The story of Scott Walker's future as a convict is pretty simple and only needs a few events to make the point. This is based largely on Daniel Bice's reporting in the Milwaiukee Journal Sentinel.
2003
Newly elected Milwaukee Executive Scott Walker (who never served in the military) creates Operation Freedom, a charitably supported annual picnic designed by Walker to exploit the military and its veterans, as well as the jingoistic bellicosity rampant in the GOP base, to score political points.
2008
Scott Walker is reelected for a 3rd time as Milwaukee County Executive. Operation Freedom claims 18,000 attend its event.
2009
Scott Walker's chief of staff, Tom Nardelli, contacts
the DA's office over concerns about what a local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart had done with donations it received from the county for Operation Freedom.
Everybody agrees that there were multiple follow-ups between Nardelli and the DA's staff, but nothing came of it and that's the last cooperation the DA received from Walker on any investigation.
Prosecutors have previously acknowledged that investigators met with Nardelli and another Walker aide in 2009 over Operation Freedom. Nardelli told the DA's office that Purple Heart's treasurer had refused to provide any records or accounting of the event's finances.
2010
Trying to follow the money, the DA finds that Walker's office either can't or won't not provide the county's records concerning the Purple Heart funds. On May 5, the DA requests a John Doe investigation. Judge Neal Nettesheim, who is overseeing the John Doe investigation, agrees
to expand the scope of the investigation at least seven times between May 11 and Nov. 30, 2010.
2011
John Doe investigations into financial misconduct at the Milwaukee County Executive's office continue. Suspicion mounts of misuse of public employees, equipment and resources for political purposes and of an illegal email network setup to conceal the crimes.
2012
Arrests begin of Walker aides from Milwaukee and Walker lawyers-up and creates a criminal defense fund.
Who else smells smoke here? Who thinks there is no fire? When everyone around you has been granted immunity from prosecution, but you have not, it says a lot about just who the target of the investigation actually is. Walker's claim that he is not a target merits no more respect than his claim that he initiated the John Doe investigation, that is, no respect at all.
In 1972, America overwhelmingly reelected Richard Nixon despite the already developing investigation of Watergate that ended Nixon's Presidency the following year. Let us hope that Wisconsin makes no such mistake tomorrow. The questions decided at the polls tomorrow in Wisconsin are, how many voters can Walker fool and for how long?
Go, Barrett. On, Wisconsin.