Friday, January 11, 2013

Walkergate: RPMCVP

About twenty months ago to this day, Darlene Wink, then Director of Constituent Affairs for then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, was busted out by Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for leaving comments on JSOnline and other blogs.  She would use the pseudonym of RPMCVP, which stood for Republican Party of Milwaukee County Vice-President, another position she had held at that time.

That, among other things, became part of the expanding and still ongoing John Doe investigation we have all come to know and love as Walkergate.

Almost a year ago, on January 26, 2012, Wink was arrested and charged with two counts of Political Solicitation by a Public Employee, both misdemeanors.

Two weeks later, it was reported that she had accepted a plea deal.  While this got many very excited for a quick turn around to an indictment of Walker, I wasn't so sure:
News of the deal has many Wisconsinites excited and hopeful that this means she'll spill her guts and give enough information for them to indict Walker.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. While it's obviously true that, like most people, she really, really doesn't want to go to jail, but how strong is that aversion to incarceration?

I have spoken to people who have known her and they have described her as being very zealous, almost to the point of being cultish, to all things Walker. In other words, she has drunken long and deep and often of the Kool-Aid and that they could see her taking a fall if it meant protecting her Dear Leader.

I was reminded of this when I saw this quote in the report by Marie Rohde, writing for WisPolitics.com:
“Miss Wink just wants to put this behind her,” Wolff said. “She doesn’t like being in the limelight, and she’s a very loyal person.”
The question is whether she is more loyal to herself or to Walker. Of course, they could also be using her to put the pressure on others in an effort to get them to turn on Walker.

But then again, there is this blurb from Dan Bice's report for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wolff said Wink was able to complete all her legitimate county assignments in her courthouse job, as well as the campaign work done at the request of someone else. Wolff declined to identify that person. Wink was not pressured to do the campaign work, Wolff said.
One could easily assume that it is Walker who asked her to do that work. My guess is that it wasn't Walker, but that it was Tim Russell.

If my guess is correct, the question becomes who told Russell to have it done.
Obviously, the quick indictment never came.

On Thursday, after many adjournments and delays as the other cases were being settled, Wink was finally given her sentence. Her sentencing included:
  • 120 days in the House of Correction, which was stayed;
  • One year probation;
  • 50 hours of community service;
  • A fine of $1,000 plus court costs plus victim/witness surcharges plus the cost of supervision as determined by the Department of Correction, and;
  • Wink is not allowed to participate in any political activities outside of voting while on probation.
There are a couple, three things to note from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's reporting on the sentencing.

One is the highly misleading headline chosen for their story:
Ex-aide apologizes to governor during sentencing for county crimes
The misleading continues in the first paragraph:
Darlene Wink made a tearful apology to Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday during her sentencing for doing fundraising work for the governor while at her taxpayer-paid county job in 2009.
It's not until the third paragraph that these statements are put into some sort of context that shows the real meaning:
An emotional Wink offered an apology to the judge, "the taxpayers, my former boss and my friends and family" for her offenses. Her lawyer, Peter Wolff, said Wink was referring to Walker, whom he noted she greatly admires.
Indeed, from the people that I've spoken to who personally know Wink, she is described to have a fanatical, almost cult-like, adoration of the weasel.

It makes me wonder if she was apologizing to Walker for betraying him, as the paper is insinuating, or for simply getting caught and starting the process which is bringing his whole world crumbling down. My guess would be that it was more of the latter reason.

But of even more significance is this (emphasis mine):
Wink declined to comment as she left the courtroom. Wolff said Wink was relieved to have her case over - she was charged nearly a year ago. Wink will cooperate in any further prosecutions, Wolff said.

"As far as everybody knows, the Doe continues,
" he said. "We obviously hope it ends soon so there can be peace of mind not just for Ms. Wink but obviously the public at large."
As I have reported and repeated, Walkergate is far from over. There is simply too much there for it not to continue.

And it would also explain why Walker is getting frantic about fund raising again even though there is almost two years until the next election and no strong Democrat's name has been talked about, much less openly stated they would run. His high priced attorneys don't come cheap, so he has to beef up his legal defense fund.

Y'know, 2013 might not be such a bad year after all.

At least not for us.

17 comments:

  1. This is my favorite:

    Wink is not allowed to participate in any political activities outside of voting while on probation.

    How about forever...she has been involved in politics twice and both times broken the law...

    at least she wasnt doing homework in the Gallery of the Assembly now that would be bad!

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  2. This reminds me of when Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington in the face, and Whittington apologized to Cheney.

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  3. Jeff, I agree. Any time people are convicted of malfeasance in a political context, they should never be allowed to work in politics again. Period. Just like those convicted of fraud in the banking industry shouldn't be allowed to work in a bank ever again.

    Today, there is no discouragement for Kochish behavior in politics.

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    Replies
    1. Its actually encouraged....wink was rewarded for her role in the Caucus scandal with a promotion and free reign to keep doing what she was doing....

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  4. After getting her sentence lightened, she isn't going to spill anything new. They can't go back and increase the time.
    I hope they got everything out of her before making an agreement. I also hope it was worthwhile.
    A pig like her obviously won't learn.

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    Replies
    1. She is a human being.

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    2. She's a pig (although that's a little insulting to pigs). She should be tried for treason. Her behavior is reprehensible.

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    3. go easy friend,go easy. otherwise you turn into that which you despise.

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    4. She's a human being who hasn't told the truth at the very least by withholding the truth.

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  5. I wonder if Wink freelanced the online commenting herself. Has this ever been conclusively been determined? If it was done under instruction then she clearly failed in the implementation by choosing a screenname that would raise suspicion and be searchable without IP monitoring.

    I think she's sorry she got caught, sorry she did a poor job of cheating (again) to get caught, and really worried about her place in history. If the weasel goes down, she will be one of his buttpuppets that did him in with their incompetence in their craven and illegal acts.




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  6. Darleen Wink can rot in hell. She is as guilty as sin itself. This phony staged apology to Scott Walker is a desperate attempt at trying to protect her boss, one Scott Walker.
    Let's not forget her e-mails through Tim Russell's illegal communications system, sent directly from Wink to wonder-boy Reince Priebus, at his personal e-mail address at his corrupt law firm, Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP.
    Throw them all in jail.

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  7. Perhaps Wink was apologizing to Walker because she gave prosecutors information that will she knows will screw him-- Hard.

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    Replies
    1. lol. Can see the headline now.

      John Doe: When ButtPuppets bite.

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  8. Gareth- That's what happens in the mob movies. One weakling eventually cracks, and feels terrible for giving up the boss.

    And the Wisconsin GOP definitely has that "organized crime family" feel to it.

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    Replies
    1. In the movies the snitches usually wind up in river wearing a pair of concrete shoes :(

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  9. I agree, she appears to be a typical John Doe family member of kissin' cousins. Lying in utero to the present is an obvious shared gene they wear with hubris. The blatant guilt of the entire clan is infuriating because their innocence appears to be something that $ can buy and will. There is so much corruption down the weasel hole, but i fear it'll never cave in on itself.

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