Walker Used Personal Email To Conduct State Business

During his very short-lived presidential campaign, Scott Walker repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton for conducting government business through her personal email address. Given that there were tens of thousands of pages of emails showing that Walker did the same thing as Milwaukee County Executive, the hypocrisy was enough to make one's hair hurt.

It turns out that even though Walker and his staff were under a criminal investigation for this, Walker continued to do it as governor.

In a rare moment of flagrant journalism, WKOW News did an open records request regarding the use of private emails to conduct state business. The records showed hundreds of personal emails were used. Their investigation also raised questions about how those emails were being handled:

But a 27 News investigation by Greg Neumann into the use and disclosure of personal emails by the Governor's office is raising questions about just how those records are handled.

On May 28, 27 News asked Gov. Walker if he knew whether former Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes, former Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch or other members of his administration had used personal email for government business.

"I don't know," said Gov. Walker. "I mean, not that I'm aware of."

But we now know the Governor was aware of it at the time that exchange took place.

Just a few days before we asked those questions, 27 News requested all of the emails sent to or from the personal email addresses of Gilkes, Huebsch, and Walker's second Chief of Staff Eric Schutt - that contained official state business communications.

Their personal email addresses were provided to 27 News by a tipster.

The Governor's office ultimately sent 980 pages worth of the emails to 27 News on Monday, October 12, nearly fourth months after our initial request.

"We have a strict policy in terms of our office or our administration that information regarding state business - conducted on state email - which would be our preference," said Gov. Walker.

But in the first year of the Walker administration, state business was conducted through more than 300 personal emails.

Much of it dealt with planning and strategy. A March 2011 email sent from from Gilkes to other senior staffers, included a memo detailing the self-described weaknesses of the Walker administration's first 100 days in office - mentioning Gov. Walker's overexposure to the media and long winded speeches.

Personal email was used to discuss big policy moments as well. One thread showed a discussion among senior staffers on the day after the State Senate passed Act 10. It includes the statement Secretary Huebsch ultimately released to the media on it being published and becoming law.

Others dealt directly with the strategy surrounding Act 10 and the concern caused after Judge Mary Ann Sumi blocked the law.

Some of the emails were sent to or from Governor Walker's own personal address, but we aren't sure how many due to the fact that both his personal and official email addresses are redacted in the records.

"All identifiers of the non-public official direct email address of the Governor have been redacted pursuant to the balancing test," David Rabe, assistant legal counsel to Gov. Walker, wrote to 27 News in a letter accompanying the records. "We have determined that the public interest in avoiding potential disruption of the Governor's ability to carry out his responsibilities without unnecessary interruption if his direct email address became common knowledge outweighs any public interest in disclosure."

Wisconsin law does not explicitly forbid conducting state business through private emails. However, Walker claimed that it was his administration's policy that these emails be sent to their official accounts to keep them for prosperity.

That turned out to be another lie, which leads to even more disturbing questions (emphasis mine):

"Our office also routinely trains staff to forward any emails related to state business to their official accounts for the purpose of retention," said Gov. Walker's Press Secretary Laurel Patrick.

But dozens of the emails 27 News received were never sent to an official state account until they were forwarded to the government email address of Gov. Walker's Chief Legal Counsel Brian Hagedorn on July 31, 2015. That date comes four years after the emails were originally written and two months after our open records request.

"Yeah, I think it's an issue to be sure and apparently and potentially a serious one," said Drechsel, who believes that delay and lag time raises questions about whether 27 News even got all of the personal emails that ever existed, or if some were permanently deleted from personal accounts long ago.

"To me, the policy that you described of forwarding those emails so they get into the state system is a very good one. But again, it all falls apart if people don't - in good faith - comply with the policy," said Drechsel.

The reason that the emphasized section should raise a red flag for the gentle reader is that on the very same date that Hagedorn had received these emails is the same day that Walker announced that he was politically appointing Hagedorn to an appellate court seat despite that Hagedorn had no experience or qualifications for that position.

Was that appointment made to reward Hagedorn for his political operations, as a form of hush money to buy Hagedorn's silence or both?

It is also worth noting that Walker didn't release those emails until well after he dropped out of the GOP presidential clown car. It should give one pause to wonder if money problems was the only or the real reason Walker dropped out of the race.

The Audacity Of A Dope

Scott Walker had made it almost a week without sticking in his foot in his mouth, so he was way overdue. He did, however, make up for lost time.

Walker, through his campaign, attacked Hillary Clinton over the conflated email scandal:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s political action committee is hitting Hillary Clinton over the recent revelations that she used private email accounts for official business while secretary of state, saying she needs to address questions about the legality of the practice.

“Hillary Clinton’s potential evasion of laws is something she should answer questions about,” Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for Walker’s new political action committee, Our American Revival, said in an email.

Added Kukowski: “Wisconsin has a strong open records law with a broad presumption of access to records and the governor has very specific policies in place in his office to assure that the laws are complied with fully.”

This line of attack is problematic for Walker on a number of levels.

He apparently has forgotten that he was the subject of a John Doe investigation, commonly referred to as Walkergate, into the illegal politicking done while he was Milwaukee County Executive. One would think that spending a million dollars on his legal defense fund would make it kind of hard to forget.

While the hullabaloo about Clinton's emails appear to be much ado about nothing (Benghazi!), Walker's illegal emails led to six convictions.

And while Clinton probably didn't have any servers in her basement, Walker did have a secret router in his executive's suite.

Walker's claims of transparency and strict ethics is even more laughable. Walker made a very similar statement about his time as county executive:

"Throughout all my time as the Milwaukee County executive, I had an expressed and clear policy that county employees — in my office, in my Cabinet, elsewhere — were prohibited from using county resources or county time to be involved in political activities," Walker said.

Despite Walker's claims of ethics, the evidence shows that his claims are no where near the truth.

One of the first of the Walkergate emails showed that Walker not only knew about the secret router and other skulduggery, but was actually directing the shenanigans:

Note that Walker did not admonish anyone for breaking his policy, if there even was one. His only concern was the damage it did to his image and his campaign.

At the trial for Kelly Rindfleisch, Walker's then Deputy Chief of Staff, chief investigator David Budde had testified to the very same conclusion:

Budde read to the judge Walker’s email: “I talked to her at home last night. Feel bad. She feels worse. We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no web sites, no time away during the workday, et cetera.”

That email then was forwarded by Walker campaign confidant Jim Villa to Rindfleisch. The body of the message is “CONFIDENTIAL.”

“Rindfleisch replies within four minutes to Villa …. ‘Already broken down and put away. Laptop is packed. I already saw this e-mail,’ ” Budde testified.

“The significance of this e-mail,” he added, “is that it shows that the county executive would appear to be aware that laptops were used in the County Executive’s Office for accessing things on non-County networks.

“And it also is very significant because it shows that the various members of the County Executive staff worked in concert to conceal laptops and/or networks — wireless networks that were in existence in that office suite, and these items were not present when we did our search warrant later in the day on May 14, 2010.”

In another email, Rindfleisch told Russell, “I took down the wireless, it’s in my bag for now.”

Four days later, Archer, head of the Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services, wrote to Walker and members of his county executive and campaign staff via private email: “In light of recent events I will no longer be checking this e-mail account during the workday. We discussed this among CEX (county executive) staff this morning and we are unable to find alternatives.”

Budde told Judge Nettesheim that “the significance of this e-mail is that it shows that the people addressed on this e-mail are acting in concert with the County Executive staff to find alternative ways to communicate using private e-mail during the workday.”

Nor was this email a one time fluke. Further emails showed, time and time again, that Walker was not only aware of the secret email system, but used it quite frequently.

Even worse, while Walker was under investigation for the illegal politicking and secret routers, it appears that he set up a similar operation in the governor's office almost immediately after being sworn in.

Lastly, and most telling, Clinton said that she wants her emails released. Will Walker do the same? Don't hold your breath.

Where Are The Rest Of The Walkergate Emails?

I don't know that anyone has yet gone though all of the 27,000 pages of emails and other documents that were released two weeks ago as part of the appeal proceedings for Kelly Rindfleisch.  And if they have, I doubt they have gleamed all of the significant parts of the emails and other documents.

But was has come out has been fairly damning.  Everything from racist "jokes" to cover ups to incidents of illegal collaboration to illegal politicking.

But as much as these emails have revealed about who Scott Walker really is and what miscreants he and his staff are, there is one thing people are forgetting.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

These are only the emails regarding one of the Walkergate Six, and even then, only the ones pertinent to her case.

There are still the emails from Darlene Wink and Tim Russell. There are still the emails of Cindy Archer, Tom Nardelli and Walker himself.  There are still all the documents that were found in the Mystery Dumpster O'Fun.

There is a helluva lot more out there.

Unfortunately, they are still sealed.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that they are suing for their release, but that doesn't appear to be going anywhere fast.  And even if they win their lawsuit, what's to say that they will make all of the emails available to the public?  Given the cover that they have given to Walker for more than a decade, I don't have a reason to expect that they would suddenly start objective reporting now.

It would seem to me that a more efficient and expeditious route would be for Milwaukee County government to claim those emails back.  It is their property after all.  And if the original Walkergate investigation is over and no other charges are to come of it, there is no reason to keep those emails sealed.

Unfortunately, Chris Abele hasn't lifted a finger to reclaim the people's property.  Nor has he explained why he hasn't done his job in that respect.

Maybe he's afraid that Walker won't keep signing the bills that allow him to further concentrate power into his own hands.  Maybe it's because of some sort of secret Brotherhood of the Weasel pact.

But surely, since Walker has called this all "old news," he wouldn't object that these emails and documents being unsealed and released.  Heck, if Walker is as innocent and guileless as he claims to be, he would want them to be released, to exonerate his name.

It's time for Abele to do his job for once and demand these emails and documents be released back to Milwaukee County and then to make them available to the people.

Kelly Rindfleisch Was Right!

By Jeff Simpson

While Capper weighed in this morning with his take, I needed to also post on these flurry of emails.   After reading some, and going through others, and watching the news stories, and reading comments, etc..  I have come to realize that Kelly Rindfleisch, as despicable of a human being as she is, is right!  

No One Cares...

Let's look at a couple examples....

• “No one cares about crazy people,” aide Kelly Rindfleisch wrote in response to an email about criticism Walker was facing from his political opponent, Tom Barrett, over problems at Milwaukee County’s mental health center.
• An email from Kelly Teelin, a paralegal at GOP go-to law firm Michael Best & Friedrich, forwarded a joke email picturing four dogs the writer said were set to receive public assistance because they “are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddys are.”
“That is hilarious. And so true!” Rindfleisch replied.
• Walker’s top aide in the county executive’s office, Tom Nardelli, forwarded a message in brightly colored lettering about the “nightmare” of waking up “black, Jewish, gay with a Mexican boyfriend, drug addict and HIV-positive” — and a Democrat.

 And:

 The night that a concrete slab at a Milwaukee County parking structure collapsed, killing a 15-year-old boy, Nardelli emailed Walker and copied Gilkes, Rindfleisch and Archer about a reporter asking about an audit showing deferred maintenance on the structure.
Gilkes responded: “We need to have that pinpointed in the audit. … This is what the press will focus on exclusively tomorrow — we will need to fully refute it with all documentation possible on it.”
Walker responded: “Yes.”

The Walker team looked at rape in a county facility, and the crushing to death of a 15 year old boy, not as tragedies, but as a pain in the ass to the Walker's political ambitions.   I used to be outraged at this (see here) but now I realize they were right.  

Since the horrible death of a 15 year old boy and a rape at a poorly run mental health care facility failed to move the needle in Scott Walker's campaign at all while it happened, I do not expect it to do so now. 

We have thousands of pages of proof that Scott Walker and his staff knowingly broke the law, that Scott Walker was in on it the whole time, the disdain they have for anyone who is not or can not help them gain a political advantage and as a team their only objective, no matter who they were working for, was to make Scott Walker look good(no easy task). 

Yet I doubt he has even dropped a point in the polls.   How does a free society that values democracy and Honors our Forefathers and Founders, and goes to Church on Sunday, think that the Scott Walker we met yesterday is ok? 

Walkergate: I Told You There Was More. There's Always More.

Wednesday was a beautiful day.

The sun was bright as it got a little higher in the sky.  The temperatures in Milwaukee flirted with fifty
degrees, giving people a glimpse of the spring yet to come. People were quicker with a smile and had a little more spring in their steps.

Also on Wednesday, the until then sealed emails and other documents related to the investigation, charging and conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch were unsealed and made available to the public.  Rindfleisch, as the gentle reader already knows, is the WISGOP political operative that was hired by Scott Walker to work in his county executive's office. During her trial, it became obvious that she was hired to work more on the campaign of Brett Davis, Lieutenant Governor wannabe, and then his own.

The much awaited documents were eagerly taken and shared, with many revelations into the workings of Team Walker, which is becoming increasingly apparent included both his campaign and county staff, blending the lines as to make them indiscernible.

Some of the revelations included extremely vulgar and racist emails they shared to "lighten the mood."  Some of the revelations included the plans and actions taken to cover up the myriad of problems at the mental health complex as well as with the tragedy of O'Donnell Park, where a teenager lost his life and two other people were seriously injured when a facade fell of the building.

Numerous bloggers and news sources have reports regarding this.  As time allows, I will also go through the emails, although long time readers of Cog Dis are well aware of these revelations and have been for a long time.

For example, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was one of the first with a story, pointing out that it was Tim Russell's partner, Brian Pierick, that had ran the campaign website ScottforGov.com.

That's not exactly news.  I started questioning in May of 2010, the same month that Darlene Wink and Tim Russell had both been caught campaigning on county time, whether ScottforGov.com was an insider job.  It became even more apparent that it was an inside job when the website was able to post a story on a request for information I had made within minutes of Walker's office sending me the requested information.

And to be correct Bice on a small issue, two years ago, I had referred to a post by Steve Hanson that showed Tim Russell was the administrator of the website until the day before his arrest, when it was transferred to Pierick:

Now, Walker knew that Russell was in the thick of the Walkergate investigations. Walker himself claimed that he only knew what he read in the papers. Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has done an excellent job of covering it, including pointing out Russell's involvement in almost each of his Walkergate stories. Despite this knowledge, Walker was perfectly comfortable with having Russell and his roommate, Brian Pierick, who was arrested for child enticement, do the administrative work for his official campaign website.  

In fact, Russell was listed as the administrator up to and through the day before the arrest. 

Heck, I had already pointed out long before Bice that MJS conservative blogger Aaron Rodriguez was aware of who was doing the website but kept the crime secret and even tried to lie to me about the website.

To his credit, Bice did break the news that Walker put gave the website and his approval to the website.

Which leads us to the next "major discovery" which was that Walker was also aware of the secret router his campaign/county staff used to communicate with each other and with him.  This new proof was an email from Cindy Archer welcoming Rindfleisch to the "inner circle," meaning those aware of the secret email system.

To be honest, I find that email to be less convincing than the one we learned about years ago, which had been sent via the system by Walker himself, and showed the world that when it comes to all things Walker, there is more.  There is always more:

Walker himself is acknowledging awareness of all that was going on and was directing these actions.  For reasons unknown to me, the corporate media in this state never even referred to this email until yesterday.

By far,a the biggest find so far comes via my friend karoli at Crooks and Liars, who, besides giving me one of the biggest compliments ever, pointed out this email from then WISGOP head Reince Priebus to Scott Walker and his RJ Johnson, who was a consultant to Walker's campaign and involved with the Wisconsin Club for Growth:

It is email like this one - and I am sure there are many more like it - that show the collaboration that was going on between WISGOP and Walker's campaign, which is illegal.  Other emails show that there was a cozy relationship between Walker's campaign and MacIver has well.

As the gentle reader is aware, it is this collaboration that is the subject of the ongoing investigations known as the Sons of Doe.

I am planning on exploring the emails myself to see what else might be in there and will be more than glad to share my findings with the gentle reader.  Stay tuned and make sure that you're fully stocked up on popcorn.  Things are just about to get interesting again.

Because - say it with me! - with all things Walker, there is more.  There is always more.

Misrepresentation Led The Way to Underrepresentation

As the gentle reader is aware, there was a lot - and I do mean a lot - of nefarious doings by Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele, his plutocratic pals at the Greater Milwaukee Committee and their collective minions that led up to the hostile takeover of Milwaukee County.

We have learned of some of these nefarious doings through the emails of Abele and his minions, some of which have been very revealing.  And included in those revealing emails, we learn that a favorite henchman is his spokesman, Brendan Conway.  We learned how Conway was responsible for releasing the attack on State Senator Chris Larson because Larson dared to oppose the hostile takeover.

We also had learned that County Supervisor Deanna Alexander was working in collaboration with Team Abele throughout the process.  She was so cooperative with them, one might have mistaken her for one of Abele's staffers.  As I have pored over the emails, there are numerous ones from Alexander to Abele's office, sharing County Board documents.

What we didn't realize was just how close of a working relationship Alexander had with Abele's office.

On February 5, 2013, we see that Conway sent Alexander an email that included a first draft of a press release stating that Alexander was calling for a state audit of the Board and Executive's office:

Click image to embiggen

Alexander responded a few minutes later, thanking Conway and stating she would look at it.

Early the next morning, Alexander emails the County Board Communications Director, Velia Alvarez, asking her to send out an attached press release:

Again, click to embiggen

The gentle reader can see the actual press release here.  She also issued a rather childishly written memo including her proposed resolution.  As the gentle reader can see, the wording has been altered to a small extent, but the gist is exactly the same.

The gentle reader should also take note that Alexander sent a blind carbon copy to Conway.  This is a small but significant detail which will play a larger role shortly.

After Alexander issued her press release, Steve Schultze, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter who covers Milwaukee County, sent an email to Conway, asking how Abele felt about Alexander's proposal.

Conway's response to Schultze was particularly odd, considering that Alexander had included him in her email with the press release hours earlier:

Clicking = embiggening

As you can see, Conway is denying knowing that Alexander had issued a press release, even though he helped write it and knew exactly what was in the press release as well as the accompanying memo.  Heck, for all we know, he wrote the memo too.

A little less than an hour later, Conway responds to Schultze, claiming that Abele was in Madison and unavailable, but issued a statement in favor of the audit.  But even this was not without a hitch:

Clicking leads to embiggening

  As you can see, Conway returns the favor by including Alexander in a blind carbon copy as well.  At least they were working to keep their stories straight.

Ironically, when the County Board called for a full audit, Abele dismissed it as being an attempt to stall for time.  Can you say hypocrite?

Interestingly, Bruce Murphy of Urban Milwaukee caught this as well and asked Alexander about it on February 12, 2013.  Her reply was rather telling in that she admitted that her audit was meant to be in collusion with the state's ramming through of the takeover.  Also interesting is this time not only did she bcc Conway but included Representative Joe Sanfelippo, the sockpuppet that introduced the Plutocracy Bill for Abele and the GMC:

I find it interesting but not surprising that Team Abele would punk Schultze and try to get him to print what they want him too, just like Abele did with Aaron Rodriguez and other bloggers.  But it appeared that Murphy was already square in Abele's pocket, so why did they need to punk him too?  Was he still too independent in his thought or was it that they were just so used to pulling stunts like this that they couldn't help themselves.

While this whole sordid affair might not rise to the level of criminal activity, there is certainly some serious ethical questions.  And speaking of questions, this new discovery raises many other questions which calls for further exploration:

• Did Conway write other press releases, commentary, or documents for Alexander?
• Did Alexander ask Conway to write the document(s) or did Abele tell him to do it?
• If Conway wrote the press release at Alexander's request, was Abele aware? (The emails shows that Conway sent a copy of his draft to Raisa Koltun, Abele's legislative aide.)
• If what they were doing was legitimate, why did they blind carbon copy each other so much?  That would seem to be a tacit admission that what they were doing was at the very least unethical.
• Will the fact that Alexander was sharing so much information with Abele's office, will she be censured for it, like former Supervisor Lynne De Bruin was?

Stay tuned, gentle reader.  I sense that when it comes to all things Abele - just like it does with his hero and role model, Scott Walker - there is more.  There is always more.

A Sobering Look At Chris Abele

As I've been sifting through the tens of thousands of pages of emails and other documents regarding Chris Abele and his usurpation and corruption of power, which have been recently released I have found many alarming things.

For example, look at this single email from Abele to his Chief of Staff, Amber Moreen, who came from his private charity group, the Argosy, at a highly elevated pay rate:

Click to embiggen

The email exchange is in regards to what to do with Frank Bau and another labor relations staffer while they were waiting for authorization to fill those slots.

Kimberly Walker, Abele's top lawyer in Corp Counsel, again oversteps her position and starts offering ways around the law.  Abele, as evidenced in the email, is all for it.

There is an obvious cause of concern in that this is the second time we've see Walker again overstepping her position as serving the public in order to serve the CEO, as if she was still in the private sector.

What's even more alarming though is what Abele reveals about himself.

First he admits that he has "a hard time not responsding and wanting to know what's going on all the time."

In other words, he feels and obsessive/compulsive urge to micromanage everyone and everything.  In layman's terms, he's a control freak.  He has no faith in his underlings, even though he is paying them outrageously exorbitant amounts of money to do their jobs.

And if something would not go the way he wants it to, he flies off the handle.  I could point to any of the people that Abele has suddenly fired without reason or warning.  but obviously the most glaring example is the very fact that he launched this whole power grab against the County Board when they dared to stand up for the taxpayers and for those receiving services from the County.

A good comparison would be the way Mitt Romney responded when he realized

they were losing the presidential election to Barack Obama.  Romney went into piques of rage, even going to the point of putting a gag at times on his running mate, Paul Ryan.

Given the fact that he cannot control the unions, he will be attacking them soon enough.  I would expect Abele to start privatizing everything he can, even though the cost to the taxpayers and to those depending on the services are going to go through the roof.

The other alarming thing about Abele's email is his quaint quip about the "even slightly drunk me."

It's disturbing to thing that such a control freak would not be in complete control of even himself.

Has he made decisions related to the county while intoxicated?  He apparently must have, given the context of this email.  Then being such an egomaniac, even if and when he realizes he screwed up, he won't admit it but pursues his folly to the end.

And now they have given him an unhealthy and inappropriate amount of power, effectively destroying representative government and a balance of powers:

Provisions that kick in immediately include shrinking the board's role in land sales, labor negotiations and contracts. The county executive can hire as many people as he wants for his office without interference. 

The executive also gets sole authority over the county fish hatchery, child support department, operation of the Milwaukee Public Museum, harbor facilities and any work relief program. Abele will have the sole power to create any new county department. He'll have primary oversight of minority contracting, which has been under the County Board. 

A provision in the bill assigning one county lobbyist to the county executive and one to the board is already spawning differences. Abele said he gets to hire and supervise both lobbyists, though one would work with the board. Dimitrijevic said she understood that the two-person lobbying unit would be independent, with one lobbyist working with the board and the other with Abele. 

The board's budget will drop from this year's $6.6 million to a maximum of $1.1 million starting next year, likely forcing a significant reduction in the 38-person board staff. However, several staff jobs now assigned to the board would be transferred to the county clerk and county comptroller. Four policy analyst jobs would go to the comptroller to create an independent service department that could be tapped by both the board and the county executive. The board currently has seven research analyst positions, though three are vacant.

The gentle reader should take a moment and think of all the things that terrified them about a Romney presidency, about what would happen letting a uber-rich, out of touch, corporate puppet having that much power, where only Congress would stand in his way.  Now realize that Milwaukee County is about to face a similar situation, albeit on a smaller scale, but also without a legislative body to keep his greed and corruption in check.

What Is Abele Trying To Hide?

When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, he was not exactly known for having a transparency issue.  What I mean is he was about as transparent as a brick wall sandwiched between two five-inch thick lead plates:

I operate a Milwaukee-based research firm and such requests are a key part of our standard operation procedure. In 2009 I submitted a request to Walker’s administration seeking things like e-mail, calendar and reimbursement records. That request was made in June of 2009 and was not fully complied with until March of 2010. And that happened only after a reporter inquired about the long delay in processing my request. In addition to that unusual delay, it also cost hundreds of dollars. Contrast that treatment with the extensive request submitted by Walker’s allies at CRG. Their extensive request included sensitive data but it still was completed in less than a month and it was done for free.

There have certainly been other records requests that have been frustrated by Walker administration obstacles. Earlier this year his administration even obstructed the request of Milwaukee County Supervisor John Weishan. Supervisor Weishan requested computer records of the Walker administration after it was revealed that some may have been engaged in campaigning for Walker on county time and with county resources. The Walker administration tried to charge the supervisor thousands of dollars simply for performing his oversight duties as an elected official of the Milwaukee County Board. In fact this dispute has not been fully settled and Weishan has threatened filing a lawsuit to obtain the requested records.

In 2004 Walker’s challenger for Milwaukee County executive, David Riemer, submitted an open records request to the administration. The administration stalled that request and then didn’t even provide the exact records for which Riemer had originally asked. As a result, Riemer eventually filed an open records complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Justice. An assistant attorney general later sent a letter scolding Walker about the unfortunate incident. In it she described that the Walker administration’s actions represented “a case of how government officials ought not to do business.” She went on to declare that “nobody honored to serve in public office ought to manipulate public records in this fashion.”

And do I need to mention the secret router system he had Tim Russell set up in the executive's suite in order to avoid open record requests altogether?

Continuing to live up to his nickname of Little Walker, the current county executive, Chris Abele, is also playing games with open records requests. This is evidenced by the way he's been jerking around Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express and one of the few remaining investigative journalists in the state, much less Milwaukee:

Funny—when I’d file open records requests with Milwaukee County to look into the communications of the Walker administration, the county always provided them for no cost.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, the county mailed me a disc with more than 2,000 pages of documents sent to and from Walker’s campaign and county emails. Not a penny was charged. Not even for postage.

But suddenly the price of responding to open records requests has jumped.

Perhaps it’s because they concern Count Executive Chris Abele, his spokesman, Brendan Conway, and his favorite county supervisor, Deanna Alexander.

I’ve been informed that the Shepherd will be charged almost $1,000 just to locate the Abele-related records. The cost of copying them is extra.

My requests were pretty simple, too. I just wanted to see all of the

communications between Abele, Alexander and Conway and the folks who have been pushing for the state-imposed “reform” of Milwaukee County—Joe Sanfelippo, Joe Rice, Charlie Sykes, Aaron Rodriguez, Dan Bice, Mark Belling and Jim Bohl.

There should be quite a few of them. I’ve seen snippets of emails that Abele and Alexander have sent to Sanfelippo, Sykes and Co., and Conway, allegedly Abele’s spokesman, also wrote a press release for Alexander, allegedly a member of the board of supervisors, regarding “her” proposal for a county audit.

(See the always excellent Capper and Cory Liebmann for more about Abele's emails.)

In fact, Alexander even bcc’ed Sanfelippo, Sykes, Conway and Co. on an email she sent to me regarding her grandstanding statement on the county’s medical examiner’s testimony during the Derek Williams inquest. Who knows what other county matters she's sending on to the right-wing gasbag machine.

How insecure—or devious—can you get?

So while it may turn up a multitude of records, it sounds like an easy search to me. In fact, I could probably do it myself if I had access to their taxpayer-funded computers.

But apparently Abele wants to charge $1,000 to cough up records that should be available to anyone who asks.

He is, after all, a public servant.

He’s not the king.

And if he wanted to show that his administration doesn’t respond to reporters’ open records requests in a politically biased manner, he’d be consistent and release these documents for free.

It is blatantly obvious that there is something in those emails that Abele really, really doesn't want anyone to see. Why else would he suddenly put such a high charge to just locating the information. It's also scary if one thinks how much he might try to charge for actually releasing the requested information. If Abele's not careful, he'll be showing how concerned he is about the taxpayers by making them pay for defending him for violating open record request laws, just like his good friend Walker has repeatedly done.

The question is what is he trying to keep from being exposed to the light of day? Is it the doing county business through his private email? Is it the way he's been using Aaron Rodriguez as a ghost writer for his propaganda? Or is it something more sinister, more unethical and possibly illegal?

Methinks it might have something to do with Alexander. The way she's including people like Abele, Conway, Sykes, Belling, Rodriguez and others that shouldn't really be involved in official emails from a county supervisor.

All this makes it seem like we are starting to edge in illegal politicking and yet another caucus style scandal.

Abele might not be a big one for transparency, but he's making it abundantly clear he's not fit to hold someone's lunch money, much less be given even more power as county executive.

Chris Abele's Emails

During the Walkergate investigation, the few emails that the DA's Office released through the court proceedings showed a glimpse of some of the backroom dealings and illegal politicking that Scott Walker and his minions were involved with.  It was said emails that were enough to convict Kelly Rindfleisch as well as show that with Walker, there is always more and still even more.

Recently, some of Milwaukee County Executive's Chris Abele's emails were also revealed.  They really reinforce Abele's claims that he admires Walker and the work he has done, if you know what I mean.

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covers one part of the emails, showing that despite Abele's claims of wanting civility and that nothing is personal, Abele is a huge hypocrite:

"The Sheriff is crazy but that press release is bonkers," Abele wrote to Moreen on July 17, 2012. "He is so embarrassingly a childish bully." 

In the email, Abele then encourages his staffer to raise some issues with Weishan and a Journal Sentinel reporter about the usefulness of the handguns, which cost $75,000.

My esteemed colleague and friend, Cory Liebmann further addresses Abele's emails in his must read post.   Liebmann points out that in one email that Abele had  one of his mouthpieces, Brendan Conway, send talking points to attack and undermine Senator Chris Larson, who opposes Abele's Plutocracy Bill.

Does anyone really consider Abele to be a Democrat when he is backstabbing the Democratic Minority Leader of the State Senate?

Liebmann also points out that the Plutocracy Bill was actually conceived in 2012, long before Sanfelippo was elected.  The creators of the bill, as if we didn't already know, was Abele, Julia Taylor and the rest of the GMC.  No one else had any input into this plan for this hostile takeover of Milwaukee County.

But bless his heart, Liebmann also gave us a link to a few pages of information which reveal a bit more than covered by Bice or Liebmann.

The first page shows Abele's schedule for June 25, 2012.  As Liebmann had noted, part of his morning was meeting with Julie Taylor, the head of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC).

It should be noted that the purpose of the meeting with Taylor was to discuss the "Agenda from Julie."

Um, excuse me?  She's setting the agenda, which includes county policy as well as their legislative strategy for ramming through the power grab bill.  That's strikes me as being very similar to Michael Grebe of the Bradley Foundation and Walker's campaign ordering Walker's county staff on what to do.  It's even more disturbing when one remembers that Taylor was upset when Tim Russell was fired for his misconduct in office.

The second page is the start of an email between Abele and Amber Moreen, his Chief of Staff.  The first thing that should be noted is that Abele used his private email to discuss county business:

Well, well, isn't that a lot like Walker's infamous email to Tim Russell, chastising him after Darlene Wink got busted.

The next point of interest is his condescending and whiny tone towards Barbara Beckert, the head of Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW).  DRW has been heavily involved in trying to correct the multitude of problems at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex:

Thanks for the Barbara Beckert forward.  I'm happy, of course, to sit down with the task force, get an update, etc.  I still don't care for her tone that sometimes seems to presume or imply more decision-making authority over county resources than she has, though I'll always listen to her input.

In reality, he doesn't have much choice.  DRW is the authority when it comes to issues dealing with people who have a disability, including mental health issues.  Considering how bad Abele and Walker allowed things to get, they should be glad to be getting help instead of fines.

Near the bottom of the second page, Abele makes a reference to a press release sent out by a number of supervisors who showed their support for the workers at Palermo's.  Abele, who is very anti-worker and anti-union, was upset by this.

I wonder why he is so concerned about the labor relations at a private business, unless it's because he's personal friends with the owners of Palermo's.  Ironically, he snipes at the supervisors for not contacting anyone at Palermo's, despite that it's obvious that Abele didn't do his homework either.

It should also be noted that to help with the situation, he "connected with Giacomo and connected him with Aaron."  Aaron would be Aaron Rodriguez, of course, who is Abele's ghost writer and has weighed in repeatedly with his propaganda and lies to attack people who dare to want to get paid a living wage.

In summary, through the articles by Bice and Liebmann as well as the few points that I have made here, as well as the other ones that the gentle reader is more than clever enough to pick up on their own, we see that Abele is a horrible hypocrite, a master manipulator, an egregious egocentric, a petty tyrant and a pitiful sockpuppet for well-moneyed special interests.

Or in other words, Abele is really living up to his courthouse nickname of Little Walker.  All he needs is a secret router.

Ryan, Walker Trip Themselves Up With Emails - Again

Paul Ryan and Scott Walker sure do have problems with their emails, and I don't mean just spam.

Over the summer,I told you about the caucus scandal-like use of emails between Paul Ryan's office and the Fitzgeralds' offices in which the staffers for Ryan, Jeff Fitzgerald, Scott Fitzgerald and Scott Fitzgerald's campaign fundraiser were using private emails to discuss official state business.

And, of course, anyone whose read Cog Dis knows that with Scott Walker and his emails, there is always more, such as this email tying him in to the illegal politicking that was occurring in his office suite while Milwaukee County Executive:

Now it's come out that the two loved to email and text each other, and as one might imagine, they was a lot of collusion regarding their politicking. Most notably, they tried to stifle any positive news, such as the fact that stimulus actually worked and is working:

The emails also show how Ryan and Walker sought to steer clear of sensitive political traps, and how Ryan was sensitive as early as September 2011 about offering any praise to government projects funded with money under Obama's economic stimulus law. In August, the AP and other news organizations noted that Ryan — a vocal opponent of the stimulus law — sought to steer money under the program to companies in his home state, which Ryan first awkwardly denied then acknowledged to be true.

In the emails, Walker's director of federal relations, Wendy Riemann, sent a message to Ryan's aide, Kevin Seifert, to describe a new grant from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department awarded for a local water project. Riemann asked whether Ryan wanted to be quoted in a press release praising the money being spent in Wisconsin.

"Not to create more work for you, but do you have any idea where the money for this grant came from? Was it stimulus/the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?" Seifert replied. "Our concern is that, if it's stimulus funds, we won't want to highlight (and would think you guys wouldn't, either) .... We generally don't do press on things we actively oppose."

Riemann responded that she would check the source of the money, which turned out not to be stimulus funding. "Feel free to proceed without us on this one," Seifert wrote.

Tell me again how they are for the people. I keep forgetting.

I can't even imagine how anyone could pretend that they were for the people when they don't want the people to know that things were getting better, and would rather see the country fail.

Another thing to note is that things are not as rosy between the two as they would like to have us think, since Ryan believes he's too good to show a common courtesy to Tonette, Walker's wife:

The emails included at least one embarrassing snub by Ryan. Riemann, from the governor's office, emailed the congressman's office to ask for help coordinating a tour of the U.S. Capitol for Walker's wife, Tonette, who expected to travel to Washington. Such tours are known as dome tours. Ryan's staff said he was too busy to accommodate the request.

"Sorry, Paul doesn't do dome tours," Ryan's scheduler wrote back. "He never has, so sorry we can't be of assistance there."

Or maybe it's just that Ryan doesn't want to get sucked down the Walkergate hole with Walker.

Either way, I can't say that I blame him for that.