The face of the high cost of "innocence".
No joke (yeah, I know it's April Fools Day and I've already been sucked in by
Giles Goat Boys diary - yes, I'm a sucker and that fact will be proven over and over today).
Walker transferred a quarter of a million dollars from his campaign fund into his Criminal Defense Fund on Thursday, made his final payments to his lawyers, and shut down the Criminal Defense fund on Good Friday.
Walker shut down his legal defense fund Friday after making final payments to the lawyers who assisted him during the nearly three-year (John Doe)investigation.
Walker's total legal tab due to the John Doe probe: $650,000.
(information in italics is mine, added for clarity)
Walker actually closed his Criminal Defense Fund down late on Good Friday so nobody would be paying attention (not only a Friday News Dump, but a Holiday Friday News Dump). Normally, I'm on the lookout for this kind of thing, but I was busy with phone banks (we have an election tomorrow), so I saved the juicy details for today.
Where did all that money go?
Records show his defense fund dispensed $432,754 to the Chicago and Milwaukee firms for which his two criminal defense lawyers worked. A boutique Madison law firm and APCO Worldwide, a Chicago-based PR firm, received another $15,000 from Walker's defense account.
In addition, Walker's campaign paid about $200,000 directly to Michael Best & Friedrich for so-called "compliance issues" related to the investigation. The campaign retained former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic, a former Michael Best lawyer who has since left the firm, when prosecutors subpoenaed campaign records the day before the 2010 general election.
Records say the defense fund on Friday paid $247,554 to Sidley Austin, a large Chicago law firm for which defense attorney John Gallo is a partner. Gallo's firm had previously been paid $130,000.
On Friday, the Madison law firm of Lind Weininger also received a payment of $3,560 from Walker's fund, bringing its total take to $4,860. Kate Lind, who works at the firm, was the custodian of records for the defense fund.
The governor was also represented by Milwaukee defense lawyer Michael Steinle, whose firm had previously received $54,200 from the governor's fund.
It is not unusual for politicians to release negative or unflattering news on Fridays or holidays to avoid as much attention as possible.
For those who recognize the name Michael Best & Friedrich, they are an infamous Republican law firm, hired to be Walker and the Republican Legislative majority lawyers until revelations started to emerge. It seems they represented RW State Supreme Court Justice Gableman for free on his ethics violation charge (estimated at about $100,000 in value) and then received his vote on every single case Michael Best, et. al. brought before the State Supreme Court). Hmmmm.
Michael Best, et. al. was also the law firm that handled the secret, off site, gerrymandering of our legislative and congressional districts so only Republican who signed oaths of secrecy could even view the maps. Kept off site, the Republican majority was able to prevent input from anyone other than Republicans and avoided state disclosure laws. They later rammed the redistricting maps through the State Legislature and had them quickly signed into law.
Redistricting is still under review by a 3 judge federal panel because of a history of failure to produce documents despite multiple court orders and a large fine. State computers used in redistricting were obtained after another court order and have revealed damage to at least one hard drive and the presence and use of prohibited erasure programs. Computer forensic specialists are examining the hard drives to see if any documents can be retrieved.
The sleaze of Michael Best, et. al. became a bit too much even for Walker and the GOP and they were replaced as the Governor and State Legislatures attorneys last year, but, apparantly, remained as one of the legal firms that represented Walker regarding the John Doe Probe.
Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said the size of the legal tab leads him to believe that the first-term Republican governor was doing more than "cooperating" with the investigation.
Tate has called for the release of all records gathered by prosecutors.
"He chooses to hide behind ridiculous grandstanding and unfounded claims of innocence," Tate said Friday via email. "Walker must let the public know the true facts behind his involvement in criminal activities."
Agreed. That legal tab is massive. And those John Doe Probe records have been sealed by court order, an unusual step.
"Gov. Walker owes Wisconsin a full, immediate and transparent accounting of the millionaires who financed a $650,000 legal tab related to multiple criminal actions by his most trusted and senior staff," said Scot Ross, head of the liberal One Wisconsin Now.
I'm not holding my breath waiting. Walkers office has already refused comment.
$650,000 - a huge pile of money - and that tab doesn't even include money spent before Scott Walker set up his Criminal Defense Fund.
Innocent - I doubt it considering the number of people in his County Executives Office given immunity, or charged and convicted in the John Doe Probe. For a guy with unlimited funding and lawyers prepared to parachute in to defend them we all knew the case had to be iron clad. Even the email Walker sent on the secret private email network to a guy who no longer worked in his County Executive Office (but who set up the secret router) indicated Walker knew about what was going on in his office. It apparantly wasn't enough.
Perhaps just enough Teflon lubricated by a bit of slime was enough to avoid being charged. We'll never know.
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