Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is feeling some heat as a Milwaukee County John Doe investigation targeting his campaign staff, political donors, and administration employees inches closer and closer to Walker's office in the state capitol.
Last week, the FBI searched the Madison home of Cynthia Archer, a former deputy secretary in the Wisconsin Department of Administration who resigned her post abrubtly last month. The day before her resignation from that position, she was given a political appointment in the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, as the department's legislative liaison. She has yet to report to work there because she immediately began a paid medical leave of absence and is not expected to start her new job until October 3rd at the earliest. She also worked for Walker when he was the Milwaukee County Executive prior to his term as governor.
There is a lot of detail about Walkergate in a series of articles at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel web site, but over the last few days, three major developments in the scandal were revealed. First, it turns out that Cindy Archer was not only the architect of Walker's budget repair bill that stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights, she had unrestricted access to the governor's office at all times while she served in the Department of Administration.
Second, attorneys in the Wisconsin Department of Justice have filed a motion to "withdraw" Archer's June, 2011 affidavit responding to a lawsuit brought by public employee unions over the new collective bargaining law. Kind of like un-farting, I guess. The legal text of the motion to withdraw the affidavit can be translated for non-lawyers as follows:
Holy shit! The FBI!
Finally, it was reported that Wisconsin's Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen "declined" to assist the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office when the John Doe investigation began last year. This despite the DOJ having assisted in previous, similar investigations.
The animated film "Up" has a hilarious running gag with dogs being easily distracted by the possible sightings of squirrels. Reacting to the growing corruption scandal, Scott Walker and his allies have tried to evoke a similar "Squirrel!" response from the public, only instead of squirrels, Walkerites are calling out unions and their supporters. Surprised? I didn't think so.
Madison's more conservative newspaper, the State Journal, published an article today SQURREL! that can best be described as a hatchet job against a group of persistent capitol protesters, attempting to make the entire Wisconsin protest movement responsible for the actions of one man who poured a beer on a Republican legislator. That happened in a hotel bar, by the way, not in the capitol building.
This followed their printing of a letter to the editor last week that called for state officials to bar protesters from exercising their first amendment rights SQUIRREL! at a daily Solidarity Sing Along, which is usually held inside the capitol.
With impeccable timing, Republican State Representative Steve Nass today called for an investigation SQUIRREL! into the performance of Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs, specifically his handling of protesters inside the capitol. Nass is a nutcase, but his ridiculous assertion that Tubbs has gone easy on protesters grabbed lots of airtime on Madison TV newscasts tonight. Tubbs has been complimented by all sides throughout the months of protests for his calm demeanor and ability to balance public safety against rights of expression. Nass's call for an "investigation" of Tubbs is insulting and transparent, but effective.
Make no mistake. These squirrel sightings are part of a coordinated effort to squash dissent, but more importantly they are deliberately timed to distract local media from highlighting the unfolding Walkergate scandal. Walker is involved in the disinformation campaign, as is the Secretary of the Department of Administration, Mike Huebsch, and key Republican legislative leaders and staffers.
I dare them to sue me and make me prove what I know. If they do I guarantee I won't be filing any affidavits that I'll need to withdraw later.