Saturday, February 22, 2014

Scott Walker Won't Say What We Already Know

Two days after the release of the Kelly Rindfleisch transcripts, the press was finally able to catch up with Scott Walker.

Jim Myers of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had two stories in one, although he either did not realize it or his editors wouldn't let him run with it.

The first story was in the headline of the article itself:
"Scott Walker won't say whether he knew of or used secret email system"
Well, who really cares whether he says it or not. We all know it to be true.

One of the first thing that the reporters noted was an email from Cindy Archer to Rindfleisch that introduced her to the secret network and that this what she used to communicate with Walker and others.

But to me, the still most telling bit of evidence comes from Walker, when he sent out an email, through the system, chastising Tim Russell shortly after Darlene Wink was caught campaigning:


I really don't understand how much clearer it can be.  He is using the system to tell his people that they can't afford to get busted using the secret system anymore.  Yet the mainstream media continues to ignore this for some unknown reason.

The other story is that Walker is not only telling a lie by omission, but he is telling bold-faced lies and getting away with it.

Look at the two quotes from Walker that appear in Myers' article:
"The only comment I am going to say about all of this, on all of this, because I am not going through 27,000 pages of stuff, is that a Democratic district attorney looked at all that information and interviews ... and ultimately issued charges against the people that they did and concluded that legal process as of March last year," Walker said.

"They didn't find any other action to bring that forward and so that's the end of it. So I am not going to go back and relive all these things."
and this:
Walker was asked if he would agree to hold a news conference to address the document disclosures, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did when controversy erupted over the closure of lanes heading into the George Washington Bridge.

"No, because I am done," Walker said. "The difference is he (Christie) was just at the beginning of his process. This has been done. Your paper and others have reported on it. You are basically getting a splash because political opponents of mine want to draw attention to something that has already been resolved as of last March."
Walker kept to two talking points. One, he is trying to paint the investigations as being partisan.

Fine. If that's the point he wants to make, great!

Let it be known that the Democratic John Chisholm was willing to prosecute people that stole from veterans and stole from taxpayers, while the Republican J.B. Van Hollen declined to do so on two separate occasions, citing a conflict of interest.

The second point is that it's all over.  Well, we know that is a big old lie as well.

It was just a few weeks ago when the appellate court said that the Sons of Doe could proceed into their investigation of Walker's campaign and the way he colluded with third party groups.

We also know that Walker is still gushing money in order for his campaign to "cooperate" and "stay in compliance."

And as a side note leading back to the first point, the ongoing Sons of Doe investigations have been authorized by Democratic and Republican district attorneys, which really shows that it is not a partisan witch hunt as the right is trying to portray it.

Sadly, the media is still picking at the edges and not going after the real stories, much less confronting him on his flat out lies.

11 comments:

  1. Capper pondered:
    "I really don't understand how much clearer it can be. He is using the system to tell his people that they can't afford to get busted using the secret system anymore. Yet the mainstream media continues to ignore this for some unknown reason."

    Capper, just read the Scott Bauer email.

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  2. Would it be worth contacting somebody at the Star Tribune? They cover La Crosse through Superior in their readership. You'd think they'd have one reporter interested in covering this stuff. Heck, all the work is already done for the guy (see this blog, Bice's stuff, and stuff from the WSJ). They could send a reporter to Madison and hound the Gov.....

    I mean, send an email to their investigators and folks who cover Wisconsin stuff....

    I'd also throw out contact Al Jazeera. They are making inroads in the USA plus their investigative journalism is amazing. Just a thought...

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  3. If Scott Bauer is in the back pocket of the GOP, one has to wonderful how many other media outlets are being courted and/or paid by the Koch empire.

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  4. I would encourage all readers of this blog to start sending links to Al Jazeer's Chicago bureau. They don't seem to be afraid to look into this kind of stuff. They actually just brought down a California representative.

    america@aljazeera.net

    trevor@trevoraaronson.com

    Couldn't hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Has anyone heard of Honest Services Fraud?
    18 U.S. Code § 1346 - Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”





    Current through Pub. L. 113-75, except 113-66. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)



    US Code
    Notes
    Updates




    prev | next

    For the purposes of this chapter, the term “scheme or artifice to defraud” includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honest Services Fraud was greatly restricted by the US Supreme Court in the Skilling (Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling) decision.

      Short summary- prosecution under honest services fraud after the Skilling decision basically requires proving cash in hand kickbacks or bribery. If there is proof for that, there are other better charges to file.

      One of many links. http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/06/honest-services-law-pared-down/n.

      Delete
    2. Skilling spent 65 million dollars on his defense to find one loophole.

      Delete
  6. Very difficult to get any stories into the Wisconsin media any more. With the Gannett takeover of most papers, newsrooms are shells, news is syndicated, and media interns write up their assignments using Google and Wikipedia for background. Whomever is leading the team disseminating Kelly's emails needs to shift into marketing mode - develop a single, simple phrase that now describes the post-em release Gov. Walker with 2-3 simple talking points. ID key target audiences and how best to communicate, and implement messaging to each. Get people viewing, chattering, and evangelizing that one simple phrase 24X7. As the groundswell builds then media will listen and report. Not before. And without that one simple phrase from the Left, the Right wins with "Nothing new here". Don't over think it - no one (especially the state media) wants to read, be challenged or think for themselves. And don't waste time hand-wringing why it has to be that way - that ship sailed long ago.

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    Replies
    1. Put those things together and email Al Jazeera's Chicago bureau. They have some good investigators.

      america@aljazeera.net

      trevor@trevoraaronson.com

      Delete
  7. Scott Walker DOES NOT get to choose when it's done, the people of WI will. WE are only getting started.

    VOTER GAGING?!!! I hope he and everyone that participated in that email and any meetings, sees JAIL TIME! I personally knocked on doors for the recall that day, to make sure voters went out to vote, and I had a couple of seniors tell me they received a message on their machine telling them, their vote had been registered because they signed the recall, so they need not show up at the polls. CRIMINAL!



    IT WILL BE DONE WHEN HE RESIGNS! or he's in handcuffs

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  8. We need our own true the vote with a true Friends of Scott Walker and publically post every piece of information we find...I bet there is a LOT of criminal behavior there...

    ReplyDelete