It is being reported today that the personnel records of 2 more Scott Walker aides were subpoened in the nearly 2 year John Doe Probe:
Fran McLaughlin, Walker's county spokeswoman , and Jon Myhre, a deputy spokesman, were among a group of seven former county employees whose personnel records were subpoenaed by prosecutors in connection with the Doe, according to court records.
The others whose county personnel records were subpoenaed were Darlene Wink, Kelly Rindfleisch, Tom Nardelli, Tim Russell and Cynthia Archer.
Wink, Rindfleisch and Russell have been charged, as a result of the Doe probe; Archer and Nardelli have not. Wink has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for doing campaign work on county time and Rindfleisch faces four felonies for doing fundraising and other campaign work while at work in Walker's county executive office.
This revelation appeared in Kelly Reindfleischs criminal court file inside the prosecutors objection to her attorneys request to move the case to a different (and more Republican leaning) district.
The subpoenas were served August 15, 2011 and the records were turned over to the John Doe prosecutors on August 29 and Spetember 2, 2011, but were not revealed at the time. We only know about these subpoenas now because of the prosecutions court filing on the change of venue request from Kelly Reindfleischs attorneys.
This is the first time these 2 additional people have been linked to the ongoing and expansive probe.
McLaughlin worked as Walker's county spokeswoman from August 2007 through 2010 and she also worked before that as a policy adviser to Walker. Since 2011, McLaughlin has served as spokeswoman for Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.
McLaughlin's name is also apparently mentioned in a transcript of a March 30 computer chat between Rindfleisch and Jim Villa, a former Walker chief of staff at the county and an informal adviser to Walker's 2010 race for governor.
Myhre was Walker's deputy press secretary in 2006 and '07 and a county policy adviser to Walker for two months in the spring of 2010.
The John Doe Probe has been highly secretive and unbelievably leak-proof. The only time we find out anything is when there is public activity, such as the search warrant executed against Cynthia Archer, a former Walker aide, when criminal charges are filed or when, like today, information is gleaned from other documents filed with the courts.
These two individuals have not been charged or otherwise identified with the probe, nor connected with any wrongdoing, however, their personnel records were among the 7 subpoenaed. I'm not sure of the importance of this revelation, but it reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel felt it worthy of an article.
Dribs and drabs are all we have. How meaningful this is will be seen.
You can follow the John Doe at the Wisconsin Democratic Partys Walker Investigation site. Remember to click on the pile of papers under the video for more information.