Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Walkergate: The Show Must Go On!

Poor old Kelly Rindfleisch.

She's tried time after time to derail and delay her criminal court hearing.

Her third and most recent attempt was to ask the appellate court to delay her hearing and to rule that her personal emails to be suppressed.

It was a rather odd and desperate request since the bulk of the case surrounds the fact that she was using private emails and a secret router system.

Probably fed up with her frivolous appeals, the appellate court refused to delay justice further.

Today, they turned down the appeal itself.

I can't imagine that the people footing her legal bill are too pleased. The squandered all that money and now Rindfleisch has to go on trial anyway and Scott Walker has to try to dance through a legal landmine field by testifying and not incriminating himself. Of course, he'll probably just perjure himself since lying comes naturally to him and the consequences for that will be minor compared to what he faces when he is brought before the court himself.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on this does bring up an interesting point which has been bantered about before in previous posts (emphasis mine):
A state Appeals Court Tuesday refused to consider the question, though Rindfleisch could raise the issue again after her trial if she's convicted. Rindfleisch, 43, is accused of four felony counts of criminal misconduct for doing campaign work while at her job as deputy chief of staff to Walker in 2010, when he was Milwaukee County executive.
The question is: What would happen when Rindfleisch is convicted?

Will her sponsors continue to throw good money after bad in order to foot the bill for her appeal? Will they feel that trying to buy her silence is still worth the cost? Or will they realize that they are starting to deal with diminishing returns and decide let her rot in jail?

Trust me one thing: If they decide to keep funding her appeals and keep her out of jail, à la Scott Jensen, they won't be doing it for her. They'll be doing it simply for the reason of buying her cooperation for Walker's trial.

5 comments:

  1. Her legal expenses amount to nothing more than pocket change for the people who are paying them. When all this is over she will have a nice job waiting for her at the Bradley Foundation, the McGiver Institute or some other right-wing cess pool.

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  2. As always:
    Kelly Rindfleisch
    10-11-2012 - Hearing
    10-15-2012 - Jury Trial
    Judge: Hansher, David A.

    Kevin Kavanaugh
    10-08-2012 - Jury Trial
    Judge: Guolee, Michael D.

    Brian Pierick
    01-24-2013 - Jury Status Hearing
    01-29-2013 - Jury Trial
    Judge: Haughney, Patrick C.

    Darlene Wink
    11-21-2012 - Sentencing
    Judge: Konkol, Daniel L.

    Tim Russell
    10-22-2012 - Final Pre-Trial
    11-02-2012 - Motion Hearing
    12-03-2012 - Jury Trial
    Judge: Hansher, David A.


    Capper, on the last Walkergate post, you reminded us that, even though Wink will be sentenced by Russell's trial, she is still schedule to take the witness stand. This is interesting because her sentencing has been moved at least twice under the guise of not wanting to sentence her until all of her potential testifying was done (per her agreement). However, it now appears that the DA is cool with sentencing her prior to her testimony. With so much apparently hinging on her plea deal, why would the rules of the game change now? Could this be a sign that they've given up on the other angels that she was assisting with? Had they originally hoped to have had both Russell and Rindfleisch tried and other parties charged by this point? It seems one of the very few odd inconsistencies.

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    Replies
    1. 15MAY:

      Prosecutors involved in a secret investigation involving Gov. Scott Walker's former staffers in the Milwaukee County executive's office were granted a two-month postponement Tuesday in the sentencing of a one-time Walker aide. Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf told the judge THE OTHER INVESTIGATIONS WEREN'T YET CLOSED. He asked for a delay "as long out as perhaps the court's calendar will accommodate." Landgraf's request for a generous delay in sentencing might suggest that THE INVESTIGATION STILL HAS A WAY TO GO.

      17JUL:

      The judge overseeing Wink’s case once again granted a prosecutor’s request to push the sentencing back, this time until Nov. 21. “Ms. Wink HAS NOT FULFILLED AT LEAST THAT MUCH OF HER AGREEMENT with Milwaukee County. Ms Wink also HAS SOME OBLIGATIONS with respect to a MATTER PENDING IN WAUKESHA County,” prosecutor Bruce Landgraf said.

      We can conclude:
      1) The other investigations are now closed.

      2) The "other investigations" have come to an end.

      3) Ms. Wink has fulfilled her agreement.

      4) The "other case" may have been the one that the Waukesha County DA refused to bring charges in (can't find a link).

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    2. Here's the link. Perhap's Ms. Wink is done here.

      http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2012/07/whos-walkers-best-boy-and-other.html

      " Marie Rohde, writing for WisPolitics.com, reported that Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel wasn't going to prosecute the suspect because he could "demonstrate that he knew what he was doing was wrong." Schimel described it as a "side issue" not involving campaigning from work. What he didn't say is whether it had something to do with illegally coordination between Walker's campaign and Walker's county executive office."

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    3. The investigations are far from over. The DA made it clear he wanted Wink to testify against Russell and maybe Rindfleisch. I'd expect she'd get her sentencing delayed yet again since her hearing is before Russell's trial.

      Then after putting Russell and Rindfleish away, they can go after the bigger fish.

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