So we progressives lost the Wisconsin governorship. That does not necessarily mean that Scott Walker won and even if you think he did it was a pyrrhic victory.
As the Daily Beast notes:
An investigation by the Milwaukee district attorney’s office into misconduct by people tied to the controversial Wisconsin Republican during his two terms as county executive is circling closer to Walker, with one reporter alleging this week that the governor has become the target of both the probe and a separate federal investigation.
The D.A.’s John Doe investigation into associates of Walker during his time as the Milwaukee county executive, launched in 2010, has to date led to charges against six people, including Walker’s former deputy chief of staff. While Walker himself has not been charged with wrongdoing, the investigation is ongoing and over the past seven weeks Walker has transferred $160,000 from his campaign to a legal-defense fund that he maintains is to cover the expense of cooperating with the probe.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Walker claims that he set up the defense fund in order to pay for the legal fees incurred by himself and his campaign, despite the fact that he was not yet charged with any crimes. That’s a no no!
But when Walker set up the fund in March, legal experts pointed to Wisconsin statutes that seem to mean Walker would only be allowed to establish such a reserve if he had already been charged or was being investigated in connection with the John Doe probe.
“The only way you can set that up is if you are under investigation or are being prosecuted,” Michael Maistelman, who was representing Russell at the time, told reporters. “One can only draw the conclusion that either one of those two things is happening.”
Walker has also done everything he can to slow down the work of the district attorney
While Walker has claimed that his office was responsible for this initial probe, an investigation by the Journal Sentinel reported on May 31 that his office had in fact done everything it could to hamper the work of the district attorney. The paper said that prosecutors hoped that by reclassifying their investigation as a John Doe case, rather than an ordinary investigation, they might be able to circumvent fears of “political embarrassment” on the part of Walker’s county executive’s office.
Two of Walker’s closest aides i.e., Timothy Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh have in fact been charged with stealing from veterans funds
Two county officials who served under Walker have been charged in the probe so far with taking more than $60,000 from the veterans fund: deputy chief of staff Timothy Russell and veterans official Kevin Kavanaugh. The two stand charged of separately taking funds from the veterans’ funds, and using that money for personal expenses as well as to renew the registrations on several of Walker’s gubernatorial campaign websites.
In order to bring down Walker all prosecutors really need is for Russell to sing like a canary
On Monday, it came out that Russell’s attorney was the source of documents that the Journal Sentinel columnist relied upon to show that Walker’s office had attempted to stonewall the initial inquiries that became the John Doe investigation. That’s a bad sign for Walker. While it does not seem that Russell has flipped on his boss, it has been speculated that, should he decide to flip, the effects could prove devastating for the governor.
Regardless of this victory, Walker may in fact be indicted and later tried
The legal sources, who are not involved in Wisconsin's recall, spoke on condition of anonymity. They said Walker faces "serious legal challenges," including "a possible indictment," regardless of the election results on Tuesday.
The sources indicate Walker's status was clarified more than a week ago, allegedly following a series of requests by Walker's legal team that prosecutors publicly clear him of any wrong doing before the recall election. Take Action News reached out to Governor Walker's spokesperson for comment on this story and received no response.
http://current.com/...
Scott Walker did not really win yesterday, corporitism did. He is just a replaceable pawn once he goes down.