Friday, May 24, 2013

And You Thought Your Job Was Bad...

Last Friday, Scott Walker's campaign spokeswoman, Nicole Tieman, issued a brief statement that she was not going to be with the campaign anymore, effective immediately.  However, her departure was drowned out by the news of Graeme Zielinksi leaving the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Nicole Tieman
Image courtesy of
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
On Thursday, we learned why Tieman left the campaign so suddenly.  Like so many of Walker's other aides, she ran afoul of the law.  Only this time, it wasn't related to the campaign, or at least not directly:
Nicole Tieman who resigned without explanation Friday as Gov. Scott Walker's campaign spokeswoman has begun serving a 20-day sentence behind bars in Milwaukee County on a drunken-driving conviction.

Tieman, 25, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court to her second OWI offense, reversing her plea from a week earlier. Judge John Siefert sentenced Tieman to 20 days confinement starting no later than June 3, took away her driving privileges for a year and imposed a $950 fine.

She was granted work-release privileges to seek a job and to get alcohol or drug treatment.

Records show Tieman, who lives in Waukesha, was booked into the House of Correction in Franklin, formerly the County Correctional Facility-South, on Wednesday.
The article goes on to say that she was being groomed by the Republicans after having her education sponsored by the Bradley Foundation, which is of course, headed by Michael Grebe, Walker's campaign chairman.

Tieman's fate got me to thinking about Walker's other spokespeople.

Before Tieman, Walker's spokeswoman was Ciara Matthews.  Before Walker's campaign, Matthews' claim to fame was being a Hooter's girl.  After leaving Walker's campaign, she went to work for Mitt Romney, and promptly helped drive it into the ground.

And before Matthews was Jill Bader.  Bader was best know for her racist tweets and other inane stunts.  After doing a stint with the Girl Scouts, Bader is back into politics, being the mouthpiece for Right Women, Right Now - the Republican's second attempt at trying to match the success of Emerge America.

(This group is sure to enjoy the same lack of success as its predecessor.  After all, what hope do they have when our own homophobic lieutenant governor, Blinky Kleefisch, is not just one of their advisors, but is their featured leader?)

As the gentle reader already knows, Walker's official governmental spokespeople fared only slightly better.

Fran McLaughlin was Walker's spokeswoman for when he was Milwaukee County Executive.  She was given immunity in Walkergate after it was discovered that she was writing and tweaking his campaign press releases.  Now she is stuck trying to make sense of the words and actions of Sheriff David Clarke.

Walker's gubernatorial spokesman, Cullen Werwie, was also given immunity in the Walkergate investigations, due to his role and knowledge of the illegal politicking done by Walker's campaign.  Despite, or maybe because of, Werwie's role in the illegal activities, Walker has kept him on board as his spokesman.

So, gentle reader, you might think your job is bad, but it could always be worse.  Your job could come with a curse like Scott Walker and involve all sorts of legal problems.

PS: Has anyone else noticed that until now, all of Walker's campaign spokeswomen have been younger, attractive, blonde women?  Methinks it's much akin to Faux News' sexist approach  to their anchorwomen.  After all, as they say, sex sells.

10 comments:

  1. Two things Cap - In the usage you provided, "fair" should be spelled "fare."
    Then there's this "Despite, or maybe because of, Werwie's role in the illegal activities, Walker has kept him on board as his spokeswoman."
    I think you may have meant spokesMAN :-)

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  2. Don't forget Jocelyn Webster.

    http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/12/11191/walker-enlists-karl-rove-prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9-promote-new-protest-policy

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  3. Wingnut welfare case to a T. Then again, when you're as incompetent and amoral as Scott Walker, it comes as no surprise that all you can get are stooges, lackeys, and sickos.

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  4. Working for Walker would prompt anyone to drink.

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  5. Walker hires good-lookin' white, blonde women? Fits right in with his Aryan teabagger agenda.

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  6. The offense date for this offense, charged and concluded by plea in only the last few days, is nearly two years ago: June 26, 2011. It may be interesting to review Milwaukee County circuit court records to check the criminal complaint/charging documents for the details of the first offense. She's lived out of state and CCAP doesn't list any prior OWIs; so if its from another state it was almost surely criminal (so not a very good hire for a person wanting to surround themselves with excellence). It may have been possible to simply let the originally charged civil traffic offense of 11 TR 21254 default (without ever appearing) and possibly get a 2nd first offense out of it (although the DOT might have caught that, even with using two names), but that original civil case record shows Larson/Tieman proceeded with a not guilty plea and filed the $36 six person jury fee, keeping the case moving along and on the prosecutor's job list, ensuring it got more review. So even with proceeding under a different name, it wasn't handled as cleverly as it could have been.

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    1. >>> it wasn't handled as cleverly as it could have been.<<<

      Maybe there is another reason this was done? Not an expert, but I am suspicious as to why they did this.

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  7. Scott Walker, The Frank Burns of Wisconsin politics. "Frank please don't cut that out. Why not it's his appendix? No Frank that's my pinkie."

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    1. I've been thinking Frank Burns for a while now! The original "kiss up, kick down" guy.

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