Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Abele's Tantrums Over Firing Of Corrupt Corp Counsel

Two months ago, Cory Liebmann reported on an email he found from Kimberly Walker, the then head of Milwaukee County's Corporation Counsel, in which she solicited County Emperor Chris Abele to send all emails through her in order to circumvent open record requests:
"Please see the following below... my two-cents worth.  FYI - trying to play this forward in my mind.  With the exception of my email, this email string will not be exempt from open records requests.  Should you wish to preclude its disclosure, please send additional comments, revisions etc., only to me with the names of others who should see it, and I can forward. Just a thought."
Walker's suggestion to avoid open records requests is not unlike when Tim Russell installed  a secret router and email system so that Scott Walker's staff could do illegal campaigning without fear of being found out.

This solicitation to commit a crime was compounded by her failing to perform her job adequately and giving faulty legal advice.

Despite the failings, the unethical and illegal behavior, Abele never saw fit to correct the situation.  If anything, he encouraged and enabled it to continue.  (And Abele wonders why people refer to him as "Walker Lite" and "Lil Walker.")

The inevitable result was that the Milwaukee County Board had to be the adults and voted to terminate Walker's service.

This caused Emperor Abele to have a major temper tantrum and hissy fit.

First he called upon the Imperial Ghost Writer, Aaron Rodriguez, to attack the County Board, and especially Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic.  Rodriguez' effort was a predictable failure.  The best that Rodriguez could come up with was to the effect that they hired a law firm where the janitor's sister's boyfriend's babysitter's aunt's ex-husbands stepdaughter's dog gave a donation to Dimitrijevic six years ago.

Rodriguez also tried to ignite some selective outrage by pointing out that the law firm that Board would contract with had a Blue Fist on their webpage.  The horror of it all!

 His rant about that reminded me of this famous scene from the movie "Animal House":



And in accordance with Abele's and Rodriguez' hypocritical nature, there was no mention that Abele and his plutocratic pals at the Greater Milwaukee Committee had hired the union busting silk-stocking law firm of Foley and Lardner. Foley and Lardner is the Abele equivalent of Scott Walker's Michael Best and Friedrich.

Gaining no traction with Rodriguez, Emperor Abele then turned to his own bought and paid for supervisor, Deanna Alexander.

Shortly after the firing, Alexander shot off a press release filled with unsupported and unsubstantiated allegations of having "secret meetings" and making sure that no one told Alexander.  It is not clear at this time whether Alexander wrote this release or if it was another production by Brendan Conway, Abele's spokesperson.

Now it is being reported that Alexander, through the Bradley Foundation's Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has filed a complaint with the Milwaukee County District Attorney, the state's Attorney General and corporations counsel's office. (Oh, no conflict of interest there!)  The complaint alleged that Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, who originated the movement to fire Walker, and the other supervisors had violated the open meeting laws.

Not once did it occur to any of these fools that Lipscomb might have done what any supervisor would have done and met with the other supervisors on a one to one basis, which is perfectly legal.

Make no doubt about it - this move by Alexander and the other sockpuppets is for no reason other than to try to scare the supervisors into switching their votes and upholding Abele's veto of the firing.

It should be noted that many people have stated that Alexander is over her head on this stuff, which she found out today when Supervisor Gerry Broderick issued his own press release with some interesting questions in it:
Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Gerry Broderick said today that Supervisor Deanna Alexander was disingenuous in filing an open meetings complaint against 13 members of the Board because she herself secretly met with colleagues in seeking the removal of Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic.

The Board fired Corporation Counsel Kimberly Walker last week in a 13-5 vote that Alexander said was “irrational.” The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a complaint on Alexander’s behalf on June 21.

“I can’t help wondering if Supervisor Alexander had these same concerns in mind last month when she set about meeting behind closed doors with colleagues intent upon unseating Chairwoman Dimitrijevic,” Broderick said. “Shouldn’t her failed coup attempt be subject to the same level of scrutiny as the successful dismissal of Corporate Counsel Kimberly Walker? Or is there a politically convenient double standard being applied here?”

Broderick also questioned who was paying for the attorneys involved in the complaint.

“Is she paying for this out of her own pocket? Because that’s what she should be doing,” Broderick said. “If she is getting free legal advice, then she is engaging in unethical, if not illegal, behavior as a public official.”
It will be interesting to see if Alexander has suddenly become expendable to Emperor Abele, who has a long track record of abandoning friends.

Lastly, for now anyway, the sour and boorish Sheldon Lubar, who is one of Abele's fellow plutocrats at GMC, shows his true nature by some very bitter and acidic personal attacks on both Dimitrijevic and Lipscomb in a tantrum that rivals one of Abele's. It must be a plutocrat thing:
In a letter to Lipscomb, Lubar said "you and the rest of your mindless plotters of 13 supervisors should be ashamed of yourselves" for working to oust Corporation Counsel Kimberly Walker. The board voted 13-5 to fire her, with no debate.

[...]

In an interview, Lubar criticized Dimitrijevic as "a child... She has no maturity." He compared her unfavorably to her predecessor as chairman, Lee Holloway.
It truly is amazing to see the way these plutocrats act when they are told no. It's also very disappointing that Abele and his apologists act when the person saying no is a strong woman like Dimitrijevic. Their bigotry and misogyny really shines through.

In an effort to sum up the oddness and inanity of the situation, Kimberly Walker was inept, unethical and dishonest.  As a result, she rightfully lost her job.  In a pique of rage, the elitist and arrogant Chris Abele has made his friends, apologists and minions look like fools and boors, possibly gotten them into their own legal trouble.  To top it off, the person that Abele and minions were trying to defend, will have her own name dragged through the mud as her behaviors are made more public than a blog.

The only thing missing from this circus is the clowns at Citizens for Responsible Government issuing their empty threats of recalls.

All in all, Abele should have done as he did with Patrick Farley and just tried to sweep this all under the rug while he was behind.  But by not choosing his battles wisely, he has made things much more difficult for himself and his dwindling allies.

1 comment:

  1. Where is the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation in this ordeal?? Or better yet the Wisconsin Attorney General?? The actions of Attorney Walker if not criminal certainly are violation of Wisconsin's Supreme Court Rules of Conduct for Lawyers, SCR Chapter 20.

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