An actual quote from last month which, I'm sure, Scott Walker would like to take back.
Even more revelations that Scott Walker was a naughty boy when he was Milwaukee County Executive.
He had his County staff blogging news web sites to promote him (which led to the resignation of Darlene Wink, a top aide to Scott Walker, who was later charged and plead guilty).
But, no worries, Wisconsin. Scott Walker tells us there's no secret email network in his Governors office. Riiiiiight!
Let me take you through these one at a time.
COUNTY STAFF URGED TO PROMOTE WALKER ON NEWS BLOGS
It wasn't just Darlene Wink going rogue and creating anonymous accounts to make Walker look good and opponents look bad. He urged his staff to blog news sites on his behalf.
In the heat of the 2010 governor's race, Scott Walker urged both county employees and campaign aides to go to news websites and post comments promoting him and his record, newly unsealed documents show.
Walker and his apologists heavily promoted the "one bad apple" meme after Winks use of County offices during work hours to blog pro-Walker comments on news sites. Now we know that was a
big fat lie. Even as late as last Friday, Walker was still promoting that fantasy to a reporter.
Here's the facts:
Tapping out a message on his campaign Blackberry on the afternoon of May 4, 2010, Walker urged county aides, campaign staffers and other trusted volunteers to go to an online Journal Sentinel business story and respond to critics of his plan to privatize the airport in the comments section below the story.
"Someone should comment on the fact that the only way for the county to benefit from that success is to contract out operations," Walker wrote in an email. "Having a well performing airport increases the value that the county could receive."
A half-hour later, Brian Pierick — the boyfriend of Walker aide Timothy D. Russell — posted a comment on the story under the alias "WI_Calvin," calling rising airport traffic "another example of Scott Walker's outstanding leadership."
"The only way the county can to (sic) benefit from that success is to contract out operations. Having a well performing airport increases the value that the county could receive," Pierick wrote, adding only a single word to Walker's phrasing. Pierick and Russell were both later convicted of other activities in the secret probe.
(bolding is mine)
Their current excuse is simply laughable:
Walker's campaign spokesman Jonathan Wetzel said Friday that emails asking people to post comments were not directives to government employees.
"The post was an observation made to a multitude of individuals. They were trusted to determine how best to handle that observation based on their own individual capacity," Wetzel said. "Neither the governor nor the campaign are aware of who made the post."
That's right, folks. Get an email from your boss and it's not a "directive", it's merely a "suggestion". Bwahahahaha! Hey, if you believe that one I've got a Bridge Traffic Study excuse I'd like to sell you, too.
Here's another example:
On Aug. 21, 2010 — a Saturday — someone posted a lengthy comment to the Journal Sentinel site under the moniker "capt1." In one of the recently released emails, Cindy Archer — the county's administration head at the time — let Walker and other associates know that she was behind the post.
Looks like a lot of bad apples are falling from the tree.
Small wonder that there are so many pro-Walker trolls all over news websites. You can hardly read an article without noting hundreds of comments below. I only wonder how many of them are paid or "official" Walkerites.
WALKER REPORTS NO PRIVATE EMAIL SYSTEM IN THE GOVERNORS OFFICE
In an interview today, Scott Walker is trying to convince the peasants that there's definitely nothing to see in the Governors Office.
Gov. Scott Walker said in an interview Monday that there is no private email system in the governor's office similar to the one that existed in his office when he was Milwaukee County executive.
He also said that as governor he has complied with laws that restrict public servants from mingling their official duties with campaign activity.
Walker once again refused to say whether as county executive he knew of or used a secret email system set up in his office to avoid public scrutiny.
Don't you feel better now?
Walker has also gotten off the meme used to deflect the "did you know about the secret email system" question he wouldn't answer on Fox News Sunday (the answer that he wasn't charged and the investigation is closed). He got pretty well caught by an actual journalist who pushed back.
He's now trying out a brand new talking point:
On Monday he called it a "slippery slope" to answer specifics about the more than 27,000 records released last week, because "once you start on one thing, then there's hundreds of questions on each of those."
That's right. Once you answer one question, another question will be asked so he won't answer ANY questions. So there, peasants, nothing to say here, just move along.
Frankly, I don't think his brand new meme is going to work either.
Up for re-election and viewed as a potential candidate for the GOP nomination in 2016, Walker has stopped to talk to journalists at the conference about the controversy. But he has steadfastly refused to answer certain specific questions.
Yeah, specific questions being raised by the emails showing he was likely up to his chin in involvement.
But there's more:
He would not say whether he favored releasing all the documents that the Journal Sentinel and other outlets are seeking to obtain. He said most of the news coverage has been about emails that were released back in 2012, except for "some odds and ends, some stupid things that people said along the way."
Walker was referring to emails that contained derogatory jokes and comments about gays, African-Americans and other groups. Asked if those kinds of communications concerned him, the governor said:
"Obviously anybody that says something that's out of character with who I am and the people that surround me would concern me. I would guess that any office or any business that had 27,000 emails (released) would probably have a few that people would be less than pleased with out there."
That's right. Bigoted emails being forward happens EVERYWHERE.
He also suggested that he's better than "other governors" when it comes to separating campaign work from official business. Again, if you're buying that I have a Bridge Traffic Study to sell you.
Stay tuned.
Wisconsin has a message for Scott Walker
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UPDATE: Scott Walkers opponent, Mary Burke is finally speaking up (about time, too):
"I’m just disappointed that our governor set such a low bar for campaign ethics and as governor I’m going to make sure that I bring back the trust and honesty that we deserve for the highest office," Burke said.
"I think people have lost their confidence in politicians just because of things like this, I want to restore trust and honesty," she added.
Her remarks, of course, aren't in the official news, but consigned to a mention in the online blog. Most likely because it's a great statement. We can't trust this guy.
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