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.