led to a John Doe investigation being launched into Walker's campaign and some members of Walker's staff at Milwaukee County.This investigation kept growing and involving more and more people,.

The investigation eventually bore fruit when railroad mogul William E. Gardner was convicted of illegal campaign donations. However, Gardner got off relatively lightly and it barely affected Walker or his campaign.

Then there was silence for several months of no solid news, but lots of rumors.

However, the silence broke early last week when the news came out that Tom Nardelli was abruptly leaving his  (second) cushy post with the state with no real reason given.  Nardelli was Walker's Chief of Staff when they both worked for Milwaukee County.  It was also rumored that Nardelli was one of the subjects of the John Doe investigation.  Given that rumor, as well as the odd reason he gave for leaving, speculation arose that his sudden departure might have something to do with the investigation.

Hot on the heels of the Nardelli resignation came news that another one of Walker's top county aides, Cindy Archer, was taking a sudden leave of absence.  Neither the reason nor the length of Archer's leave was given.

(As the reporter, Dan Bice, revealed his findings, there is an interesting side note. Walker, who was interviewed a couple of times earlier this year, first admitted that Archer was talking about his campaign, mostly for scheduling. What was the rest of the time about?

In a later interview, Walker was all too eager to throw his top cronies under the bus by dumping on them as he backpedaled away from them as fast as he could, denying any knowledge about anything - OK, that part is believable.)

It wasn't until the next day, after the questions regarding Archer's leave was aired publicly, that the answers were suddenly supplied, saying that she was "to attend to some personal family matters," and that she planned on returning in some capacity.  A cynic might read that a meaning she's got some sort of plea bargain in the works.

Things settled down for about a week, when more news came out about the investigation.

Dan Bice reports that the Walker campaign dropped $60,000 to the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich.  This firm has a cozy relationship with Walker, having donated $43,000 to Walker's campaign and receiving a half a million dollar contract from the state for its work on Walker's union-busting bill.

The thing is, that $60,000 was for "compliance/administrative" costs, which as Bill Christofferson points out, is mostly making sure that the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Another point of consideration is that if the law firm charged $400 an hour, which is common among the high end law firms, that would be 150 hours of work.  Odds are that it was a lesser member of the firm who did the actual work, meaning the price would be lower and the number of hours higher.  Boy, Walker's campaign must have had a real hard time keeping in compliance with the law for it to take that long to make sure it was done right.

That is unless the law firm was responding to inquiries from the John Doe investigation.  That could open a couple of new cans of worms.

One, it would mean that Walker's campaign wrongly categorized the services provided, which in itself is against campaign finance rules.

The other problem is laid out in Bice's article, as spelled out by Steve Biskupic, who had been hired by the campaign when the scandal was first made public:

Biskupic deflected questions about his payments from the Walker campaign. He referred questions to campaign staffers but noted that campaign money cannot be used for "the purpose of supporting or defending a person who is being investigated for, charged with or convicted of a criminal violation." But can a campaign pay a lawyer to respond to a subpoena issued as part of a John Doe investigation if the campaign is not the target? Biskupic didn't respond to that question.

Wouldn't that be something, if it's true? In order to cover up misdoings by his campaign, Walker resorts to further illegal activities. Of course, that would fit his normal method of operations, wouldn't it?

 Now, there is nothing concrete saying all these things, or any of them, are tied into the John Doe investigation. But if they're not, it would be an amazing defiance of the odds to have so many things happen in such short order.

 But if these events are somehow intertwined with the John Doe investigation, the timing would be most unfortunate for Walker. By the time further information comes out, and the majority of people have the chance to hear of it and start to digest the ramifications of it all, Walker will be very close to the date that he can be legally recalled.

Indeed, the gales of November do come early sometimes.