Oh, those tricky reporters and their gotcha questions ...
BREAKING: MAJOR REVELATIONS IN JOHN DOE PROBE - Scott Walker Mistakenly Admits He is Under Investigation
Following reports that Scott Walker’s criminal defense fund grew by $100,000 in May, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is today reporting major revelations in the John Doe criminal corruption probe, including Scott Walker’s mistaken admission that he is under investigation.
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Walker, in a rare moment of candor, stated to reporters that he would not use the criminal defense fund to pay for the legal defenses of his aides, who have been charged with crimes ranging from child enticement, to theft from veterans and the families of fallen soldiers, to misuse of taxpayer resources to illegally campaign for Scott Walker, and would instead use the funds for himself or his campaign.
Wisconsin law is very clear: an elected official can only establish a legal defense fund if they, or their agent, are under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of violations of Wisconsin’s campaign finance and election laws.
wisdems
from the Journal Sentinel article ...
Appleton -- Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he will not use campaign funds to pay for the criminal defense of his aides.
Walker made the comment a day after a report show he had transferred $100,000 from his campaign account to a criminal defense fund he has set up. In all, he has put $160,000 into the account.
That fund can be used for himself, his campaign or those working for his campaign. But Walker's comments Wednesday indicate he would use the funds only for himself or the campaign.
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Walker said he put money into the defense fund so that he could provide thousands of documents to Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who is heading the investigation. Hiring attorneys was necessary to make that efficient, he said.
"It doesn't make any sense as governor to spend my time, spending hours over days, doing that," he told reporters at a campaign stop at Laminations Central in Appleton.
Uh, right Scottie. After all, everyone knows the cost of transferring documents has gone sky high. I think the OLB says it best in this photo from
their Facebook page:
And there is another issue as well ...
Scottie has claimed that he is not legally able to release the emails in question due to the DA demanding that he not compromise the investigation. There are a few problems with his claim. First, the emails should be available to the public anyway due to sunshine laws and the fact that they involve official state business. Also, the only way that he could be legally bound to not release them would be by order of the judge on the case, not the DA. And for that to happen it would require that he testified on the case to that judge. Given how recent the email issue has arisen I strongly suspect he has not been ordered to do anything and is just using this as an excuse to keep them hidden.
Judge overseeing Walker probe sees no partisanship
The Journal Sentinel contacted Nettesheim for a story explaining John Doe procedures, including a secrecy order preventing certain witnesses from discussing what happened in the closed-door fact-gathering proceedings.
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Walker has told reporters he is limited in what he can say because prosecutors have asked him not to compromise the investigation. On Tuesday, he told reporters that he couldn't release any relevant emails because of the ongoing investigation: "I can't by law. I'd be violating the law."
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The judge made clear, though, that no individual would be subject to the secrecy order unless he physically appeared in front of the judge while in court on the John Doe proceeding and personally received the secrecy order from the judge.
Gee, sounds like Scottie is lying again ... I'm SHOCKED!
[Updated to include photo of the Overhead Light Brigade in action.]
Update from Me Too in the comments, this article at Mother Jones provides a good explanation of the John Doe investigation.
What's it all about, Scottie?