Thursday, December 15, 2011

Walkergate: Walker's CARW-tel

On Tuesday, we learned that Andrew P. Jensen, Jr., a leading Milwaukee real estate broker, was arrested and booked into the Milwaukee County Jail for not cooperating with the ongoing John Doe investigation.

Wednesday evening, Jensen was released.  As part of his release, Jensen had to agree to meet with prosecutors at the end of January.

The shortness of his stay would indicate that this was a wake up call to Jensen that his money and influence doesn't extend as far as he would like and that he is not exempt from the law.  It also serves as a warning to other people that are entangled in the growing mess which spawned from the way Walker practices politics.

Oddly, Jensen's attorney, Patrick Schott, said that Jensen was jailed because Jensen "wouldn't adopt their version of events."  But the facts that authorities tried to offer Jensen immunity and that he tried to take it if he could remain anonymous while doing so would indicate that Jensen knows what the score is, but is too afraid of the Republican party machine that he doesn't want it known that he sang.

Now that Jensen's been outed, watch for the right, especially in the form of talk radio, rally around him and try to make him appear as a living martyr in a feeble effort to discredit the investigation.*  This is not so much to congratulate him for keeping his mouth shut - so far - as it is to remind him that they are watching in case he does.

On another note, in Tuesday's piece, I pointed out that there were other cronies of Walker's who were also tied up in the real estate business.  What even I hadn't fully realized is how cozy the relationship is between those people that I had mentioned.

In a copy of the Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin newsletter, from June 2008 (pdf), shows that while Jensen was serving as Chairman of the group's board, Jim Villa was the group's president.  If the reader scrolls down the newsletter to the second page, they can see a giant ad taken out by JM Hiller Consulting, LLC, which is the company owned by John Hiller, who had served for 18 years as Scott Walker's campaign treasurer, until abruptly leaving in the spring of this year.

This edition also includes an article about how they were nice and close to then Speaker of the Assembly Michael Huebsch, who is currently Walker's top henchman and has been leading the attack on Wisconsinite's First Amendment Rights, especially when it comes to the People's House, also known as the Capitol Building.

In the February 2008 (pdf) issue of the same newsletter, there are two articles about the groups PAC and how they're using it to "influence" lawmakers.  And we already know all too well how easily Walker is influenced, especially by big money.

And just as a bow on today's package, we can't leave Tim Russell out of this assorted affair.  Remember that under Walker's term as Milwaukee County Executive, Russell served at times in the economic development department as well as the Director of Housing.  That is significant when one looks at this line from the MJS article (emphasis mine):
Jensen, who primarily represents building owners seeking tenants for vacant space, is considered one of the top agents in the Milwaukee area in this field. He has also brokered deals involving public agencies and buildings.
Anyone familiar with Walker's method of operation in management would know that it includes trying to privatize all the services he could as well as sell all the assets he could, even if it meant ruining something as unique as the Monarch Trail.

That's the problem when a politician weaves such cozy webs. They might seem nice and cozy, but they can quickly turn into a tightening trap on them when they do wrong.

*This seems like a counter-intuitive strategy.  Do they really want prosecutors to level charges during the recall and so close before the election?  Really?

1 comment:

  1. You nailed it, as per usual:

    "Oddly, Jensen's attorney, Patrick Schott, said that Jensen was jailed because Jensen "wouldn't adopt their version of events." But the facts that authorities tried to offer Jensen immunity and that he tried to take it if he could remain anonymous while doing so would indicate that Jensen knows what the score is, but is too afraid of the Republican party machine that he doesn't want it known that he sang."

    ReplyDelete