Beware The Edited But Still False Walkergate Story!

Geez, but some people never learn, do they?

Just yesterday, I told you about the right wing blogsite posing as a news source, which had published a story which was easily proven to be false.  The mock journalist, H. Nelson Goodson had written this:

On Friday, investigative information released by a reliable source indicated that Governor Scott Walker (R) and up to five others in the governor’s circle while he was Milwaukee County executive will be facing several felony charges resulting from the John Doe investigation. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office (DA) is expected to file charges against Walker and five other suspects on allegations that they used county time to campaign to help elect Walker as governor while working and restricted other Walker employees from exposing alleged unethical acts to the DA probe.

So far, at least six former Walker staffers have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including one that is waiting sentencing, but has been postpone to prevent an influence of the June election.

The DA and Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered an underground e-mail network being operated by Walker staffers in an office adjacent to Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office. Walker denied that he had any knowledge of the underground e-mail operation to elect him governor.

Walker has set up a defense fund and has hired attorneys. Speculation about Walker being charged in the John Doe probe has been circulating throughout political circles in both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Some GOP members doubt that Walker would be charged at all, but if the information proves to be reliable then indeed Walker and five others are facing charges that will no doubt set the GOP back on its agenda to make Wisconsin a Red state.

Now the miscreant is at it again.

Instead of retracting the post or offering an apology like a real journalist would, Goodson has chosen the route of a right wing blogger by just changing the wording without explanation.

Thus far, he's only changed the second paragraph to read as such:

So far, at least six have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including two Walker former staffers and another that is waiting sentencing for being convicted for two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation by a public employee. But the former Walker’s staffer sentencing has been postponed to a later date to prevent an influence of the June election. Three others were also charged in connection with the John Doe probe, including one conviction for funneling at least $72,800 of illegal funds to Walker’s governor campaign race in 2010.

Note how Goodson corrected his mistake on calling all the defendants as Walker staffers. He also added an incomplete reference to railroad tycoon William Gardner's illegal campaign contribution.

But he left in the false statements regarding the FBI's role and the false statement about the court date being postponed to prevent an influence on the election. There's never been a news story or a mention of that being the cause. In fact, both the DA's office and the defense attorney made it abundantly clear that Darlene Wink's trial was postponed to guarantee her continued cooperation with the investigation and resulting trials.

Goodson fails to supply any information on why he believes that the DA would wait until after the election. If anything, the arrest and subsequent charging of former Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas, which happened in the height of his campaign to be the City of Milwaukee comptroller, would contradict that position, showing that the political events mean nothing to his pursuit of justice.

As a side note, the fact that Chisholm and Thomas are both Democrats also displaces any notion that the Walkergate investigation is partisan.  Justice has no sides.

All of this, combined with the fact the only person broadcasting this piece unquestionably is another unscrupulous right wing blogger, is further reason to doubt the veracity of the report.

Then again, how often can you trust anything coming from a right winger?

Beware The False Walkergate Story!

There is, unfortunately, a false report being spread like wildfire about Scott Walker and five of his cronies being charged in the Walkergate investigation immediately after the recall election. This story should not be believed.

The story is by H. Nelson Goodson of Hispanic News Network USA:

On Friday, investigative information released by a reliable source indicated that Governor Scott Walker (R) and up to five others in the governor’s circle while he was Milwaukee County executive will be facing several felony charges resulting from the John Doe investigation. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office (DA) is expected to file charges against Walker and five other suspects on allegations that they used county time to campaign to help elect Walker as governor while working and restricted other Walker employees from exposing alleged unethical acts to the DA probe.

So far, at least six former Walker staffers have been charged in the John Doe investigation, including one that is waiting sentencing, but has been postpone to prevent an influence of the June election.

The DA and Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered an underground e-mail network being operated by Walker staffers in an office adjacent to Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office. Walker denied that he had any knowledge of the underground e-mail operation to elect him governor.

Walker has set up a defense fund and has hired attorneys. Speculation about Walker being charged in the John Doe probe has been circulating throughout political circles in both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Some GOP members doubt that Walker would be charged at all, but if the information proves to be reliable then indeed Walker and five others are facing charges that will no doubt set the GOP back on its agenda to make Wisconsin a Red state.

This story is at best unverified and unverifiable and at worst, a garbage post full of lies that I believe is set as a boobytrap to interfere with the recall election and John Doe investigation known as Walkergate.

First of all, consider the source.  Goodson, and the Hispanic News Network, is the same source that was claiming that there were sufficient signatures gathered in early December.  Many saw this as a thinly-veiled attempt to short circuit the signature gathering phase of the recall be getting people to stop early.

Goodson is also a known associate of Aaron Rodriguez, another pseudo-journalist who has blogged for Scott Walker's 2010 campaign and tried to misinform people regarding the actions of Walker's inner office staff, denying that they were doing anything illegal.

And consider this: If this story was true, would it be only found on a right wing site? Methinks that the Dems, the unions and Team Barrett would be screaming it from the rooftops.

Now, let's parse the story.

Goodson doesn't identify his source, which might be fine on the face of it, except that Goodson does not have a history of breaking news, much less reporting news accurately.  But besides that, Goodson uses extremely vague allegations regarding what the alleged crimes are or who the other people are involved, which only makes the story more suspect.

Goodson's poor reporting is evident with the claim that "six Walker staffers" have been charged.  This is a false statement.  Only three of Walker's aides - Tim Russell, Kelly Rindfleisch and Darlene Wink - have been charged so far.

The other three people never worked for Walker directly.  Brian Pierick helped with Walker's campaign, but never worked for Walker per se.  Kevin Kavanaugh was a political appointee of Walker's, but again, never worked for him directly.  The third, William Gardner, is a railroad tycoon, for heaven's sake, and was convicted of making illegal campaign donations.

Goodson is also inaccurate in saying the FBI helped discover the secret router system.  They have helped get evidence in searches of people's homes, like Cindy Archer's, and have helped analyze the data coming from the confiscated computers, but did not help find the router.

I have reason to believe that this is an effort to hurt the recall election as well as the Walkergate investigation.    I believe that Goodson is trying to mislead the reader to think that A) there's no sense in voting because Walker's going to jail anyway and B) the Walkergate investigation is nothing more than a political stunt to hurt Walker and that they are leaking information like a sieve.

If we don't oust Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch, and he does get indicted, we are looking at Governor Kleefisch.  She will not only continue with the ALEC agenda of making Wisconsin a right-to-work-for-less state but she will probably pass a law that all floor lamps and end tables have to be draped in heavy cloth so people don't fall in love and want to marry them.

And despite the right's repeated attempts to smear Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, his staff and the investigation, they have yet to do more than offer vulgar innuendo which is unsubstantiated.  But, like Goodson, their job isn't to prove anything is wrong, just to give people the doubt in the proceedings.

In summary, be careful of what information you believe and share with others.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  There is enough factual evidence regarding Walker, whether it's about his criminal activity in Walkergate or the atrocities he has done to our great state, that we don't need to go chasing after falsities like these, no matter how alluring they might be.

That said, I do believe that Walker and several others will be indicted, but I have no idea as of when.  All indications point to it being after the election, but that could change if Chisholm feels his case is solid enough to proceed, or something happens that makes him feel that the case could be jeopardized otherwise.

And you know damn well that Dan Bice and/or I will be breaking that story.

Until that time, or even after, if you hear a story and aren't sure (i.e. it didn't come from me), drop me a line. I might not be able to answer right away due to being at work and whatnot, but I'll be glad to help.

But to tide you over until the day justice comes, we can also look at this picture of Walker and his new cufflinks: