I just picked up this article about the latest guilty plea in the ongoing investigation of the flunkies who surrounded Scott Walker while he was Milwaukee County Executive and running for governor. The guy pleading guilty is named Tim Russell. His name might not ring a bell, but his wrongdoing might.
If you've been following this investigation even tangentially, you might remember that one of the villains here stole money from a fund set up for veterans and their widows and orphans. Here's the money quote:
Russell, 49, faces two felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor theft charge, related to money he allegedly took that was meant for veterans and their families. Russell took more than $20,000 from a veterans group known as the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, as well as thousands from two Milwaukee County Board candidates' campaign committees, according to the criminal complaint against him. He allegedly used the money for trips to Hawaii and the Caribbean, for meetings with former presidential candidate Herman Cain and campaign operative Mark Block in Atlanta, and for renewing campaign websites for Walker's gubernatorial campaign. The complaint said Russell "stole more than 50 cents of every donation dollar deposited" into the preservation society's account in 2010.
So much for supporting the troops and all that.
The noose is gradually tightening around Walker's neck. Last month, another aide, Kelly Rindfleisch also plead guilty, albeit to some misdemeanors. Rindfleish was going to testify against Russell; facing that kind of evidence presumably inspired Russell's plea.
The Milwaukee DA keeps saying that Walker is not a target and Walker says he's cooperating. But the best thing that came out of Kelly's guilty plea was a stack of emails among a control group of campaign operatives showing how they were trying circumvent campaign laws. One of the members of that group was good ole Scooter. For much better informaton on this check out Puddytat's diary on the developments in the Rindfleisch case, In fact Puddytat would probably be writing this diary but she might actually have a life tonight.
Anyway, for those of you not familiar with Wisconsin law enforcemant arcana, what's called a grand jury investigation elsewhere is called a "John Doe" investigation in Wisconsin. And our friend Mr. Doe might finish the job we've been trying to do since the first demonstrations started in Madison in February 2011.
Tue Nov 27, 2012 at 7:26 AM PT: UPDATE: Giles Goat Boy corrected me on the Rindfleisch guilty plea. She plead guilty to a felony but I do not beleive was scheduled to testify against Russell. I had confused her with Darlene Wink, another defendant in the investigation. She had plead guilty to misdemeanors and was scheduled to testify. Her sentencing was postponed till January, presumably to make sure the Russell plea gets done. Rindfleisch is scheduled for six months in jail as part of her plea, though.
Finally, I greatly appreciate this diary making the rec list. I'm an interested observer on what's going in America's Dairyland, having grown up in Wisconsin, and I still have a lot of friends and family there. But the real hard work and heavy lifting in the recalls, other elections and activism has been done by folks like puddytat, GGB, Noise of Rain, ruleoflaw, PvtJarhead and other dedicated kossacks who deserve a real shout out for fighting to keep the state true blue.