Scott Walker, Chris Abele And The Bucks Arena Scandal

A couple of months ago, I reported that part-time Wisconsin Governor and full-time presidential wannabe Scott Walker and his mini-me, plutocrat and Milwaukee County Emperor Executive Chris Abele were hammering out a deal that would take hundreds of millions of dollars and give it to the new owners of the Milwaukee Bucks so they could build a palatial playground and buy all the land around it for their greater profit. Most of the money that Walker and Abele would give away would come from the poorest of the poor.

As I repeatedly tell the gentle reader, when it comes to all things Walker and/or Abele, there's more. There's always more.

Per the International Business Times, it appears that one man stands to really gain from the bailout of the sports franchise - Jon Hammes. Hammes just happens to be a part owner of the Bucks, a real estate mogul and, oh yeah, the finance co-chair of Walker's presidential campaign:

In the year leading up to the announcement of his presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker championed a high-profile proposal to spend a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money to help finance a new Milwaukee Bucks arena -- all while pushing to slash roughly the same amount from state funding for higher education. One of those who stands to benefit from the controversial initiative is a longtime Walker donor and Republican financier who has just been appointed by the governor to head his presidential fundraising operation.

Real estate mogul Jon Hammes, who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and causes, is a prominent member of the investor group that owns Milwaukee’s NBA team. Last week CNN reported that he also will serve as the Walker campaign’s national finance co-chairman. Days after that appointment, Walker’s Republican allies in the Wisconsin state Senate backed the governor’s proposal to spend public funds on a new arena for the Bucks.

In his speech announcing his presidential candidacy, Walker presented himself as a free-market conservative and derided what he called a “top-down, government-knows-best approach” to economic policymaking. Hammes serves on the board of a conservative think tank called the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute that says “competitive free markets, limited government, private initiative and personal responsibility are essential to our democratic way of life.”

But under Walker’s proposal, the government would redistribute taxpayer money to a project benefiting Hammes and other Bucks investors.

A representative for Walker defended the proposal, saying in a statement: “Governor Walker's focus is on protecting Wisconsin’s taxpayers from the negative financial impact of losing the Bucks, while balancing state and local support.”

A Walker campaign aide additionally asserted that it was “a dangerous leap” for International Business Times to ask about the propriety of subsidizing a deal in which Hammes could benefit. “The stadium deal has been in the works much longer than he has been involved with the campaign,” the aide said.

However, before Walker proposed the arena deal, Hammes had donated more than $15,000 to his gubernatorial campaigns, according to state campaign finance data. Federal records also show that over the last decade, Hammes has donated almost $280,000 to Republican candidates and third-party groups -- including more than $14,000 to the Wisconsin Republican Party. Hammes Company in 2010 donated $25,000 to the Republican Governors Association, which that year spent heavily in support of Walker's first run for governor. Jon Hammes also contributed $500 to Walker while he was a Milwaukee county executive.

One thing that the reporters missed is that Hammes is also on the long list of people who donated to Walker and benefited from Walker's Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, whose sole purpose for existence appears to be to reward Walker's supporters with taxpayers' money.

While Abele doesn't have the direct pay for play ties with Hammes that Walker does, there is no doubt a special relationship between the two men. They are on many of the same organization boards, including the Greater Milwaukee Committee, which is nothing more than a country club for plutocrats.

Abele and Hammes also share the same love for plantation economics, which Hammes proved by stating, "No one gives a blank about low-wage workers." When the news came out that Hammes had made this vulgar comment, Abele was the first to rush to his defense.

Ah yes, crony capitalism at its finest - or worst - depending on what side of the 1% you're on.

Walkergate: Walker Sinks Further Into Dark Money Pit

Last year, court documents revealed that prosecutors said that Scott Walker was at the heart of a "criminal scheme," in which he, his campaign and top lieutenants were trying to skirt campaign finance and election laws. The gist of the scheme was that Walker would help raise funds for conservative groups, especially Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCfG), which would use that money to help advance his campaign. (Walker has admitted that he had solicited funds for WCfG, but denies any knowledge of it in the next breath.)

A couple of months after this, it was revealed that a mining company, Gogebic Taconite, had donated $700,000 to WCfG. In return, Walker reduced environmental protections by signing into law a bill that was written by the mining company.

Now, Michael Isikoff, writing for Yahoo News, has come out with a blockbuster report showing that the mining company wasn't the only one in Walker's pay for play scheme:

John Menard Jr. is widely known as the richest man in Wisconsin. A tough-minded, staunchly conservative 75-year-old billionaire, he owns a highly profitable chain of hardware stores throughout the Midwest. He’s also famously publicity-shy — rarely speaking in public or giving interviews.

So a little more than three years ago, when Menard wanted to back Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — and help advance his pro-business agenda — he found the perfect way to do so without attracting any attention: He wrote more than $1.5 million in checks to a pro-Walker political advocacy group that pledged to keep its donors secret, three sources directly familiar with the transactions told Yahoo News.

Menard’s previously unreported six-figure contributions to the Wisconsin Club for Growth — a group that spent heavily to defend Walker during a bitter 2012 recall election — seem to have paid off for the businessman and his company. In the past two years, Menard’s company has been awarded up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs, according to state records.

And in his five years in office, Walker’s appointees have sharply scaled back enforcement actions by the state Department of Natural Resources — a top Menard priority. The agency had repeatedly clashed with Menard and his company under previous governors over citations for violating state environmental laws and had levied a $1.7 million fine against Menard personally, as well as his company, for illegally dumping hazardous wastes.

Walker's spokeswoman, of course, denied that Walker had anything to do with this bit of quid pro corruption (emphasis mine):

Laurel Patrick, Walker’s press secretary, strongly denied that the governor had provided any special favors for Menard and said Walker was “not involved” in the decision to award his firm tax credits, which were approved by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation for expansions of existing facilities in order to create jobs. (She also noted that Menard’s firm had been awarded $1.5 million in tax credits in 2006 under Democratic Gov. James Doyle. State records show these were reduced to $1 million when the company failed to meet its full job-creation requirements.)

Patrick declined, however, to respond to any questions about the Menard contributions. Citing a “pending legal” investigation into Wisconsin Club for Growth fundraising that will be argued next month before the state Supreme Court, AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Walker’s political organization, Our American Revival, said she also could not answer any questions about the Menard donations, including whether the governor had solicited them, was aware of them or had ever discussed state business with Menard.

Oopsie! Perhaps Patrick forgot that Walker is the Chairman of the WEDC.

Walker created the WEDC for exactly this type of pay for play, despite the repeated warnings that these quasi-private/public schemes never end up well. In an ominous move, Walker want's to take away legislative oversight of WEDC and have it completely under his control and run by his political appointees. Methinks that the above stories gives us a clearer understanding why Walker would want this.

While it is good that Walker's corruption is finally having the light of day shown on it, it comes as nothing new to us in Wisconsin, where Walker has a long history of this sort of unethical and illegal behaviors. As I noted then, the only surprise is that Walker hasn't gotten any better at concealing his corruption. Then again, he's always been a slow learner.

It is also worth noting that lawsuits regarding the John Doe probe is scheduled to be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court later this year. Four of the seven justices have had extensive help from WCfG, which, according the Supreme Court of the United States, is grounds for them to recuse themselves. That said, given the prevalent and pervasive corruption that Walker and his dark money supporters have foisted upon the state, I wouldn't hold my breath for them to do the right thing either.

The Plutocracy Bill And The Pay For Play Factor

For the past week or so, the minions of Milwaukee County Emperor Executive Chris Abele have been trying to mislead people with their faux outrage over the alleged negotiations between the County Board and the unions, because, you know, Act 10 has been working so well.  (But just because they are advocating against the union, don't think they are anti-union.  Just ask them, they'll tell you.)

Undoubtedly, they're trying to stir up a swarm of hornets is to distract people from noticing that they don't have much in the way of support for their plutocratic power grab.

The list of people that spoke or registered for the Plutocracy Bill at the Assembly's public hearing (held in Madison but not in Milwaukee) is, with the exception of two people, a list of Teapublicans, their staffers or members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC):

• Joe Sanfelippo - Representative - 15th Assembly District (Teapublican)
• Bob Delaporte - Senator Alberta Darling (Teapublican
• Chris Abele - County Executive - Milwaukee County (GMC)
• Rich Muessen - Badger Meter (A Diane Hendricks grade teahadist)
• Chas Mulcahy (GMC county task force member)
• Julia Taylor - Greater Milwaukee Committee
• Paul Tittl - Representative - 25th District (Teapublican)
• Joseph Rice (Teapublican rumored to be doing work for GMC)
• Lena Taylor - Senator - 4th Senate District (sell out Democrat)
• Jason Fields - Global Ex, LLC (Also the front man for the GMC front group)
• Tia Torhorst (Former Abele aide)
• Michael Neitzke - Mayor - City of Greenfield
• Steve Scaffidi - Mayor - City of Oak Creek
• Brian Schopper - Greater Milwaukee Committee
• Orville Seymer - CRG Network
• Deanna Alexander - Supervisor - Milwaukee County Board
• Alonzo Kelly (GMC)
• Leah Vukmir - Senator - 5th Senate District
• George Mitchell (education profiteer)

It is rather suspicious that not all of the GMC members identified themselves as such.  I guess that kind of lying falls into the "It's Only OK If A Plutocrat Does It" category.

But the fact that GMC had their minions testifying for their bill is one thing.  But when it comes to pay for play, that is another subject altogether.

I've already reported about how Abele was bragging to radio squawker Jay Weber that he has given campaign contributions to Sanfelippo and Dale Kyooenga within weeks of their voting on this bill.  

Now we find that Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander, who can't find her way around her district or has even the simplest understanding of her job, is going to the beneficiary of both Abele and the GMC:

Is there any guesses on how Alexander is going to vote on Thursday regarding the board's self "reform" bill?  (What will also be interesting is to see how Alexander votes on the taxi resolution since it could hurt Sanfelippo.)

And yes, in case the gentle reader was wondering, this in direct violation of the code of ethics.  Not that ethics and this group are even passing acquaintances.

There was a time when this sort of behavior was prosecuted. There was a time when this sort of corruption would never have been tolerated.

Now it's considered standard operating procedures.

Of course, before this type of bribery was accepted, people used to value democracy too.

Undermining Fitzwalkerstan

During this upcoming week, the state legislature is set to vote on the mining bill.  For all practical purposes, it's the same as the one from last year that was written by the mining company and failed to pass due to one stalwart Republican who still had a conscience.

There is one major difference though.  It is now even more unpopular than ever.  Public Policy Polling did a poll on the mining bill and it was not good news for the Republicans.  Per a press release from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters:

A poll released today shows that public opposition to the provisions of the Open-Pit Mining Bill (SB 1/AB 1) has grown significantly since last year. Wisconsin voters oppose the bill by a 33% margin (62-29). Opposition has increased 20 points since last year with undecideds having shifted into the opposition camp. Those voters who consider themselves “independent” opposed the bill by a 44% margin. Support for the bill among Republicans has also dropped.
“The more voters learn about the Open-Pit Mining Bill and the threat it poses to Wisconsin’s natural resources and public health, the more they oppose it. It turns out that standing up for a mining company’s ability to dump waste into our streams and expose our families to deadly chemicals like arsenic and lead is a very unpopular position among the Wisconsin electorate,” said Anne Sayers, Program Director for Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. 
The poll also tested:

• Whether mining companies should be allowed to fill wetlands with waste and other materials (Oppose 67-24).

• Whether the amount of money the DNR can collect from mining companies for permit reviews should be capped (Oppose 78-13).

• Whether the role of legislators is to bring jobs to the state no matter the cost to the environment or to balance jobs at environmental concerns (Balance 77-18).

• How concerned voters are that the mining company played a key role in writing the Open-Pit Mining Bill (Concerned 77-20).

“Proponents of the Open-Pit Mining Bill had an additional year to fix and sell this bill to the voters of Wisconsin, but they’ve only lost ground. The bill can’t be fixed. The public knows it and the legislators know it. The only question now is whether legislators will stand with the Wisconsinites they represent or an out-of-state mining company,” concluded Sayers.
The poll by Public Policy Polling surveyed 911 Wisconsin voters on February 18th and 19th, exactly one year since a similar poll was conducted. The margin of error is +/-3%.
View the polling memo from Public Policy Polling here. View the crosstabs here.

Well, that would explain why the mining company is so willing to dump all that money pushing for the bill.  They need to give their sockpuppet legislators some incentive to put their hands in the grinder.

The simple fact that the Republicans even have this bill up for a vote shows who they are really working for.  Here's a hint: It ain't us.

For more information, I would refer the gentle reader to those more knowledgeable than I on this matter.  James Rowen shreds the arguments that the corporate media has parroted in their effort to promote the bill.  Eddee Daniel also has a nice piece with a graphic to show you just how much of our state the mining company wants to chew up and spit out.

There is an event up in Ashland on Monday and events at the Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest the bill.

One Would Think Walker Would Be Better At Pay For Play Schemes By Now

Over the weekend, the news reported yet another pay for play scheme involving Scott Walker. This time it involved Stephen and Nancy Einhorn, the people that acted as the money launderers when the Bradley Foundation wanted to put up racist billboards aimed at causing voter suppression.

Now they're embroiled in an sordid attempt at pay for play:

Conservative Milwaukee financier Stephen Einhorn and his wife, Nancy, donated $25,000 to Gov. Scott Walker a month before Einhorn's firm won a contract to manage $1 million of taxpayer money, potentially triggering federal "pay-to-play" conflict of interest rules.

Einhorn's Capital Midwest and two other companies were chosen by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority from a field of six applicants to invest $7 million of federal money in state businesses, particularly those in low-income communities. After an inquiry by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the two $12,500 contributions from the Einhorns, a WHEDA official said the agency is holding off on releasing the money to Capital Midwest until the firm resolves questions about the federal rule.

"They've got to get this answered before anybody's comfortable making any kind of final release," said John Hogan, WHEDA chief operating officer.

Hogan said WHEDA kept the selection process free from political influence. His comments were echoed by others who sought the money - including those from firms that didn't win. But some of the fund managers also said they had explicit policies in place to prevent political donations from creating a real or perceived conflict of interest.

[...]

The Einhorns' contributions to Walker could trigger a rule enacted in 2010 by the SEC, the federal agency that regulates financial firms. That's because Walker effectively appoints the executive director of WHEDA as well as eight of the 12 members of the board of the quasi-governmental authority. The rule could prevent Einhorn from collecting compensation on the $1 million for two years after the contributions were made. U.S. Treasury Department conflict of interest rules might also apply.

The "pay-to-play" rule is the first far-reaching effort by the SEC to limit outside investment managers' ability to steer business their way through campaign contributions. The rule could apply in this case and the matter should be looked at further, said Robert Hockett, a professor of financial law at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

"I can't think off the top of my head of any strong arguments why this (rule) would not be at least applicable here, even if not actually violated," Hockett said.

So, the people that acted as a front group for the racist Bradley Foundation to scare off minority voters gave Walker a ton of money just before being given a very lucrative contract.

It's just like the bad old days when Scott Walker was having Tim Russell direct WHEDA funds to places not allowed by law. That was another fine cost Walker left Milwaukee County taxpayers with.

I have to admit, when I first story, my first reaction was "Meh. What else is old?"

Walker is no stranger to pay for play schemes.

I can think of four different pay for play stunts Walker pulled as county executive, not counting the one mentioned above.

One of Walker's long time campaign donors is the Kujawa family, who own a landscaping company in Milwaukee. The gentle reader might remember them from their connection to Walkergate. Darlene Wink used to work for them and so they were a go to place when Walker needed a place to grandstand or some campaign cash.

In exchange for all the favors done for Walker and all the money donated to him, Walker gave them contracts for taking care of county parks which were being neglected due to his laying off so many parks workers. Walker even went so far as to return the campaigning favor and endorsing Chris Kujawa when he tried to run for a county supervisor seat.

I wonder if Mr. Kujawa is still as fond of Walker after it turned out that Walker's best friend, Tim Russell, stole from him.

Walker did it again with Wackenhut, now known as GS4, also known as Walker's Imperial Guard.

Wackenhut has long been a supporter of Walker's, hence his Truth in Sentencing law and attempts to privatize the state's prison system. They stuck with their lackey when he was county executive.

In exchange, Walker did one of his infamous "fiscal emergency" routines and laid off all of the county's security staff and gave the contract to Wackenhut. The catch came in when it turned out Walker didn't follow the rules when he laid off the county workers and they had to be hired back, even though the county still was contracted to Wackenhut. The end result included Wackenhut guards and county guards standing sentry at the same areas. On top of that, Milwaukee County Sheriff Clarke had to post his deputies to make sure the two sets of guards didn't go after each other. The cost of back pay for the wrongfully laid off workers was $430,000 alone. No one has ever reported the cost of having the same doors triple guarded.

Walker repeated the "fiscal emergency" stunt again the next year when he privatized the last of the housekeeping staff. This time, he gave the contract to campaign donor Edward Aprahamian, owner of MidAmerican Building Services.

For what it's worth, I have recently learned that Aprahamian's company, which has never done a good job, was told that their contract would not be renewed. Current Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, again imitating his predecessor, has put out bids to for a new agency. How much you want to bet it ends up being with one of his cronies?

Perhaps the most egregious example of Walker's pay for play that's come to the surface so far involves the now defunct Air Tran, who had paid for Walker's campaign Harley Davidson ride around the state in 2009 and 2010:

Sometime between March 21st and May 21st, when Air Tran announced their expansion at Mitchell International Airport, it had crossed Walker's desk and he signed off on it.

Now, just weeks after Air Tran's announcement of their benefit from their business with the county, it is also announced that they are picking up the tab for Walker's campaign ride.

That little stunt flies in the face of the Milwaukee County Code of Ethics. In fact, from the Milwaukee Code of General Ordinances, section 9.05(2)(a) strictly forbids an elected official to gain from or accept any financial gain or anything else of substantial value for personal benefit or for the benefit of any family member or organization they may belong to. That would include Walker and his governor's campaign.

Unfortunately, the entire Ethics Board were Walker's political appointees, and thus they never did any serious investigations into the multiple complaints filed against Walker.

The most surprising thing is that with all the times that Walker's done pay for play stunts like those listed above, you'd think he'd be better at hiding his misdeeds. He's not only incompetent as a leader, he's incompetent as a crook.

Life In Fitzwalkerstan: A Classic Tale

While running for governor, Scott Walker set up a caucus scandal type of operation inside the Milwaukee County Executive's Suite. Said operation, which would eventually come under a John Doe investigation known as Walkergate, was vast and expansive in its corruption. There was no law that Walker and his gang of hoodlums were afraid of breaking in their pursuit of seeing Walker in the governor's office.

At this point in time, the Walkergate investigation has yielded four convictions on a wide array of charges. The first person to be charged and convicted was railroad tycoon William E. Gardner, who so wanted to see a Walker administration that he was willing to illegally donate corporate money to Walker's campaign.

Gardner's railroad empire, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Company, ran through most of southern and eastern Wisconsin, utilizing state-owned tracks. This obviously made the decisions of the future governor important to the success of his business.

In order to gain influence on Walker's decision making, Gardner had employees make political donations to Walker's campaign and then reimburse them with his company's money.

Gardner was arrested, charged and convicted of making illegal campaign contributions. Thus he will forever be in the history books as the first of the Walker Six to be convicted.

But his efforts did not go unnoticed or unrewarded by Walker. To reward his wannabe benefactor, Walker made changes in the law and in administrative code which was favorable to Wisconsin & Southern.

As if to rub it in the face of every good Wisconsinite, the Governor of Fitzwalkerstan flaunted his pay for play antics by having a model Wisconsin & Southern train circling the Christmas tree.

Furthermore, it looked like Gardner was about to cash in on his efforts to further the cause. Another railroad company, Watco Transportation Services, which is based in Kansas, was buying Wisconsin & Southern. It was purely coincidental that Watco's largest customer was none other than Koch Industries. Officials from both companies denied up and down that there was any correlation between Watco's relationship to the Kochs, Walker's relationship with the Kochs and Gardner helping Walker out. They wouldn't lie, right?

But the story doesn't end there, because, as the gentle reader already knows, in Fitzwalkerstan, there is more. There is always more.

It turns out that Watco has been slowly but steadily siphoning jobs from Wisconsin to Kansas. First, the payroll and accounting jobs were taken over by the main office in Kansas and those Wisconsin jobs ended.

Now more jobs are about to head south as well:

While Gov. Scott Walker and other state officials are focused on bringing jobs to Wisconsin, Watco Transportation Services, which in January bought Wisconsin & Southern Railroad, is sending them out of state, a source with knowledge of the workings of the company says.

Of the approximately 250 people who work for Wisconsin & Southern, at least 30 can expect to see their positions transferred to Watco’s company headquarters in Pittsburg, Kan. The changes at Wisconsin & Southern since it was sold have left some managers demoralized and looking for new jobs, says the source, a longtime Wisconsin & Southern manager who doesn’t want to be named for fear of repercussions.

The situation has already resulted in the departure of some managers, says the source, which was confirmed by a state official.

"A few managers have left, but I think that was of their own accord -- I'm not sure," says Frank Huntington of the state Department of Transportation's Bureau of Rails and Harbors.

The jobs potentially being transferred are administrative and managerial positions at the railroad’s Milwaukee headquarters, but could also include dispatching and customer service, leaving only repair, track maintenance and locomotive personnel. Payroll and accounting functions have already been sent to Kansas, says the source.

Yuppers, classical Fitzwalkerstan tale so far. Pay for play, Walkergate, corruption, job losses and intimidation. The only thing missing is betrayal.

Oh, wait, I spoke too soon!

Look at what really happened to Gardner who sacrificed his career and his freedom for Walker:

One position that's been vacated is that of former Wisconsin & Southern President Bill Gardner, who, according to the source, was pushed out last month after complaining about the way Watco has gone about operating the railroad. A flashpoint between Watco and Gardner was the firing of a company manager, which Gardner objected to.

In January, Watco bought 90 percent of the railroad from Gardner, who kept 10 percent ownership of the company. The financial terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed, but the source says Watco purchased the 90 percent share of the company for $63 million. Gardner’s take was pushed to over $70 million when he sold his remaining stake in the company last month.

My story Wednesday quoted a Wisconsin & Southern official saying Gardner left the company on good terms to pursue other opportunities in the rail industry.

That official, Ken Lucht, director of community development, did not return calls on Thursday.

The Wisconsin & Southern source says Gardner was basically shoved out the door. The source says that Watco had originally promised Gardner that he could stay with the company to help “take it to the next level” by expanding Wisconsin & Southern’s operations with access to Watco’s rail lines and corporate connections. But after taking control of the railroad Watco brought in its own management team, which told Gardner he would no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations.

Calls to Gardner’s home earlier this week were not answered. Watco Cos. CEO Rick Webb didn’t return messages Thursday seeking comment. The company’s chief information officer, Cheryl Correll, also didn’t return a phone call.

Ah, now it's a classic Fitzwalkerstan tale.

The only thing is I really don't understand why so many people are having such a hard time learning the moral of these tales and keep supporting Walker and his friends. You'd think that the sense of preservation would kick in at some point. Then again, one might have said that about the folks at Jonestown too.

Another Shocking Development In Fitzwalkerstan, Inc.

The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Scott Walker is ready to end the requirement for inexpensive life-saving equipment in building codes. According to the article, he wants to end the requirement for homes to be equipped with circuit interrupters which help prevent electrical fires, electrocution and thermal burns. Walker also want to end the requirement for tamper resistant outlets which protect children from sticking things in the outlet and getting a shock or electrocuted.

Safety inspectors and public safety officials are flummoxed and deeply concerned about this proposal. They are relatively inexpensive, adding about $200 to the cost of a $200,000 home, yet have been proven to be life and property savers beyond value.

So why does Walker want to get rid of these safety devices?

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

If you guessed that it's pay back to some wealthy campaign contributors, you guessed right.

According to the article:

The Wisconsin Homebuilders Association was one source for the code-changing plan, confirmed Jerry Deschane, association vice president.

"We have talked to the department about some changes, mostly because of reliability problems with all three of those devices," said Deschane.

Long time readers may remember the name Deschane.

Jerry Deschane is the father of Brian Deschane, the college dropout with no experience but who does have two DWI's, whom Walker appointed to a $81,500 position in the state's Department of Commerce.

Dan Bice reported on the younger Deschane's "qualifications" for that position:

His father is Jerry Deschane, executive vice president and longtime lobbyist for the Madison-based Wisconsin Builders Association, which bet big on Walker during last year's governor's race.

The group's political action committee gave $29,000 to Walker and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, last year, making it one of the top five PAC donors to the governor's successful campaign. Even more impressive, members of the trade group funneled more than $92,000 through its conduit to Walker's campaign over the past two years.

Total donations: $121,652.

That's big-time backing from the homebuilders.

After catching too much flak about this, Walker thought he'd resolve the issue by demoting Deschane to a $61,000 job for which he also was not qualified. Not only that, Walker bypassed two other much more qualified applicants.

In fact, this stunt was one of the things Walker got grilled on when he had to testify before a congressional committee:



Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA), the congressman who tore into Walker about this, also made a formal request for an investigation into this obvious pay for play business.

Too bad that the Republicans never allowed this to happen. If they had, they would have found another incident of Walker committing perjury. When Walker testified, under oath, that the hiring of Deschane was five levels below him, he was lying his butt off. It was Walker's Chief of Staff, Keith Gilkes, who "made the recommendation" for this hiring, regardless what the Commerce Secretary's opinion of his qualifications.

Now, this move to remove important pieces of safety equipment from homes as a pay back to a large campaign contributor is nothing new in Fitzwalkerstan, Inc. Walker has a long history of kowtowing to wealthy campaign donors.  But as the gentle reader already knows, when it comes to anything dealing with Walker, there's more. There's always more.

The reason Deschane the elder wants this done is, well, your guess is as good as mine since Deschane is just making crap up as he goes along (emphasis mine):

Deschane was critical of the AFCI, GFCI and tamper-proof outlets because "some electricians have been talking to us about reliability problems." A home security system or a sump pump, for example, can trip an interrupter, he said. And the tamper-resistant outlets, which use small plastic covers over the prong openings that are moved aside only when both sides are engaged at the same time, cause problems for "some people who have trouble putting plugs in those sockets."

He knew of no tests or statistics or reports that support those claims, but "the concerns we have raised come from complaints from people who have been installing (the devices) in Wisconsin."

So, now we have Walker being bought off to eliminate the use of these safety devices, they can't even give a valid reason for it, except for the mysterious, unnamed "them."

Ah, but there is still more (again, emphasis mine):

There is no timetable for the task, said department spokeswoman Angie Hellenbrand, who referred questions to Deschane, of the builders association, for more information.

The proposal estimates it will take 600 hours of staff time to develop the rules.

WTH? Now we have state officials deferring to lobbyists for answers on state policy?! And whose staff is going to be putting in the 600 hours of work to eliminate something that will be put back in two years when Kleefisch (Walker will be in prison by then) loses to whoever the Democrats put up against her? And who will be paying for it?

Knowing how Walker's masters' minds work, I'm guessing taxpayers will be paying the lobbyists' staff to come up with these rules, which will be so fouled up that it will take 1200 work hours to straighten them out again.

What sickens me the most out of this whole sordid affair is how Walker isn't even bothering trying to put on the airs of being a respectable man anymore, but is openly flaunting his corruption, thinking himself to be infallible.

As God as my witness, no one will be celebrating the news of his indictment more than I.

Walker Returns To The Scene Of The Crime, Mocks His Victims

On Monday morning, just a week before the recall primary, Scott Walker, with his entourage of Lt. Governor Becky Kleefisch and Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson, comes traipsing to Milwaukee to take a shot at potential recall opponent Mayor Tom Barrett by announcing a scheme he dubbed "Transform Milwaukee."

To make a long story short, Walker wants to take credit for taking WHEDA funding and use it for what it's meant to be used for.

Excuse me, but for anyone who is familiar with the history of Milwaukee, both the county and the city, for the past ten years, this is like Walker bragging about cleaning up the milk he spilled.

But first, let's look at what he's claiming now.

If we're to believe Walker, he's been secretly planning to revitalize Milwaukee for the past year, even though he never met with Mayor Barrett until last month and has never met with Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.  (But he did allegedly meet with Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas about the time he was being investigated and charged for taking a bribe in a separate John Doe investigation.  Maybe they held their discussion while waiting to be interviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney?)

And, as I pointed out above, the fact that this plan has been going on for over a year now, and he is only announcing it now is more than highly suspicious.  It's blatant politicking. (I warned about this happening, but alas, no one heeded my alarms.)

But what really burns me is his record on the things he claims he wants to do now.  Walker said that this grand scheme of his is to accomplish certain things, although he isn't very specific on the when or how he plans to go about this:

1. Create jobs
2. Take care of foreclosed and vacant properties
3. Economic Development
4. Create bioswales and other structures to address flooding problems
5. Improve the intermodal transportation structure

Sounds great, right?  Well, until you look at his track record on these points, it might.

Job Creation

As governor, Walker has had the dubious honor of leading Wisconsin to be the only state in the nation to have statistically significant job losses for the past year.  For seven of the last nine months, Wisconsin has been hemorrhaging jobs, all due directly to Walker's failed policies.

Ironically, the 30th Street Corridor, the spot that Walker is proposing to be the beneficiary of his newly found largesse also happens to be the home of Talgo, the train manufacturing company that Walker is personally forcing to leave the state.

Even when he was county executive, Walker was a failure at creating jobs.  So much so that in 2007, then Governor Jim Doyle had to take the Private Industry Council, which was supposed to help train and find employment for Milwaukee's poor and minorities, away from Walker and give it to Mayor Tom Barrett.

To add to Walker's miserable record as county executive, he continuously pared down the transit system.  By 2008, he already cut out 20% of the bus services, which left more than 40,000 jobs inaccessible to people reliant on the transit system.  As governor, he slashed the funding for the Milwaukee County Transit System by even more.  A 2011 study done by the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee issued this warning:

"Particularly in the current economic climate, a substantial reduction of transit service to regional employers would create further difficulties for a regional economy that is already showing few signs of life."

They further advocated for a dedicated funding source for the transit system, which is the only one in the only major transit system in the nation without one, like the dedicated sales tax, which was approved by the voters but Walker actively fought against:

Finally, we join others in urging state and local policymakers to pass the necessary legislation to create a dedicated local funding source for transit in Milwaukee County. The chronic budget shortfalls experienced by MCTS in recent years are due in no small part to the competition MCTS faces every year for a share of county property tax revenues. This arrangement, highly unusual for a large transit system like MCTS, is no longer sustainable. A proposal for a county sales tax to replace property tax funding for transit was approved by Milwaukee County voters in an advisory referendum in 2008. State and local policymakers should respect the preferences of voters and act soon to establish a permanent, dedicated funding source for transit that would help put MCTS on more solid financial footing.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Walker laid off over 20% of Milwaukee County's workforce in his time as county executive.  Most of these layoffs came in housekeeping, security and the parks.  Furthering his long history of pay for play, he gave out contracts to Edward Aprahamian, Wackenhut and Kujawa Enterprises, Inc., respectively.  And yeah, all three of these have donated to Walker's campaign.

Foreclosed and Vacant Properties

In the past week, the City of Milwaukee has come out with the new reassessments of properties.  Reflecting the dire economic conditions in the state, many people had their homes drop by as much as $30,000.  This put many people - too many - upside down on their mortgages.  I feel confident in saying that I doubt that these properties which Walker is aiming at fared no better and probably took even bigger blows in their value.

This would make them prime targets for commercial realtors.  And I'm sure that it's a mere coincidence that the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin were big supporters of Walker and played heavily in his gubernatorial campaign.  Just as I'm sure it's purely coincidental that the Wisconsin Realtors Association has already endorsed Walker in the upcoming recall election.

Economic Development

This is almost as much of a joke as the job creation bit.

As Milwaukee County Executive, Walker first used the economic development positions as political appointment slots for his unqualified campaign workers, who failed miserably:

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.

In his 2009 budget, in the height of the recession, Walker eliminated the economic development office altogether.

Of course, what can one expect from the person who said that a plan to develop and promote Milwaukee County and the surrounding area to be akin to putting "lipstick on a pig."  

Perhaps his newly found devotion has to do with all the left over Koch-o Brown lipstick he had from his invitation-only croquet fundraiser.

Bioswales

Walker claims that he wants to use some of the funding to construct bioswales and work on the infrastructure to control flooding.  The funny thing is he didn't appear that worried about flooding in his last year as county executive, when he vetoed a resolution which would prevent Waukesha County from dumping 10.9 million gallons of their sewer water into Milwaukee County rivers.  These rivers already had a problem with flooding, especially during the spring rains and snow melt.  

Of course, Milwaukee home owners aren't as affluent as Waukesha County residents or as commercial realtors, so their plights hold little influence for Walker.

Intermodal Transportation Structure

In his press release, Walker stated that he wanted to direct resourced to "an established intermodal transportation infrastructure to ensure the efficient transportation of Milwaukee products to national and global markets utilizing the water, air, rail and highway systems."

How Walker proposes to do this should be interesting.

His attack on the working people of Wisconsin has already damaged the economy that the once primary airline is all but pulling out of Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport.

And his myopic approach to rail already killed any chance of high speed rail, and all the jobs that come with it, from ever coming to Wisconsin.

And with his inane attack on mass transit, as noted above, he's put Milwaukee's transit system in a death spiral.  Even if there were jobs, people would not have a way to get to them.

But I'm sure that this won't keep Walker from claiming he's got to widen the entire interstate in the region, since he does have the road builders to pay back for their more than generous support.

Besides the hypocrisy of Walker's sudden conversion into actually giving a damn about the people of Milwaukee, something he's done for the past ten years, it's downright insulting knowing that he as no intention of following through with any of this.  Just like when Walker and his Republican cohorts in the state legislature tried to ram through the corporate-written mining bill, this has nothing to do with jobs.

This stunt was nothing but a cynical piece of political game-playing.  Like all of his "job creating" proposals, this is nothing more than a smoke and mirrors act while he doles out more taxpayer money to his wealthy friends and campaign contributors, while letting those who would cling onto his false promises sit and rot.

It's one thing to continuously attack a group of people because of greed and misguided - OK, insane - ideology.  But then to come back and dangle a phony life preserver in front of the people he's thrown overboard is indescribably cruel.

For that alone he deserves to be recalled.

Walker's Long History Of Pay For Play

Ever since the Koch Brothers bought the governor's office, we have seen Scott Walker paring off hunks of Wisconsin and giving them to his campaign donors in return.

We've seen everything from his trying to give the north woods to Gogebic Taconite to giving cushy jobs to lobbyist's sons to rewarding the generous road builders to giving big tax breaks to his corporate cronies.  And he paid for his generosity on the backs of the workers and the poor.

But these horrific and unethical pay for play schemes are nothing new to Walker.

In what is being reported as something John Doe is looking at in the ongoing Walkergate saga, there was pay for play with his campaign staff and/or county staff (who can really tell the difference anymore?) and the commercial real estate brokers (who again blur in with the county/campaign blend).  This edition involved giving  county taxpayer money to seal a deal, thereby making a nice profit for his people, in order to rent a high-priced office building while county-owned building sat underused or even vacant.

There is also Walker's questionable relationship with Air Tran, who decided to sponsor his campaign Harley Davidson ride around the state at about the same time Walker just gave them a big expansion at Mitchell International Airport to serve as their base.

And thanks to a savvy and observant commenter who pointed out this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Dan Bice and Cary Spivac which showed Walker was double talking and double dealing during his first campaign run for governor:

When Scott Walker was a Republican gubernatorial candidate, his position on accepting donations during the state budget season was clear: Don't do it.

"That way, you remove any appearance that fund raising during the budget time has anything to do with the budget process," Walker said in January, two months before he dropped out of the governor's race.

Good advice - too bad Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker didn't get the message.

If he had, Walker would not have sent out a letter begging folks to send his campaign a few bucks right now - while the county budget was being debated.

Not only did the solicitation go out a week after he introduced the $1.26 billion budget, but Walker's plea uses the budget fight as the sales pitch for contributions.

"We have bold and creative ideas to balance the county budget," Walker wrote to some 8,000 supporters this month. "On the other hand, they (County Board members) continue to resurrect the same tired and old tax and spend ideas."

Then Walker - who is up for re-election this spring - passed the collection plate.

"To combat the attacks we will get from the liberal county board members and the special interest groups, I need your help," he wrote. "We have a powerful message of hope for the future, but we cannot depend on the media to get it out.

"That's why I hope you'll take a moment and renew your support of my campaign through a generous gift of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $25 today."

John Hiller, Walker's campaign chairman, defended the letter, arguing there was no contradiction between Walker's words and actions.

"He, in spirit, complied with what he was proposing," Hiller said.

Oh! John Hiller! We've heard that name recently. He was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years before Walker suddenly decided he wasn't up for the job. The fact that they started looking at the shady Reuss Building deal mentioned above had nothing to do with it, I'm sure.

But there's more (emphasis mine):

Curious as to what Walker thinks, we called him at the courthouse. His flack Rod McWilliams wasn't very helpful.

First McWilliams was aghast that we even asked him - a county worker - for a statement about a campaign matter.

We explained to McWilliams that we didn't want his opinion. Rather we wanted to talk to Walker - you know, the guy who mixed county business with politics in the first place. So, we again asked McWilliams to ask Walker to call us.

McWilliams refused to take the message.

"That's not how we do things," he lectured, explaining there is a wall between campaign and county business.

Hmm, that's one tall wall. Sounds like McWilliams has been listening to the Walker who ran for governor, not the one who is using the county budget fight to raise campaign cash.

And even before any of these examples, there are my good friends at the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government. Before they started with filing false and falsified charges against me or attempting to recall popular politicians, they were the front group that led the charge in recalling Walker's predecessor and getting Walker elected. In exchange for their favor, Walker tried to give them some office space in the Milwaukee County Courthouse (which is illegal. Furthermore, Walker worked at getting the county to buy into Six Sigma, which CRG's ring leader, Chris Kleismet, was involved with.

As you can see, Walker has a long history of corrupt and unethical behavior.  So the reprehensible stunts he's pulling now or when he was running for governor doesn't surprise me on bit.

What does surprise me is that after more than ten years of it, he hasn't gotten any better at concealing it.  Then again, I shouldn't be surprised at that.  I also know that Walker's always been a slow learner.

Walkergate: The First Arrest

Right in the middle of the gathering of signatures for the Scott Walker recall, Walkergate raises its ugly head, as if we needed any more incentive to get the bum out of office with all due haste.

Andrew P. Jensen, Jr, coutesty
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has been covering the ongoing saga of Walkergate, which has been underway for a year and a half and is reportedly growing massive in its range and scale, reports on the latest shoe to fall in the investigation:

On Tuesday, authorities arrested Andrew P. Jensen Jr., a commercial real estate broker with Boerke Co. and a past president of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin.

Fran McLaughlin, spokesman for Sheriff David Clarke Jr., confirmed that Jensen was behind bars on Tuesday night. But McLaughlin said no one had filed a criminal complaint against the 50-year-old Milwaukee resident.

The sheriff's website states that charges are pending against Jensen.

Attempts to reach Jensen or his lawyer were unsuccessful. Jensen, who primarily represents building owners seeking tenants for vacant space, is considered one the top agents in Milwaukee in this field.

Jensen was a minor contributor to Walker's gubernatorial campaign, donating $850 to Walker. Boerke Co. employees gave a total of $12,150.

Insiders told No Quarter that he was arrested for refusing to cooperate with the long-running John Doe investigation by Milwaukee County prosecutors.

As Bice goes on to explain, in a John Doe investigation, prosecutors can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify.

While Jensen's arrest will make for great conversation around the water cooler and at the lunch table on Wednesday, it's not the biggest part of Walkergate. Remember, Jensen was only arrested, per the article, for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation. It doesn't indicate that Jensen was necessarily tied up with any other wrong doings.

But what did catch my eye was the fact that Jensen is a real estate broker and past president of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin (CARW).

It caught my eye, because Walker seems to like to surround himself with these folks

One such example is Jim Villa.  Villa is a Walker crony going way back.

Villa was Walker's Chief of Staff when he was in the state legislature.  He returned to the Chief of Staff position when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and was gearing up for his first attempt at running for governor.  At that time, Walker was already taking a lot of heat for the miserable way he was handling the county's affairs and for campaigning on the county dime during his infamous bike rides. Even then, Walker acolytes like Owen Robinson were falling all over themselves making excuses and being apologetic as they defended Walker's already evident corruption.

Besides being a Walker supporter and Walker aide, Villa is also a real estate broker and has been the president of CARW for the past four years.

Another such character is a man named Jim Hiller.  You've probably heard of the name.

He was Walker's campaign treasurer for 18 years, about as long as Walker has been a career politician.  Hiller also served on Walker's transition team as he became governor.  And yes, he was in real estate for 21 years.

Hiller should be someone to watch as Walkergate continues to unfold.  After all, there has to be a reason why Hiller suddenly quit as Walker's treasurer after 18 years, and I doubt it was because he wanted to be a lobbyist:

"Every time there's a new witness, this thing sprouts a new branch and heads in a completely new direction," said one person familiar with the investigation.

Walker also acknowledged Tuesday that his longtime campaign treasurer, John Hiller, had left that post. Records show Hiller was replaced by Kate Lind on May 13.

The governor said the change had nothing to do with the John Doe investigation

"For us, we put someone on who is a professional comptroller to make sure, with the volume of supporters we have, we had somebody who could handle that," Walker said. Two insiders said Hiller had also broken formal ties with the campaign around the same time he began soliciting clients with business before the state.

After that length of time, Eagle Scout Walker suddenly felt that Hiller wasn't up to the job? Right.

But that line about "soliciting clients with business before the state" sounds awfully suspicious to me, given some of the rumors that have been floating around regarding the investigation.

But there's one more real estate agent who is a long time Walker crony that is most definitely a person of interest in the investigation: Tim Russell. Russell is, of course, one of the first people to be investigated in the early days of Walkergate. He was caught on film campaigning with Walker during his bike ride. He also had his office thoroughly searched, including having his computer and county-issued Blackberry confiscated and locked file cabinets pried open by Sheriff's deputies.

As a possible tie in to the others, Russell also held a couple of real estate related positions under Walker in Milwaukee County, including working in economic development and during his last job, as Director of Housing. Both of these jobs worked intricately in real estate and the funding that goes with those positions.

All of these people, as well as other members of CARW and the real estate brokerage and real estate development were big supporters of Walker's campaigns, whether by working for him and/or contributing to his campaign.

Given Walker's long history of blatant cronyism and of rewarding his supporters lavishly, it does give pause to wonder if this is somehow related to the Walkergate investigation.  I think the gentle reader already knows where I would come down on this, but I will leave it to you to decide for yourself.

Now let us prepare for the onslaught of manipulations and stunts that Walker and his allies will ply in an effort to draw our attention from the things that they don't want us to see or know about.

Walkergate: Pay For Play Continues To Pay Off

Early in the year, one of the bills that Scott Walker and his cohorts in the legislature rammed through was to mandate that road work could no longer be done by public sector workers but had instead to be farmed out to private vendors. This was done despite findings that private contractors were costing even the state's Department of Transportation millions of dollars more than they would have spent if the work was done by public sector workers. The bill was so fraudulent that even Republican Senator Mike Ellis called it outrageous.

Walker and his allies said it was to help control the "high cost" of "bloated public works departments."

But we are now seeing the real reason why Walker wanted this passed was so badly - to benefit their campaign donors.

An example of this just came to light in Outagamie County (emphasis mine):

Farming out a paint-striping job to a private company cost Outagamie County considerably more than having a neighboring county do the work under a reciprocal agreement.

So says Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, who this week cited the highway improvement on County Road P near Black Creek as the first county project to confirm earlier fears that costs will spiral under a new state law.

Nelson called it a case of "sticker shock, a wake-up call to the governor and entire Legislature to repeal law changes that forbid local governments from working together and saving taxpayer dollars."

Here's the issue as Nelson described it: Outagamie County recently solicited quotes for paint striping 2.5 miles of County Road P. Under the old law, it would have cost $500 to $700 by using Calumet County's equipment and crew under a reciprocal agreement.

Those types of agreements are limited now under state law in an attempt by Republican legislators to push contracts to private businesses.

After Outagamie County solicited quotes from private vendors, only one was made. Century Fence, of Pewaukee, quoted $3,935 for the work, or more than five times the cost under the reciprocal agreement with Calumet County.

Purchasing and operating its own paint striper would cost Outagamie County in excess of $200,000, Nelson said. So it's logical for the county to make use of Calumet County's paint striper in exchange for letting Calumet County use Outagamie County's costly road reclaimer, a high- ticket machine that recycles and readies old asphalt pavement for re-use, Nelson said.

He called the substantial price hike "a sampling of things to come" unless the law is repealed.

Century Fence, the sole bidder and winner of this contract, just so happens to be a big donor to many Republican politicians including Walker, Becky Kleefisch, Alberta Darling and the disgraced and ousted Dan Kapanke.

Nice way to work out for the working people and the tax payers, eh?

And, as I know you were wondering, no, this is not anything new for Walker either.

As Milwaukee County Executive, Walker arbitrarily gave a housekeeping contract worth $1.2 million to MidAmerican Building services. The owner of this firm is Edward Aprahamian, Jr., who gave Walker $3,000 in campaign donations. (Interestingly, the article also reports that Aprahamian is a partner in a political consultancy firm, but doesn't divulge which one and if they worked with or were working with Walker at the time.)

Another example would be with Milwaukee County security guards. In the beginning of 2010, Walker claimed a fiscal emergency and immediately laid off the county-employed security guards, giving the contract to long-time campaign contributor Wackenhut Corp, an England-based company with a long history of problems. However, Walker, in his eagerness to repay his campaign donor, did the lay offs illegally and Milwaukee County was forced to hire back the old guards and give them back pay, at a tune of nearly half a million dollars. Not only that, but Milwaukee County ended up in the ridiculous position of having county guards, Wackenhut staff and county deputies (usually as overtime) all guarding the same doors.

There was no way that this could have been called fiscal responsibility, but that has never been Walker's objective.

His only concern has been rewarding his benefactors as he seeks higher and higher offices. And he has gotten the corrupt act of pay-for-play down to an art form.