Walkergate: Doe And Sons

At the end of last week, we learned that Scott Walker was again feeling the heat as the Sons of Doe were given free rein again as an appellate court said that the five concurrent investigations into possible collusion between his campaign and third party groups.  To add to his misery, the very next day, it was revealed that his campaign had spent $86,000 on legal defense attorneys, making it all but a surety that Walker was again (or is it still?) John Doe.

On Tuesday, Walker got reminded that Papa Doe was still around when Judge Patricia Curley ruled that the emails and other documents produced in the trial and sentencing hearing of Kelly Rindfleisch should be unsealed:

Kelly Rindfleisch — who served as Walker's deputy chief of staff when Walker was Milwaukee County executive — had asked the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to keep sealed thousands of emails and other documents as she tries to overturn her conviction.

But Appeals Judge Patricia Curley ruled Tuesday only a very limited set of records could be withheld from the public, such as those containing Social Security numbers or medical information.

"Personal information collected (in) a criminal investigation is routinely included in criminal appellate records," Curley wrote. "Although the investigation that led to the criminal charges against Rindfleisch generated widespread public interest, Rindfleisch is no different from any other person seeking appellate review of his or her criminal conviction.

"She may not seek to shield information simply because she does not want the information to be made available to the public."

Curley, who serves on the Milwaukee-based District 1 Court of Appeals, gave Rindfleisch 30 days to review the material and make requests to keep any specific records from being placed in the publicly available court file.

The article goes on to report that Rindfleisch's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, said he needed to "consult with his client" about the possibility of appealing this to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

If I were a gambling man, I would put money on an appeal for a few different reasons.

One, we can't forget that four out of the seven justices are beholden to the corporate special interests that are the subject of the investigations and as such, as shown that the law is not as much their concern as is what said special interests want.  After all, David "Chokehold" Prosser said that he would be a rubber stamp for Scott Walker.  Do you think that he would actually uphold the law and go against Walker?

Secondly, let's not forget that the funders of Rindfleisch's legal defense are Walker and the GOP.  Walker is fighting for reelection as well as keeping his eye on a presidential run.  He doesn't need to have the whole Walkergate scandal start to percolate again.  Especially while the national media is still having a feeding frenzy on the bloated carcass that was Chris Christie's political career.

Likewise, the corporate special interests don't want their money-laundering and election-buying schemes exposed any more than they already are.  They are already whining that the money flow as slowed way down.

The possible release of Rindfleisch's emails and documents aren't Walker's only problem from Tuesday.

In the same article, it is also reported that the Government Accountability Board had clarified the rules for legal defense cooperation funds in response to an "unnamed" political campaign:

Also Tuesday, state elections officials laid out how a candidate's political committee could pay its legal costs in an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations. The information was sought by a candidate's committee, but the state Government Accountability Board did not disclose which one asked.

The opinion made clear for the first time that candidate committees can use their funds only to pay for legal defense in investigations of civil matters. To pay for defense attorneys in criminal cases, the candidate and his or her campaign must establish a separate legal defense fund, the accountability board said.

But the undisclosed committee could currently pay legal expenses for the candidate or its agents from either fund because the investigation could result in either civil or criminal penalties, the board said.

Board spokesman Reid Magney said he was prohibited by law from naming the candidate or the date the opinion was issued, saying only that there is typically a "lag time" between an opinion being provided by the board and the opinion being made public.

Keep in mind that Walker's campaign finance report shows that his campaign paid out another $86,000 to defense attorneys. Even Big Fitz - State Senator Scott Fitzgerald - doesn't have that kind of payment.

The GAB might not be able to say, but I am confident that the gentle reader has the critical thinking skills needed to see what's what and that Walker is still John Doe.

And, as the gentle reader also knows, when it comes to all things Walkergate, there is more.  There is always more.

Tim Russell - long-time aid and very personal friend of Scott Walker - is still seeking his appeal to get his sentence shortened.  All the briefs are in as of Tuesday and now it's up to the court to issue a written decision or to schedule a hearing.  Even if no further tidbits come out of this, it will help to remind people of what a scandalous weasel Scott Walker really is.

In summary, one can make reasonable and educated guesses that Scott Walker is feeling the heat as John Doe and his five sons are starting to catch up with him.  Despite all of his legal maneuvering, he is only delaying the inevitable.

And don't you think for one second that he doesn't know it.  Why else would he be going to fundraisers being hosted by Texas billionaires if he didn't have to raise three times the cash - one part for his gubernatorial race, one part for his presidential hopes and one part for his legal defense cooperation fund.

Walkergate 2: Walker's Still Doing A Whole Lotta Cooperating!

Yesterday was the deadline for politicians to file their campaign finance reports for the second half of 2013. The largest corporate media outlet in the state was excited to announce that the primary corporate candidate, Scott Walker, had raised three times as much money as the secondary corporate candidate, Mary Burke.

That in itself is not surprising.  It's been shown time and time again that the Democrats can't beat the Republicans at their own game.

What was interesting is this little tidbit:

The disclosure of the payment to the Mequon-based Biskupic & Jacobs law firm came a day after information spilled out in court records about a secret John Doe investigation into campaign fundraising and spending surrounding Wisconsin's recent recall elections.

The payments — labeled as "legal fees — compliance/administrative" — were paid to a firm headed by former U.S. Attorneys Steven Biskupic and Michelle Jacobs. The firm received payments monthly from July to November, with the largest one — nearly $74,000 — coming in November.

Asked about the payments, Walker campaign spokesman Jonathan Wetzel said the campaign "relies on Biskupic & Jacobs for a variety of legal services." The two attorneys did not immediately return calls late Friday.

As noted in the article, Walker's campaign is passing it off as them just being "compliant."  But it should be noted that the whole compliance issue was the excuse he used when he established his legal cooperation fund during the initial Walkergate investigation.

I'm sure that $86,000 can buy a whole lot of compliance and cooperation...with the investigators.

But it does give one cause to ponder whether it means whether Walker's campaign was one of the unnamed petitioners that are desperately and vainly trying to stop the parallel Sons of Doe investigation.

I would say it was a safe bet that we have found at least one of the subjects of the investigations, especially considering how Walker has been using his weaselly words when asked about it.  As I have written numerous times before, if he was in the clear of this, he would be able to speak openly about it and even get a letter from the prosecutor that he is not a subject of the investigation.

Sadly, I don't see any of our corporate mainstream media outlets willing to push the issue.  Rather, they just accept him at his word, regardless of the numerous times he has lied to them and to us.

Walkergate 2: The Sons Of Doe Ride Again

After the Walkergate investigations ended with the conviction of six of Scott Walkers aides and supporters, may people thought that that was it.

But in October, news broke that there was another John Doe, or to be more accurate, five more John Doe probes, being conducted.  Precious little was known about these newly discovered investigations.  What we did know was that the investigations involved possible illegal collaboration between the Koch Brothers - Bradley Foundation-supported front groups such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity and the political campaigns of at least one of the recalled Republicans.  

Trying to get a grasp of what was going on was greatly hindered by the fact that the possibilities were so vast and the network of these front groups and the politicians were so immense, it was hard to keep it all straight.  Another issue was that the credibility of the sources of information was dubious at best.  Unlike Walkergate, these investigations started to leak like a sieve.  Sadly, the leaks were all right wing operatives, some who were claiming to be the subjects of the investigations.  To complicate things further, they were leaking to the right wing front groups and propagandists, adding to the doubt.

Fortunately for us, Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express was digging into it already.  Kaiser was the first to point to some of the central people/groups that were part of the investigation.  She pointed out that Eric O'Keefe, who has claimed to be one of the subjects of the investigation, was the head of Wisconsin Club for Growth and has ties to the Sam Adams Alliance, which in turn funds the Franklin Center and by extension, Wisconsin Reporter.

Kaiser also pointed out the enmeshment of R.J. Johnson, who was a consultant to Scott Walker's campaign as well as involved with Wisconsin Club for Growth.  Johnson was one of the people regularly copied into the emails that were flying between Walker's campaign and his county staff.

Kaiser went on to take a closer look at the front groups and their levels of enmeshment with each other. She was also able to confirm that the Koch Brothers were indeed funneling dark money into Wisconsin to influence the  recall elections.

The right wingers threw everything they could at the Does to at least impede, if not completely stop, the investigations. They ran a damage control barrage on squawk radio and through their various propagandists.  They also hired some very expensive attorneys to challenge the dot on every "i" and the cross on every "t."

A little less than a month ago, retired Appeals Court Judge Gregory Peterson ruled against the Does.  In his ruling, Peterson found that the prosecutors did not provide sufficient cause to believe that a crime was committed. As a result, he squashed the subpoenas that had been issued to, y'know, help investigate if a crime was committed.

The right wing was ecstatic.  Charlie Sykes and his White Wisconsin went on for days and days, claiming that this was some sort of victory for Freedom of Speech.  We heard how this was all some sort of political witch hunt aimed at Republicans.  They even went so far as to try to have White Wisconsin and former ALEC operative Brian Fraley act the martyr because - insert dramatic music here - a reporter asked him a question!

I found all of their antics to be particularly irritating, but especially their painting of themselves as martyrs.  These are the same schmucks that would go after the likes of Professor William Cronon for daring to expose the workings of ALEC.  They also went after me for daring to report the truth about Scott Walker.  Yet when they break the law, they think they should somehow be exempt?

Even though their antics were annoying, I held my tongue, knowing that that when it comes to these types of things, there's more.  There's always more.

On Thursday, the "more" came out.

Among the legal flailings of the right wing martyrs was that it was illegal to have a special prosecutor to run a John Doe investigation and that it was illegal for said special prosecutor and John Doe judge to run investigations in several counties at once.

Three appellate court judges ruled against most of these motions, finding that there were actually five different investigations going on even though they shared some commonality.  They also found that the special prosecutor took away the concerns of politics being the motivation for the investigation ans well as helped streamline the operations for everyone involved.

But the court also ordered that some of the court documents should be unsealed.  These documents include:

• The motion to stay the investigation,
• A memo to support their petition to stay the investigation,
• The response of the John Doe judges to the petition, and 
• The response from the special prosecutor to the petition.

Unfortunately, the unsealed documents don't reveal any more specifics about who is being investigated or what they might have supposedly done except for ""suggested criminal campaign finance violations may have been committed by residents of Columbia, Dane, Dodge and Iowa counties."

But some of the unsealed documents do reveal that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm asked Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen a second time to get involved in the investigation.  Van Hollen again denied this request, claiming that his office could not act with impartiality regarding the case.  And this was long before his office got tapped to represent the judges that they right wingers were suing in their efforts to impede justice.

Keep in mind that Van Hollen often was involved with various political campaigns.  It should make one wonder if what he knew of the Son of Doe investigations led to his decision to not seek reelection.  The question would be because he was part of the shenanigans or because he wants the job of someone who was involved with the shenanigans.

There are a couple of other tidbits that are worth keeping in mind.

One is that Van Hollen tried to dump the investigations onto the Government Accountability Board even though they do not have the authority to conduct criminal investigations, much less prosecute anyone.  With all the attacks on the GAB by the Republicans and their efforts to make it a more political entity, I wonder how much these investigations played into their motivation for doing so.  I think it's not unreasonable to question if they were trying to rig the system.  It would, after all, fit perfectly into their modus operandi.

The other thing to keep in mind is that two of the DA's requesting the John Doe proceedings and the use of a special prosecutor are Republicans.  This is in no way a political witch hunt or an attack on anyone's Freedom of Speech as the Republicans and their propagandists are trying to portray it to be.  

Rather, this is a legitimate investigation into possible crimes against our democracy. 

Grinches Я Us

On Black Friday, Scott Walker sent out a fundraiser email that encouraged people to forgo buying their children toys for Christmas and just donating the money to his campaign instead.  The fact that said email had caused him embarrassment on a national and international level has apparently caused him to rethink that approach.

Sort of.

click on image to embiggen

The items they have on sale include:

• Baseball caps ant t-shirts for $30 each
• A fleece pullover for $75 (talk about getting fleeced!)
• An iPhone case for $35

They are also trying to peddle copies of his book.  (It must not be selling too well.  Or the Kochs reneged on their advanced purchase pledge.)

They have different options for the book as well.  For just the book, it will run you $30.  If you want it stamped with his autograph, that will cost you $75.  But for the big spenders, you can get it not only signed but a personal message for a mere $150!

Of course, the smart shopper will just wait another week when they can go to the bookstore and get a copy out of the bargain bin for a dollar.  The savvy shopper will also just scribble in the front cover with a crayon - being careful to misspell the words - and no one will believe it wasn't the genuine article.

For added giggles, Walker also included a link to his campaign blog where one can find an excerpt of his book - complete with misspellings:

Thing [sic] may look hopeless in Washington, D.C., but form where I sit in Wisconsin, the view is decidedly more hopeful and optimistic.

Here is a little reported fact: Outside the Washington beltway, big-government liberals are on the ropes, while conservative reformers are winning election and policy battles in state houses all across the country…

So the question is: Why are so many Republican governors and state legislators winning elections at a time when national Republicans are fairing so poorly?

The answer, in part, is that while Washington remains locked in endless battles that most Americans don't see as having much impact on their daily lives, Republicans leaders at the state level are offering big, bold, positive reforms that are relevant to the lives of our citizens.

Wait! What?! What does he mean "from where I sit in Wisconsin?" He's been jetting around the nation for the past three years to raise funds for his legal defense cooperation fund and for both his gubernatorial and presidential campaigns.

And as for the answer to why there are so many Republican governors and state legislators winning elections, well, I think that John Dough might be able to provide us with that information.

On a final note, if you want to buy a book called "Unintimidated," by all means go right ahead.

Just make sure you get the good one.

Walkergate 2: Charlie Doe

Readers of Cog Dis already know that there is a second John Doe investigation going on.  They also know that this Son of Doe is looking into the dark money of groups like the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation and their front groups such as Wisconsin Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity.

The gentle reader also knows how these dark money groups would use their front groups to help hide the donors to such groups through complex money laundering schemes.  They would then use said money to help advance their agendas through the use of bogus studies and reports, the propagandizing of said studies and reports and through more direct actions in supporting bought and paid for candidates.

But in all the reporting so far, what has not been touched are the 800 pound squawking gorillas in the room - Journal Communications, Charlie Sykes and White Right Wisconsin.

White Wisconsin is the result of the unchecked collaboration and collusion between the dark money groups, the corporate media and WISGOP.  It is a website that is hosted by Journal Broadcast Group and sponsored by the Wisconsin Club for Growth and "powered" by Charlie Sykes.  It offers a free platform for politicians, political operatives and propagandists to spew their vitriol in an effort to sway low information voters into voting against their own best interest.

To add to it, Journal Broadcast Group also allows Sykes to use the airwaves of WTMJ-AM to continue to spew their propaganda, continue the lies and most significantly, give politicians like Scott Walker free air time to do their campaigning.

Let me re-emphasize this.

White Wisconsin is an aggregate website paid for by Wisconsin Club for Growth, a Koch Brothers front group.  The website is hosted by Journal Broadcast Group, which includes WTMJ-AM, the home of Charlie Sykes, who is the "power" behind the website.  The goal of the website is to promote the Teapublican agenda.  And the most ironic part is that the sheeple that actually believe their noise has to pay for it.  Presumably, the bulk of this money is going right back to the Koch group to continue their illegal collaborations with political campaigns.

But as will all things Doe, there's more.  There's always more.

Besides the unusual business relationship between what is supposed to be a neutral, respected news source and a political action group, it turns out that the players involved are no strangers to seamier side of things.

Sykes often gives free air time to Scott Walker and other Republicans.  So much so that their license was legally challenged with the FCC.  In fact, Sykes was such the go to guy for the Teapublicans that he was mention in the criminal charges against Darlene Wink stemming from the original Walkergate investigations.

As Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express pointed out, Sykes is also very heavily involved with the Bradley Foundation-funded Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI).  WPRI is one of those right wing front groups that spews out bogus studies that just so happen to support the agenda of the Bradley Foundation and its other benefactors.  To further his ties to the Bradley Foundation, Sykes' current wife, his third one, is Janet Reardon, aka Liz Woodhouse, who is the Director of Communications at the Bradley Foundation.

It's understandable why Sykes is so nervous about the Son of Doe investigation.  Even if he is not implicated himself, it would still have a great impact on the level of financial comfort and lifestyle he is accustomed to.  IF he wasn't incarcerated, he'd might have to still go out and do manual work for the first time in his life.

Sykes' right hand man at White Wisconsin is Brian Fraley.  Fraley comes to White Wisconsin via the MacIver Institute, where he was the Director of Communication.  And yes, the MacIver Institute is also funded by the Bradley Foundation.  But as with Sykes, the ties go deeper for Fraley.

Before going to the MacIver Institute, Fraley worked directly for ALEC.  And just like Sykes, Fraley also got a mention in the original Walkergate proceedings.  However, instead of being named in Wink's complaint, Fraley got his dubious honor in the charges against Kelly Rindfleisch.  In this instance, we learn that Fraley was part of the original caucus scandal from a decade ago:

One would have thought that after getting tied up in the caucus scandals, Fraley would have wanted to avoid even the perception of impropriety.  One would apparently have been wrong.

The third person, Collin Roth, came to White Wisconsin by way of Media Trackers, which receives the bulk of its funding from American Majority, yet another right wing money laundering machine.  Roth's role is a glorified gopher and research assistant.  How good of a researcher he is is questionable, since he willingly signed on with people like Sykes and Fraley.

Due to the secret nature of John Doe investigations, we cannot know if Sykes, Fraley or White Wisconsin would be part of the investigation going on or if it is part of a different investigation.  Regardless of which investigation they are under, or if they aren't under investigation yet, it is worthwhile to remember that they are nothing more than the sockpuppets for the right wing front groups and anything they say or write should be taken for nothing more than propaganda.

Walkergate 2: Michael Grebe and the Sockpuppets of Manipulation

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express has another must read installation of her ongoing series on the second John Doe investigation.  This week, Kaiser looks at the way the right wing groups would pump money into their front groups to come up with bogus studies and even more bogus reporting in order to further their agenda.

Per Kaiser, the largest of these malefactors is Michael Grebe and the Bradley Foundation:

With more than $550 million in assets, the Bradley Foundation sunk at least $31 million into its voucher studies and programs, according to a report by One Wisconsin Now (OWN). But its funding is sent to other conservative, free-market foundations and think tanks around the country.

“They are the biggest funder of right-wing causes in the nation,” said Mike Browne, OWN’s deputy director. “They spend more money than the Koch brothers.”

The Bradley Foundation is a huge supporter of members of the State Policy Network in Wisconsin and elsewhere. According to OWN’s research, the Bradley Foundation has given more than $16.5 million to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and $635,000 to John K. McIver Institute for Public Policy. The two groups are SPN members that have provided voucher-supporting studies and analysis at the same time they attempt to pass themselves off as independent, straight-shooting think tanks.

WPRI, which bills itself as “Wisconsin’s Free Market Think Tank,” has precious few scholars on staff—none, in fact. Its president is former Journal Sentinel columnist Mike Nichols and its lead commentators are WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes (whose current wife works for the Bradley Foundation), political consultant Deb Jordahl and former Department of Administration Secretary George Lightbourn.

WPRI’s board is dominated by the state’s corporate chiefs, including Tom Howatt, chair of Wausau Paper Corp.; Bank Mutual President David Baumgarten; ex-MillerCoors Vice President Michael Jones; former Thompson administration official and We Energies Senior Vice President James Klauser; Milwaukee investor David Lubar; and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) President Tim Sheehy.

So it’s no wonder why WPRI has churned out studies supporting the agenda shared by Walker and the Bradley Foundation, including attacks on public schools, climate change, public employee benefits and the state’s renewable energy targets while promoting highway expansion, commercial bail bonds and fracking.

The board of directors of MacIver Institute includes Milwaukee businessman Fred Luber; Michael, Best and Friedrich attorney James Troupis; and former Republican First Lady Laurie McCallum. Its president is Brett Healy, a former aide to disgraced Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, now a school voucher lobbyist.

Other Wisconsin partners of SPN are the Lucy Burns Institute, Bradley Foundation-funded Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, the Dick Armey-led FreedomWorks-Wisconsin, the Taxpayers Network Incorporated and the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.

Then again, not much of this should surprise the gentle reader. I've been writing about this for years, both at this here blog and even once for the Shepherd Express.


Here's how it works:

One of the right wing "think tanks" would come up with some cockamamie, convoluted study that will support one of the maleficent schemes, such as privatizing education is actually good for the kids and the taxpayers.  Then one of the right wing propagandist groups would "report" on the story.  This would give it enough faux credibility for the mainstream corporate media to run with the story  The story would be echoed by other propagandists, right wing bloggers (many of whom have suddenly, mysteriously and suspiciously shut down their sites)  and squawk radio..  The average consumer of the corporate media wouldn't know of the falseness of the reporting and would just accept it as truth.

By adding all the layers and multiple front groups, it was easier for the money machines, like the Bradley Foundation and the Koch Brothers, to keep things churning and to cover up their finger prints in the whole sordid mess.

And for the skeptics on whether this kind of manipulation occurs, I can assure you it does, as I reported on during the 2011 recalls, when these front groups used it to attack former Senator Jessica King:

Greg Sargent tripped the whole thing with this article showing that John Buckstaff, the fake Democrat in the race is actually a Republican backer and has donated money to Randy Randy "Bed" Hopper.  Furthermore, Sargent tells us that a flyer that they've been distributing telling people to vote for Buckstaff is aimed at getting Republican voters to cross over in the primary and shut the real Democrat, Jessica King, out of the race immediately. 

Also remarkable about Sargent's findings is that the flyer is paid for by a group called "Patriot Advisors."

And this is where we go into the same sordid incestuous intermingling that the Koch Brothers are known for.

Patriot Advisors is headed up by Tim Dunn and Denis Calabrese.

Calabrese, the former Chief of Staff for Dick Armey, is also on the director of the Sam Adams Alliance, yet another Koch Brother front group and money chute. This Sam Adams Alliance also funnels the Koch dollars to other groups like Americans For Prosperity and the Franklin Center for Public and Government Integrity*.

The sharp-eyed reader might have already noticed, but it was the Franklin Center which is quoted in the anti-King flyer.

Just to be clear, the Sam Adams Alliance, Patriot Advisors and Franklin Center are all Koch-funded groups with incestuous ties to each other. One of them is using the other to justify voting for the fake Democrat instead of trying to defend the Republican and his boorish behavior or facing the consequences for his actions.

Or in other words, the sock puppet on the Kochs' right and hand makes some statement, regardless of the whether it's true, half-true or a bold faced lie, and then they have the sock puppet on the left hand repeat the lie in order to reinforce it and give it false credibility.

And I'm sure this scenario is being played out in the other races as well. 

Short of the John Doe investigation being successful, there isn't really any way to shut down these groups. And even if the Son of Doe is successful, the Kochs and Bradley Foundation will only create new front groups and start their operations all over again.

But there are things that we can do to help control the damage done by these groups, such as putting pressure on the corporate media who regurgitate this foul propaganda as legitimate news.

But the more important thing we can do is to keep ourselves educated and organized.  Learn the truth of what is happening, the lies behind their deceitful stories and the consequences of what would happen if these would be corporate overlords would get their way.  Then share this knowledge with your family, your neighbors, your friends and your coworkers.  Politely but firmly confront the falsehoods and back them up with the hard truth.

The most important thing we can do is not give up.

Walkergate 2: John Doe's Chess Game

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a column up celebrating the fact that the Teapublicans are trying to bully their way out of the latest developments of the Walkergate investigations.  To put it kindly, it is not his best work.

First off, he compares the right's reaction to the investigation now to when the first Walkergate was going on:

The first time Milwaukee County prosecutors launched a secret criminal investigation of allies of Gov. Scott Walker, those on the right were largely silent.

There were no online attacks, no litigation and few talk-radio rants — until charges were filed. Conservatives took their lead from the governor, who said he would trust the process to clear him.

A new investigation has triggered a wholesale change in tactics.

Last month, No Quarter first reported that prosecutors had launched a second John Doe investigation into the recall elections. The response from the right has been swift and aggressive.

I can speak to personal knowledge that that assertion by Bice is inaccurate. Even before the John Doe investigation - which ended up with convictions of Walker's staff and associates - had even become public knowledge, Walker and his supporters were on the offensive.

 And I was their target.  And there were the usual attacks from Sykes and company, complaining that Walker's staff was being prosecuted and I wasn't, while ignoring the fact that I hadn't committed any criminal acts.

Bice also notes that these money laundering/propaganda groups are bringing out big guns in their effort to disrupt the proceedings.  Again, this is nothing new.  Walker had big guns in to defend him and his campaign during the original investigation.  What would be more interesting - and probably much more telling - would be who is funding these high priced defense attorneys.  I'm sure if I gave the gentle reader three guesses, with the first two not counting, they could still get it correct.

Heck, even the notion of running interference and trying to disrupt the proceeding is nothing new.  During the first round, these faceless entities gave money to the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government and former Walkersha County District Attorney Paul Bucher so that they could run a seminar on how to attack John Doe proceedings.

Well, as much as the Teapublicans might be cheering on this offensive offense and the heavy hitter attorneys, it's not doing them too much good.  As the attorneys have thrown everything but the kitchen sink in an effort to stop the investigations, they have come up pitifully short:

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals declined late Friday to temporarily halt a secret investigation of campaign fundraising and spending during Wisconsin's recent recall elections.

The court also immediately denied the requests of three unnamed petitioners to have the judge in the case disqualified because of his status as a reserve judge and to prohibit the judge and special prosecutor in the case from using a post office box instead of local court clerks. But the court granted the anonymous plaintiffs' request to file a sealed petition and asked for more information before it decides on several more claims by the people caught up in the probe.

The court's order also made clear for the first time what the unnamed petitioners are arguing. In a half-dozen claims in their sealed filings, the plaintiffs are arguing that the judge and special prosecutor in the case don't have the authority to carry out the secret probe that is ranging across five counties in southern Wisconsin.

The unsigned order was issued by three judges on the District 4 Court of Appeals: Brian Blanchard, Paul Lundsten and JoAnne Kloppenburg.

"Given our outright denial of two of the petitioners' six claims, and the uncertain factual basis for the remaining four claims, we are not persuaded that a stay is warranted," the order reads.

David "Chokehold" Prosser

Jud Lounsbury thinks that this new aggressiveness by the Teapublicans is a precursor to have the whole Son of Doe investigation brought before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  He accurately points out that the make up of the appellate court made it unlikely they would succeed but it was a formality they had to go through to get it to the higher court, where justices like David Prosser, whom, we just learned, was getting money and other aid from these right wing groups during his election, would make a decision.  We all pretty much know that the four corporate owned justices sitting on the high court already have shown they are not going to give a damn about the law unless it came from ALEC.

Indeed, the Franklin's Center's Wisconsin Reporter - two groups that are probably part of the investigation - is reporting that one of the lawyers, Dean Strang, asked for the case to go directly to the Supreme Court.

On a side note, Lounsbury also has a post showing Walker on the Sean Hannity Show, stating that this is the first time he's hearing or seeing of these investigations or legal proceedings.  This is hilarious given the fact that since the initial reports came out, his campaign as been noted as one of the targets.  I guess cooperating doesn't include knowing what he is cooperating with.

I believe Lounsbury analysis is sound, but incomplete.  If I were the investigators and/or prosecutors for this investigation, I would be counting on and hoping for the Teapublicans to take it to the  Supreme Court.

Consider these facts:

• The special prosecutor, Francis Schmitz, used to be a federal prosecutor.
• FBI agents have been used in the raids on suspects' homes.
• FBI agents have assisted with going through the computers for emails and other documents.
• As reported by Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express, this money laundering crosses state lines.

It's pretty obvious that if the feds aren't actively involved with the investigation that they are monitoring it very closely.  So if the Teabaggers go running to their puppets in the Supreme Court, things could get very interesting.  

On one hand, the puppet justices might throw their benefactors under the bus and actually uphold the law.  They don't want to be tied up with this mess anymore than they already are.  On the other hand, if they go along with their benefactors, the justices could very well get swept up when and if the feds cast their nets and haul them in.

What I get out of the aggressiveness of the Teapublicans legal maneuverings and the heavy spin they are already putting on it is that they are indeed scared to death.  And they are not scared of just the legal consequences for their illegal behaviors, but that as this information comes out, it will not only severely cripple their attempt at buying elections, but that this will also spread like wildfire from state to state where they have been tampering with democracy.

In this game of legal chess, it looks like the good guys have the bad guys in a potential checkmate.  

Son of Doe: Gunsmoke

As the gentle reader is aware, there is a second John Doe investigation, commonly referred to Son of Doe, which is looking at the dark money being laundered by right wing front groups as well as possible illegal collaboration between these groups, Scott Walker's campaign, various Republican legislators and WISGOP.

Now we might want to add a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice to that list.

A friend of Cog Dis alerted me to a pdf regarding an open records request that had been done by an unknown person or persons.  The pdf is 117 pages long and consists of emails to and from various members of Scott Walker's gubernatorial staff.  Here is a link to the Scribd download I created.

In the emails, there are a few names one might recognize, such as Michael Brickman, who worked for Walker's campaign, although he was known as Rich in Retail then.  Now he is Walker's Education Policy Assistant.  In other words, the liaison between Walker and Scott Jensen.

On page 37, there is an email from one Paul Behling to Scott Matejov, Assistant to the Governor and Deputy Chief of Staff for External Operations. The email was sent on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 2:58 pm to Matejov's official government email.

Here is a screen capture of it with the first paragraph of the email:

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As the reader can easily see, Behling is in Big Energy and is trying to schmooze Matejov to get a piece of the action.  Even that early into Walker's reign, the feeding frenzy was in full force.

But that's not even the most interesting part.

The rest of that page is consists of Behling asking for a job, or at least help getting a job.

But at the bottom of this page is a note which apparently is supposed to be a sort of name-dropping reference regarding the work he did for the campaign of David "Chokehold" Prosser.  Read it closely several times.  It is simply jaw dropping in what he says:

Click on image to embiggen

In this one paragraph, along with the poor grammar, Behling is saying that he worked with the third party groups to help the Prosser campaign using "very creative" ways to get around campaign laws.  He also laments that it wasn't as easy as helping Walker's campaign because WISGOP wasn't there to help the campaign.

Again, just to drive the point home, that's an admission of collaboration between Prosser's campaign and the third party, dark money groups.  It is also an admission of collaboration between Walker's campaign, the third party groups and WISGOP.

I should also not that attached to Behling's email was a copy of a letter from Prosser to Behling, thanking him for his work as Prosser's Waukesha County Coordinator.  Not top of the food chain in a campaign, but not the bottom either.

This is the kind of things that Ed Fallone and Mike Maistelman had talked to me about for my article in the Shepherd Express nearly two years ago.

Now if a loud-mouthed union thug blogger can find this stuff, can you even imagine what the professionals either on a local or federal level, could find?  No wonder these guys are running scared.

ADDENDUM:  Since I know that some of you will be looking through the pdf before I can do further work on it, check out pages 51-53 and the emails between Steve Einhorn and Matejov.  Einhorn is the guy who took Bradley Foundation money to put up the racist billboards aimed at voter suppression.  He was also involved with a pay for play deal with Walker's administration as well.