Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Walkergate: That's A Whole Lotta Cooperating!

Last month, Scott Walker announced that he was creating a Legal Cooperation Fund.  For most people, it would've been call a legal defense fund, but Walker cannot bring himself to be honest with the people of Wisconsin, so he brought in two high-priced attorneys to help him "cooperate" with the DA's office in its ongoing Walkergate investigation.

What Walker didn't tell us is that he had hired these lawyers sometime last year.

We learned that today when Dan Bice broke the story that Walker has racked up somewhere between $55,000 and $99,999 in legal  bills:

But the first-term Republican governor must have retained the pair long before he made it public. 
As of Dec. 31, Walker owed more than $50,000 to Sidley Austin, a large Chicago-based firm that employs Gallo. Walker also disclosed that he owed between $5,000 and $50,000 to Terschan, Steinle & Ness, the Milwaukee firm where Steinle is a partner. 
The state requires public officials and political candidates to disclose in the annual statement any creditor to which they owe more than $5,000. Wisconsin officials and candidates then must say whether the debt is greater than or up to $50,000.
Now, we don't know how much the attorneys are charging Walker, but for attorneys of their caliber, it would not be surprising if it is at least $400 to $500 per hour, maybe even more.  That would mean that they put in over 100 hours of work on the case before the end of 2011.  The amount of hours is probably even higher, since a lot of the menial work would be assigned to junior members of the law firm for a lower rate.

But no matter how you cut it, that is sure a helluva lot of cooperating even before the first major arrests were made.

But that isn't all.  Remember, when it comes to Walker, there's more.  There's always more.

Long ago, Walker's campaign hired former US Attorney Steven Biskupic, who is employed by Walker's new favorite law firm - Michael Best & Friedich.  (How that isn't a conflict of interest, I don't know.)  Biskupic was to make sure the campaign was in compliance with election rules, which mostly means ensuring all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed.  At that time, the amount paid to the law firm was an amazing $60,000.

Bice reports that the amount spent by the campaign nearly doubled, like the amount of law firms:
In addition, Walker's campaign fund has paid two law firms - Michael Best & Friedrich of Milwaukee and Patton Boggs of Washington, D.C. - slightly more than $115,000. Walker said the campaign retained former U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic of Michael Best after prosecutors subpoenaed campaign email in November 2010.
That's a whole helluva lot of complying!

I am sure that what we know of the Walkergate investigations is just the tip of the iceberg.  There is surely much more that hasn't been released yet.

But when you look at the things we do know already - Milwaukee County files and computers missing; raids on the homes of Walker's top aids; illegal campaigning by his top staff; that email from Walker to Russell that  no one seems willing to talk about; the mystery dumpster'o'fun; and now already very high legal bills topping in the neighborhood of $200,000 - well, that all points to one thing, at least if one is honest with themselves:



Scott Walker is in a world of hurt.

The only questions are when is it going to happen and whether the voters of Wisconsin will be made sufficiently aware of all the shenanigans that Walker and his crew had been up to before the same mistake is repeated.

22 comments:

  1. Would be great if the investigation were complete before the recall election... voters deserve to know.

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  2. Walker's statements last year and this year were: 'we-happy-to-help' crap.

    No disclosure that the whole time he says he was helping, while under subpoena threat, he was racking up $10,000s in legal bills.

    If he is innocent, why wouldn't he have told the John Doe investigators they are crazy or and their investigation is a witchhunt?

    How about Walker holds a statewide townhall with the Wisconsin people and says: Ask me anything.

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  3. Mal.... you know darn well none of that woulld solve a single thing and would make dems angrier and fling more mud.

    Moreover why are you not upset over the millions that has been spent by obama to keep his records hidden.

    Hypocrits.

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    1. I'd like to learn more about Obama spending millions to hide his records. Could you provide links or citations that provide some details on that? Much appreciated.

      By the way, it's spelled "hypocrites."

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    2. Obama is not the governor of this state. Try staying on topic for once instead of deflecting from the topic of one of the most corrupt politicians this state has ever had.

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    3. there are people still stuck on Obama's "fake records"....dude....jump on a plane and fly to Hawaii, they will be more than happy to show you his birth certificate....Morom....for the record that's spelled M-O-R-O-N!

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  4. You libs are funny little people

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    Replies
    1. And you're a very unfunny little person.

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  5. Grasping. Desperate. Pathetic. Losers.

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  6. Is the number of uninformed loyal deniers increasing on this blog and has the specificity of their comments lessoned? ...perhaps the campaign owes them money also.
    Palli

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  7. Anonymous,

    Myself, when I see a DA or U.S. attorney doing something corrupt, I speak up loudly and candidly point out they are corrupt.

    Not so in John Doe-Scott Walker schedule. Ask ... Darlene Wink, and those who have already gone the immunity route.

    If Walker is innocent why not doesn't he - for all of Wisconsin to see - publicly instruct all current and former staff to tell the truth?

    Why not? Because if Scott Walker did that, he would be buried more quickly than if he stonewalls.

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  8. I think we need a new website to track the Governor's legal fees. Lets call it nolawyerleftbehind.com. I can see a lot of bar charts with each firm having a different color, bios of the lawyers, whose paying the fees etc.

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  9. Capper, an interesting angle as the recall of 4 senators approaches is this. Note that the GOP has suddenly started distancing themselves from Walker in the media. Take the GOP candidate for governor in the state of Wisconsin. In his campaign speech, he says: "I am NOT Scott Walker" (though we now know ALL Republicans are Scott Walker). So, GOP running for office now distance themselves from Scooter. Even the Tas Day Rally. The GOP trotted out Becky and her kids. Scooter was a no-show. Fitzgerald a no-show. Moulton a no-show. Wanggaard a no-show. No-shows all. Yep -- this is exactly what happened in Watergate. The GOP started distancing themselves from Nixon, even if not calling directly for his resignation. Behind the scenes the RW media started attacking Watergate investigators and attorneys...then key GOP started encouraging Nixon to resign to save the party. But, with a "double authoritarian" figure like Walker, he'll have to be forced out of office. I just wonder what kinds of threats (or promises) are making their way behind the scenes to the likes of Wink, Rindfleisch, Russell, et. al. -- and whether they are stupid enough to believe they'll actually get a "Get out of Jail FREE" card.

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  10. Actually I meant the candidate for governor in the state of Washington in the comment above. Guess I need a cup of coffee!

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    1. Good theory, except that Romney and Santorum went around saying "You have a wonderful governor", although, I guess they never did appear with him, did they? I guess they had to say that in order to win the base's vote in the primary.

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  11. ^^^Jake formerly of the LP, is that you??

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  12. Am I right to suggest that Walker has had more effort spent by lawyers on Walker than Walker has spent doing his own job?

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    Replies
    1. Having seen what happens when he 'does his job', I'm quite happy when he spends his time doing something else.

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  13. Somebody referenced me? I don't do "Anonymous" posts on these things, so I'm curious to find out why someone thought that was me. Guess I'm getting a reputation. :P

    Between these legal bills, Rindfleisch admitting she was a short-term hire to only serve through election season, and the illegal MMAC donations, this guy is beyond guilty. C'mon Chisholm, show Scotty what it's like to have a bomb dropped on him!

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  14. Did anything happen with Kevin K in court today, other than the judge not recusing himself?

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  15. hiring good lawyers is about the only intelligent thing walker has ever done.

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