Scott Walker: Healthcare Reform Desperado

Even with the original mass explosion of Republican heads that followed Thursday's SCOTUS ruling allowing the Affordable Care Act to proceed, the hilarity continues.

Scott Walker, the Desperado of Healthcare Reform, says that he won't follow the law and start phasing it in before the mid-November deadline.

That shouldn't really surprise anyone though.

First of all, this grandstanding will allow him to continue to seek out the national attention he craves, such as his appearance on "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning, while he inexplicably thinks he could someday be President of the United States.  (He must be thinking that Kochs et alia will buy it for him if he is a good boy and destroys Wisconsin.)


Secondly, Walker has shown on more than one occasion that he has no qualms about breaking the law, with Walkergate being the crown jewel of an example.  (Yes, yes, the indictments are coming. Please remain patient.)

Thirdly, the Republicans don't want people to see the effects of the Affordable Care Act.  If the people were to see that they are actually still get quality health care and save money to boot, well, that wouldn't bode well for Romney or any of the other Republican candidates running on all levels.

Even Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said that Walker needed to obey the law, although he did backpedal like the coward he is when the radio squawkers barked at him.

My guess - Walker will let the feds do the heavy lifting and do the work he's supposed to do.  Then he'll have something to mewl about until it starts working, and then he'll take credit for it.  Yes, he's done it before, such as with the Milwaukee County Board who had to force him to take the stimulus funding and then tried to take credit for the work it created and the good things done with it.

PS: For a bonus, here is a piece of unbelievable irony:

“The court was wrong,” said state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa. “We are left with virtually no limit on federal power. I believe this is a victory for the authoritarian state.”

Barnes Calles Out Fields On Retirement Fund

From the inbox:

Barnes calls on opponent to support current Wisconsin retirement system

MILWAUKEE—In response to Governor Walker’s remarks this week that he is open to making changes to the State of Wisconsin’s retirement system, Mandela Barnes, candidate for State Representative of Wisconsin’s 11th Assembly District, is calling on his opponent, Representative Jason Fields, to support the current retirement system in the State of Wisconsin, and to vow to not support any reforms that would privatize the system.

“A national survey conducted by the Pew Institute found that Wisconsin has the most sound public retirement system in the nation, which should be a large indicator that the system does not need to be privatized or changed at all. It’s working just fine,” Barnes said.

“I am calling on my opponent to stand against any attempt by Governor Walker to privatize the system or make sweeping changes to a system that is clearly the best in the country. There are a half of a million people in the state who need their elected officials to not play politics and gamble with their futures by privatizing the system. I hope we have learned something from our national financial collapse, and all of the people who lost everything.”

Barnes also stated that he is concerned with where Representative Fields will stand on the potential reform of the state’s retirement system, given the fact that Fields has stood with the governor on many other issues.

“I think it’s more than fair to ask this Representative to commit to standing with public workers by protecting their retirement system."

I think Fields is finally figuring out that he's sided with the wrong side when he kowtowed to the Republicans.

Quotable

Dominique Paul Noth, Labor Press Editor, has a commentary in the latest issue of the Labor Press in which he rehashes the recall election and eerie similarities between Scott Walker and Richard Nixon.*

He saves the best for last:

Americans are terrible at remembering the lessons of history or the motto that used to appear on the masthead of a Milwaukee newspaper: "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

Unfortunately, today's Journal Sentinel backed Walker. And the published motto of its editorial page boss David Haynes is, "Keep the marketplace of ideas stacked."

I think he actually wrote "stocked," but you know how newspapers these days are full of typos.

Why, I do believe that is one of the best calling outs of Haynes ever. Or since this one

*No, Cindy Kilkenny, there is no link. You'll just have to get your own copy of the Labor Press.

Their Contempt Is Contemptible

So, the Republicans in the US House of Representatives have stamped their feet, held their breath and threw a little collective temper tantrum. The end result is that they found Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. I got news for them. Many people hold contempt for Congress.

Anyway, Holder won't be prosecuted, as is proper, since the whole hullabaloo is nothing more than a political stunt by the Republicans to try to smear President Obama during an election year and to cover their own NRA-funded asses.

Fortune has done quite the in-depth investigation into "Fast and Furious." Their findings show what a farce the Republican's contempt finding really is:

"Republican senators are whipping up the country into a psychotic frenzy with these reports that are patently false," says Linda Wallace, a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation unit who was assigned to the Fast and Furious team (and recently retired from the IRS). A self-described gun-rights supporter, Wallace has not been criticized by Issa's committee.

The ATF's accusers seem untroubled by evidence that the policy they have pilloried didn't actually exist. "It gets back to something basic for me," says Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). "Terry was murdered, and guns from this operation were found at his murder site." A spokesman for Issa denies that politics has played a role in the congressman's actions and says "multiple individuals across the Justice Department's component agencies share responsibility for the failure that occurred in Operation Fast and Furious." Issa's spokesman asserts that even if ATF agents followed prosecutors' directives, "the practice is nonetheless gun walking." Attorneys for Dodson declined to comment on the record.

For its part, the ATF would not answer specific questions, citing ongoing investigations. But a spokesperson for the agency provided a written statement noting that the "ATF did not exercise proper oversight, planning or judgment in executing this case. We at ATF have accepted responsibility and have taken appropriate and decisive action to insure that these errors in oversight and judgment never occur again." The statement asserted that the "ATF has clarified its firearms transfer policy to focus on interdiction or early intervention to prevent the criminal acquisition, trafficking and misuse of firearms," and it cited changes in coordination and oversight at the ATF.

Irony abounds when it comes to the Fast and Furious scandal. But the ultimate irony is this: Republicans who support the National Rifle Association and its attempts to weaken gun laws are lambasting ATF agents for not seizing enough weapons—ones that, in this case, prosecutors deemed to be legal.

Do read the whole article for a fascinating, and horrifying, way that this as taken a life of its own, fabricated out of whole cloth.

Also worth the read is the overview of the Fortune article by Mother Jones.

When reading this, keep in mind that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) who is leading this mass tantrum, is also the the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

That means he is the one that could and should be calling Scott Walker back to Washington, D.C. to answer for his perjury before a Congressional committee, even as members of the same committee would like to see happen.

Amazingly, Issa denies there's any politics involved with his selective contempt.

Right.

It just so happens that he is going after the Democratic President Obama through his staff, based on nothing but a cover up by a rogue agent, but is not touching the Republican Walker even though he has videotaped evidence, but it's not political.
But if he's after Holder, and Obama, but not Walker, and it's not political, the only thing left is that he is doing it because of racial reasons.

Either way, the behavior of Congressional Republicans is what is truly contemptible.

Raw Data + Cooked Books = Same Old Slop

So now that the recall election is over, the real official job numbers for 2011 (as opposed to the Walker official numbers) are out.  The numbers aren't as bad as originally believed to be, but they aren't great news either:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday confirmed Gov. Scott Walker's assertion that Wisconsin did add jobs last year, though the federal agency scaled the total back a few thousand.

According to BLS, Wisconsin ended 2011 with 2,689,565 jobs, a 19,551 increase over the previous year. Those figures represent a 3,749 decrease from the quarterly census of employees and wages submitted by the state in May.

Those numbers are usually kept secret until the federal government signs off on them. The governor, however, broke with established protocol and released the figures early — less than two weeks before his recall election — in a move critics panned as overly political.

However, the new jobs numbers show Wisconsin lagged the rest of the country in job creation in 2011.

The roughly 20,000 jobs the state added last year ranked it about 40th in the country when compared with all 50 states.

And before anyone starts jumping up and down in excitement, saying that Walker created jobs, you'd better check your facts real close.

The reality is that Walker did not create any jobs, he just didn't lose as many as what was feared, as shown by this graph:

Yup, the blue line is the jobs that were created due to Governor Jim Doyle's budget and policies. The job losses didn't kick in until Walker's policies started putting their chokehold on the state's economy.  Also notice how they really plummeted as his budget kicked in.

Walker has has much to do with job creation as he does with the integrity of an Eagle Scout.

Absolutely nothing.

Walker Does What He Says Doesn't Work To Solve A Problem He Denies Exists

Wait! What?!

Gov. Scott Walker today requested two federal agricultural disaster declarations for Wisconsin to help farmers that sustained losses this spring and summer as a result of extreme weather conditions that impacted fruit trees and the maple syrup collection.

"Agriculture is the backbone of Wisconsin's economy and many farmers are hurting as a result of unseasonable weather over the last year," Walker said. "The hot conditions in March followed by a cold, wet April damaged many crops including Door County cherries and northern Wisconsin's maple syrup harvest."

Walker requested the Secretary Disaster Declarations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first request is for the entire state for the anticipated fruit tree losses. The extreme weather this spring impacted Wisconsin's fruit trees including apples and cherries. Unseasonably warm temperatures in March caused many trees and vines to flower early, but frost conditions in April killed many fruit buds. Agriculture officials estimate statewide losses could potentially be as high as 80 percent.

In addition, state agriculture officials report that the maple syrup losses were greater than 30 percent this spring as a result of the early warm weather in March followed by a cold April. The counties listed in the request for maple syrup losses are Barron, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Pierce, Polk, St Croix, Shawano and Vilas.
Walker made the requests based on information provided by the State Emergency Board. The requests, if successful, could help Wisconsin farmers qualify for federal assistance.

Scott Walker, who says that government isn't the solution, and tried to refuse stimulus funds as Milwaukee County Executive, is now asking the federal government for help. He's asking for help from he feds because of the effects of global climate change, which he denies even exists.

And the corporate media and squawk radio listeners keep eating this slop up without even once recognizing the hypocrisy of it all.

The Walker Budget Keeps On Working! Part CXX

Scott Walker's budget is still creating losing jobs faster than you can believe. This one gives further insight into why (emphasis mine):

Wausaukee Composites will close its Gillett facility, putting 45 employees out of work, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

The Gillett facility, 431 E. Main St., is expected to close Aug. 31, the Wausaukee-based company said in a June 25 letter to the state. Some employees might work for a short time after that date, the company said.

Sintex Industries Ltd. of Kalol, India, bought majority ownership of the company in 2007. Wausaukee Composites makes highly engineered composite plastic and fiberglass components, especially for the wind power, trucking and medical imaging industries. It also has manufacturing plants in Wausaukee, Cuba City and Owosso, Mich.

Gee, Walker kills the wind power industries and we lose jobs.

Every decision he has made so far has nothing to do with creating jobs, but appeasing his campaign contributors and his masters, no matter what it costs the state.

Romneycare vs. Obamacare: Who's The Real Taxer?

My colleague Jeff Simpson already pointed to the fact that the Affordable Care Act was based on what Mitt Romney did as governor in Massachusetts.

Now that it's been shown to pass legal muster, the teahadists and the Republicans, but I repeat myself, are screaming like stuck pigs that ACA, or Obamacare if you must, is a TAX! The biggest one EVAH!

But then again, there's this interesting tidbit regarding the difference in tax hikes in Romneycare vs. Obamacare which should get their heads exploding all over again:

And the Obama campaign is quick to point out that while Romney and other Republicans are accusing the president of enacting a huge tax increase, the penalties under Romneycare are bigger than under Obamacare. According to a study from the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, forwarded to Salon by the Obama campaign, the differences are huge. An adult over the age of 27 who makes more than 300 percent of the poverty line (about $37,000 a year) and chooses not to purchase health insurance would pay at least $695 in penalties under Obamcare. Under Romneycare, that same person would pay at least $1,530 in penalties.

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who helped design both Romneycare and Obamacare, said today on a conference call organized by the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund that Obama’s penalty will affect only a tiny portion of Americans. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about one percent of the population will end up paying this penalty. This not a broad new tax on the middle class. It is trivial. It is four, the CBO estimates it is $4 billion in revenues from this penalty. That is trivial relative to the almost $100 billion that you would get in [subsidies], once it’s phased in, in new tax credits to individuals to buy health insurance. So this is on net this an enormous tax cut for the middle class. This is not a tax increase,” he explained.

In the USA Today op-ed, Romney said his plan was affordable and reasonable. So if Obamacare’s penalties are even more modest, then the claim that it’s a huge tax increase rings a bit hollow.

Don't you just hate it when the truth gets in the way of their propaganda?

Robbing Peter To Pay Peter

I've covered the whole issue of Scott Walker, while Milwaukee County Executive, making use of illegal furlough days against county employees, such as myself, in order to cement his image as an anti-union, anti-worker teahadist and as a dress rehearsal for Act 10.

But now I will flesh it out a little more and give the gentle reader an update which really shows Walker's depravity.

To make a long story short, while crafting the 2010 county budget, Walker illegally installed concessions from workers for higher contributions to health care costs and to start paying twice for pension benefits.  It was repeatedly pointed out by county board members and staff that this was illegal, since he never even sat down to try to reach these concessions, much less actually achieve them.  Inexplicably, even though they knew it to be illegal, the county board went along with the illegal budget.

Before people were even recovered from their 2010 New Year's hangovers, Walker then used this artificially constructed budget hole to declare a fiscal emergency and implemented 12 furlough days for all workers except for deputies.  A few months later, he said it was not enough, and jumped it up to 26 days for some workers, including myself.  Due to his ineptness, he even ended up giving the previously spared deputies eight days of furlough.

But Walker's furloughs had unintended consequences.

One was that many county workers would have to put in overtime to make up for the work missed during their furloughs and/or to cover for coworkers who were on furlough.  Thus any savings Walker might have claimed from his attack on workers were negated by the skyrocketing amounts of overtime.  Many county workers were able to work enough overtime to make up for the lost day of pay and then some.  It was more like working a 4-40 schedule (40 hours in 4 days).

Furthermore, when the unions grieved the excessive furlough days, it was found that there wasn't really a deficit at all, or at least not one which required emergency actions.

The unions ended up taking their complaint to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC), which ruled in favor of the unions.  They said the county needed to immediately cease and desist from the implementing the illegal furlough days and to repay the workers.  To give the county incentive to address this issue sooner rather than later, WERC also ordered the county pay 12% interest, compounded daily.

Despite the high interest, the county chose to appeal the decision.  And appeal it some more.  And then one more time.

After losing in court hearing after court hearing, the county finally conceded that they will need to pay the workers back for Walker's campaign stunt.

But then came a twist to the story:

It wasn't all bad budget news for the county. Supervisors found out they had an $11.5 million surplus from 2011 and - even more surprising - county Comptroller Scott Manske had stashed away millions more in case the county lost a case over back pay.

"I'm glad you squirreled away $4.1 million, but there should have been some disclosure of it," said Supervisor Theo Lipscomb.

Manske said he quietly accounted for the payment, informing his bosses but making no public statement because the county hadn't yet decided whether to appeal an arbitrator's ruling, upheld in circuit court. The ruling said the county had to pay workers $4.1 million for furlough days illegally imposed as an emergency measure in 2010 by then-County Executive Scott Walker.

Having suddenly found this "windfall" the Milwaukee County Board voted on Thursday to pay back the workers for the illegal furloughs from 2010.  The estimated cost is over $4 million.  Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has already issued a statement saying that he believes this should be paid out and is expected to sign it.


The only thing left is for the county comptroller to get direction from the court on what date the interest should be considered to start accruing so he can figure out the payments.  Reports say that the average payout will be $2,600 per worker, plus interest.

So all is good, right?

Wrong.

There are a few issues still at hand.  One is that this pay out is only for 2010.  Workers still had to take another 13 furlough days in 2011.  The cost of that pay out is over $1 million plus interest.  There has been mixed messages on whether the county has any intention of paying these days out.  This will probably result in yet another series of court cases adding even more cost to Walker's folly.

The other issue is that the surplus money which the county had suddenly found came from the county imposing the pay cuts allowed by Act 10 and then some.  (These pay cuts are so severe that they have made some Milwaukee County workers eligible for financial support from the government.  So much for the Republican meme that government workers are living high on the hog.)

In other words, the county is using the workers' own money to pay them back for the money which was illegally taken in 2010.  How lovely of them!

I still think they should go after the person who caused the mess they're left to clean up and sue Walker, his campaign and all of his henchmen who were campaigning on county time.  But that would require political courage, something which is very scarce in Milwaukee lately.

And to top it all off, some of the extra money that is being taken from the workers is going to pay off some of the debt that Walker racked up in order to present the misleading image of being a fiscal genius.  We get to pay for Walker's campaign many times over!  Funny, but I don't recall offering to make any donations.

And before any conservatives think that this is a good deal, remember, your taxes still went up and you're getting less bang for your buck.  On top of that, this whole sordid affair is having the same effect on a local level that Act 10 is having on the state level.  The reduced money being injected into the local economy is only serving to keep unemployment higher than it should be and causing businesses to falter.

To sum it all up, Walker's "money saving" furloughs didn't save any money, since the workers earned it all back and then some in the form of overtime.  But because of the illegality of Walker's actions, the county taxpayers accrued additional costs in the form of repeated court costs and the interest which was accumulating at a rate of about $35,000 per month.  Walker's fiscal "frugality" turns out to be more expensive than if he didn't do anything.

Meanwhile, workers were put unnecessarily into dire fiscal straits, some losing their homes and some facing bankruptcy.  The kicker is that the money was there all along. Walker just didn't want to allow the workers to have it and so he basically stole it.

Yet people bought into Walker's antics and thought that, even as they are being driven into the poor house, they were coming out ahead.  Go figure.

And for all the bellyaching the county board did about Walker's maleficent behaviors and current Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele's grandiose statements and campaign promises saying he wasn't going to be like Walker, they sure are acting a lot like him.

Get To Know Laura Hauser-Menting

You can get to know Laura Hauser-Menting, candidate for the 71st Assembly Candidate, via her interview with Wisconsin Eye

I think it's also very awesome that the interviewer refers to my write up of this fantastic woman!

You Mad, Bro?

For one of the more extreme reactions to the ruling allowing everyone to have Affordable Healthcare, one has to go no further than our own Polk County GOP:

C'mon, people. Allowing poor people to get affordable health care insurance isn't the end of the world.

Or is that Republicans really hate it when people get more rights instead of less?

A Great Day for Tommy and Mitt!!!

Today, the Supreme Court upheld most of the provisions of  "Obamacare".  While some on the riight are upset, this is a big day for two of the more prominent politicians on the right.

First off republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.  President Obama's signature healthcare legislation(Obamacare) is modeled after the very successful Romneycare in Massachusetts that was really Mitt Romney's only professional success. 

In her opinion of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made note of Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care law as a reason why the individual mandate was constitutional.

While Ginsburg was a part of the majority opinion, she had differing reasons as to why the mandate was constitutional. The rest of the justices found that under the Commerce Clause, the mandate requiring all U.S. citizens to buy health insurance was not valid. They upheld it as a tax.

Ginsburg, however, said it should have been upheld under the Commerce Clause, and explained how Congress followed Massachusetts' lead in preventing only sick people from signing up for health insurance:

Secondly, this is also good news for republican Senate hopeful Tommy G Thompson, who has long supported the individual mandate and has had nothing but good things to say about Romneycare.  

Good job guys the Supreme Court just re-affirmed your signature accomplishment!

Here is President Obama  sharing the good news with Mitt and Tommy:

Americans For (Middle Class) Poverty is at it Again.

Today is the day we are supposed to get the Obamacare ruling from the Supreme Court.  Most people realize it is a foregone conclusion that the radical right wing political wing on the Supreme Court will vote to overturn it.

It is such a foregone conclusion that Americans for (Middle Class) Poverty, led by the vermin Tim Phillips, is holding a "we are happy 26 million people will no longer have health care " rally in Walkersha today.

 
What:  Hands Off My Health Care Rally

Where:  Country Springs Resort, Ballroom – 2810 Golf Road, Pewaukee

When:  Thursday, June 28^th, 6:30pm

Join Vicki McKenna, the 10th Amendment Center’s Michael Boldin, Sen. Leah Vukmir, Rep. Bill Kramer(no word if he will be packing) and your fellow patriots to learn about the Supreme Court’s decision on the President’s Healthcare Law.

We are holding a Hands Off My Health Care rally in Waukesha in response to the Supreme Court Decision on the President’s health care takeover.

This is one of the most important rulings in our nation’s history but our work doesn’t end here.  Our nation needs health care reform that utilizes open markets and isn’t dictated to us by unelected bureaucrats.

Micheal Boldin will be joining us from the Tenth Amendment Center to help us understand the decision and how we can take action to create the change we need.

Ok now sit down and follow along.   Americans for Prosperity(AFP), is going to hold a rally tonight to celebrate the (probable)end of Obamacare,  while also supporting Mitt Romney for president, yet Obamacare is basically modeled after the health care reform (Romneycare) that Governor Romney passed when he was Governor of Massachusetts.   One of the things that the right wing is so very upset about, is that there is an individual mandate that everyone have insurance that the republicans came up with in the 90's when Hillary Clinton was trying to reform health care.   The individual mandate has been supported across the right wing spectrum from Newt Gingrich to Tommy Thompson,


Now because this came from President Obama and the republicans have made it their only mission to make sure he fails, then no one on the right supports an individual mandate anymore.

Let's try and wrap up this in terms of AFP.   They adamantly oppose President Obama's Obamacare, while they support Mitt Romney and pretend that Romneycare does not exist.   They were for the individual before they were against it and now they are holding a rally on a foregone court decision touting the end of what they were for before they were against.


Confusing isnt it?   And they want to be taken seriously?

PS:  more on the Supreme Court ruling when it comes!

I am glad to admit that I was wrong!!   The Supreme Court has upheld Obamacare!  

The Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law today in a splintered, complex opinion that gives Obama a major election-year victory.

Basically. the justices said that the individual mandate -- the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine -- is constitutional as a tax.

Chief Justice John Roberts -- a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush -- provided the key vote to preserve the landmark health care law, which figures to be a major issue in Obama's re-election bid against Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

Complete ruling here!

The Walker Budget Keeps On Working! Part CXIX

Scott Walker's budget has caused such a recessionary effect on the state's economy that it's killing the Miracle Mile:

Ma & Pa’s Grocery Express, a longtime centerpiece of Fond du Lac’s Miracle Mile, is closing its doors.

The gas station and convenience store at 506 S. Main St. stopped pumping gas and selling lottery tickets on Wednesday, although the store itself remained open. Owner Mitch Miles told The Reporter that he anticipates closing the store portion and going out of business early next week, probably on Tuesday.

Miles said he did everything he could to keep the icon of the Miracle Mile alive, pouring everything he had into the business.

[...]

The store has a national reputation for being a lucky site for the lottery. Since 1994, it has sold about 30 big winning lottery tickets. Tourists were known to stop for tickets, and it wasn’t uncommon to see lines snaked around the store when the jackpot was high.

He recently made the painful decision to close. Miles said he has about 18 employees.

Tell me again how "It's working!" With people still losing jobs and businesses still closing left and right, I keep forgetting.

Walkergate: The Return Of The Universal Immunity Defense

The other day, I pointed out that there were upcoming attractions in regards to the criminal case against Kelly Rindfleisch.

Indeed, there's been a relative flurry of action going on in the case. As noted in the above link,the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office is seeking permission to introduce even more of Rindfleisch's emails to provide "necessary context" and "complete the story behind the workday contacts in the charged counts."

Meanwhile, Rindfleisch's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, has again filed a motion to have the case dismissed. His motion is based on two things.

One, he is citing the theory of universal immunity, in that the immunity Rindfleisch was granted during the caucus scandals should transcend time and be inclusive for all criminal behaviors.  He's tried this before, and I didn't think much of it then:

The defense with the highest comical effect, although I'm sure it was not intentional, is the one that Rindfleisch's attorney is presenting.

The first attempt to was to try to get the case dismissed outright, stating that it was improper for the complaint to include testimony that Rindfleisch had given years ago during the caucus trials.  In other words, they were trying to argue that the immunity granted all that time ago was unlimited in time and scope - an universal immunity, if you will.

While I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the Internet, I find this laughable. The immunity that was granted was indeed to protect her from incriminating herself...for the caucus scandals. It was not meant to cover her for any other misdeeds she might do years later. 

The answer to this was already given in the DA's response to Tim Russell's motion to suppress evidence. Russell's attorney, Dennis Krueger, argued that the Walkergate investigation exceeded it's authority in its scope.  However, ADA Bruce Landgraf pointed out that the investigation followed the crime and that the investigation was under the auspices of an overseeing judge, in this case, the Honorable Neal P. Nettesheim.

Starting on the bottom of page 2 of the state's response:

The John Doe proceeding at issue here was commenced in May 2010. It was initiated pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §968.26 (2009) That statute provides in relevant part:

(1) If a district attorney requests a judge to convene a proceeding to determine whether a crime has been committed in the court's jurisdiction, the judge shall convene a proceeding described under sub.(3)and shall subpoena and examine any witnesses the district attorney identifies.

***

(3) The extent to which the judge might proceed in an examination under sub.(1) or (2)is within the judge's discretion. The examination may be adjourned and may be secret...

The same would hold true for material evidence as well.

In other words, as long as the judge finds the request permissible, it will be allowed to happen. The only way that the DA would be able to ensure gathering all of the evidence is to collect all the emails for a specific time frame and then go through it.

A strong example would be from the Rindfleisch transcripts filed earlier this year. The email servers might not have thought a discussion of who was taking care of Rindfleisch's pets would be relevant to the case, but the DA's Office was able to use that to show that she was committing fraud by using the pretense of moving to Milwaukee County so that Walker could hire her to work in his office and do the campaign work he wanted her to do.

If I can see through Gimbel's arguments and rebut them, I'm sure that ADA Landgraf or whoever is handling this case will be able to do so with even more aplomb.

In summary, I don't think that Gimbel's gambit will work anymore than his failed attempt to have the venue changed to Columbia County.  But he is doing what he is supposed in offering the best defense he can for her.  It's not his fault that Rindfleisch was so blatant in her misdeeds that there is such a pile of evidence against her.