The Political Environment

WI Legislator Seen Heading For Secret Redistricting Map Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Or so it seems, as The Shadow knows:

Walker, Van Hollen Swipe Fed Housing Settlement $$ For Deficit Hole

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Having driven the state economy and the budget into decline, Republican leaders are taking more than $25 million from a national. negotiated settlement with banks who screwed home-mortgage customers to help fill a growing deficit in the state's unbalanced budget.

President Obama announced the settlement yesterday.

I've most count of of the number of times Walker had bashed the Obama administration, federal power, big government, or the Doyle administration for taking segregated funds, so-called one-time dollars, or earlier settlements to fill holes in the budget.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett speaks the truth to these hypocrites:

The news that part of the money would be used to reduce the state budget deficit drew criticism from Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who said "not one dime should be used to fund the unbalanced state budget..."

On Thursday, the mayor urged Van Hollen to come to Milwaukee "to see the devastation in these neighborhoods," and then reconsider his decision on where the money should go.

"Just as these homes have been abandoned, the state, if it continues on this course, will abandon Milwaukee," Barrett said.

Republicans, Legislating Secretly, Trip Over Scott Fitzgerald's Words

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:35:00 +0000

Did any Wisconsin GOP legislator who dutifully followed orders and trooped over to their taxpayer-paid lawyers' offices last year to secretly look at redistricting maps drawn up by legislative staffers working out-of-sight on state time in the lawyers' offices remember the pious baloney that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald served up when Democratic Senators left the state to block a vote on Scott Walker's anti-collective bargaining bill:

"That's not democracy."

But evading the Open Records law, signing confidentiality pledges, legislating in the shadows and shutting up about it until federal judges forced out the records - - that's what democracy and the venerable senate chamber Fitzgerald runs for the taxpayers are about?

Right-Wing Chokehold Suffocating A Captured Wisconsin

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000

Wisconsin citizens have been captured by a manipulative, radical, right-wing state government directed by one party - - the GOP - - seeking long-term power outside of the basic rules of democracy. And party leaders and henchman laid their plans a long time before Republicans finally took control of the Governor's office and both houses of the State Legislature in January, 2011 after the November, 2010 elections:

* The Republican Governor Scott Walker is being exposed through the John Doe probe, and it is entirely possible that his removal from office could come through the criminal justice system and not the electoral process

A secret communications and partisan campaign apparatus to defeat the Open Records statute had operated just a few feet from Walker's door in the former Milwaukee County offices to assist his campaign for Governor and that of Brett Davis, a Republican assemblyman who ran unsuccessfully for Lt. Governor.

Ex-aides to Walker are beginning to plead guilty to official misconduct and additional charges are expected - - while former campaign allies of Walker's named as users or beneficiaries of the secret apparatus remain on the state payroll in at-will jobs Walker gave them - - former Lt. Gov. candidate and now-state Medicaid director Davis, and current Walker office spokesman Cullen Werwie, who held the same position in Walker's campaign after leaving the Davis campaign.

* The Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen was asked provide technical support for the John Doe prove. Van Hollen declined.

* The Wisconsin Supreme Court, with a 4-3 majority lined up to support Walker, his corporate donors, and the Republican legislators who approved Walker's radical anti-collective bargaining agenda, is tainted by the presence and participation of Justice Michael Gableman.

He received free representation in a judicial ethics case arising from his 2008 campaign from a law firm bringing cases before the Court. Gableman will not absent himself from most of those cases.

* The same law firm that represented Gableman - - Michael Best & Friedrich - - represents Wisconsin Republican legislators who drafted new legislative district maps with the assistance of Republican legislative staffers housed out-of-sight - - where they are still working in the shadows of the Capitol months after the process has ended - - on the public payroll but in the lawyers' offices.

Where Republican legislators were invited - - and who was in charge of that? - - to see their new district maps after they signed papers agreeing not to disclose what they'd seen. If and when these matters end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, how could anyone challenging the maps, the process by which they were drafted or other measures crafted by the same, scheming Republican majorities and leaders - - Voter ID, for example - - get a fair hearing before the Court?

And what other partisan activities took place off-the-books, out-of-public-view and away from either the Legislature or Walker's official, ceremonial transition office that has been folded into bills, Executive Orders or proposals not yet rolled out or approved.

What is the extent of this shadow activity and can it be traced?

And in the name of Open Government, be exposed, laid at the feet of the responsible parties and its dirty work be unwound. A full-scale investigation is warranted - - the argument nicely summarized by the Cap Times - - and maybe the Dane County DA needs to follow the lead of his Milwaukee County counterpart and initiate a John Doe probe, where testimony can be compelled.

The Attorney General, the legislative majorities and leadership, the Supreme Court and the Governor are helplessly and dangerously conflicted, yet they are going right ahead and suffocating the state with anti-democratic procedures on behalf of political agendas foreign to mainstream Wisconsin values - - public education, middle-class living standards, workplace bargaining, environmental protections, inclusive voting, and women's health-care, to name a few.

Make no mistake: this is an unprecedented, full-blown Constitutional and moral crisis that would be affected only modestly in the near term if Walker is recalled or if the Democrats' retake the State Senate.

This will take decades to fix, with great damage already done.

Walker And His Allies Like The Closed Door

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:29:00 +0000

A friend reminds me that it is important to listen to how Scott Walker comported himself as the Governor of our state when his guard was down and he assumed he was having a private talk with one of the wealthiest conservative donors in America. Here is a link to the tape.

As for the rest of us, we're to be shut out, through signed pledges of confidentiality, from the very processes that govern elections, yield laws and the very legislators who approve them.

Republican Shadow Governing Continues In Wisconsin

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:17:00 +0000

You'd think that Wisconsin legislators, having seen the consequences of Scott Walker's County Executive staff setting up a confidential, partisan shop in his offices, would have grasped the importance of conducting public business in public offices?

Nope - - not even after they'd been caught swearing their members to secrecy, in writing, over redistricting maps rolled into state law that were drafted at a law firm.

Seems two highly-paid legislative staffers are still working out of the law firm.

And began there before the November, 2010 elections, so were implementing the privatization of the legislation process even before the GOP took legal legislative control.

Like the legislators, [staffers] Foltz and Ottman signed confidentiality agreements, which became public on Thursday. The two signed the agreements in July 2010, six months before Republicans took over the Legislature.

Which means, I assume, that their work has been and continues beyond the reach of the Open Records law.

This is really serious.

An investigation is absolutely merited, pronto.

Still to be named: who masterminded this attack on democracy.

More Retrospectives Aimed At Walker's Political Record

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:01:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I suggested that clues to the wreck of Scott Walker could be found in the rear-view mirror.

Let me note two other useful postings this week, too:

* Cog Dis expands on the theme. And fishes up this astonishing posting by Xoff from 2004.

* And someone has paid attention to a deal involving Bear Stearns.

Trove Of Mining-Related Documents Now At One Website

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:11:00 +0000

The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) has a document-laden website to inform people about some of the issues related to the proposed iron ore mine near Ashland.

Walker-Inspired Job Losses Further Destroying The State Economy

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Wisconsin faces a fresh deficit because Walker and the geniuses running the Legislature took about a billion dollars of purchasing power out of the economy, thus forcing down personal spending, employment and income tax collections.

If you had a doctor whose prescriptions made you sicker, you'd fire that doctor.

Redistricting Fiasco Demands Extensive Investigation

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:27:00 +0000

All eyes are on the John Doe misconduct in office probe in Milwaukee where the net is expanding over a growing number of former Scott Walker aides and current appointees, and in which the boss himself has had to hire two criminal lawyers to prepare for a sit-down with prosecutors.

But I'd argue that the scandal unfolding in Madison over how election maps for legislators were redrawn last year requires an investigation where people are put under oath to ferret out the truth - - because what happened suggests there was a serious effort to withhold information from the public about how their representatives would be elected, and thus to manipulate, in secret, how the government which the people fund would be run.

* We know that nearly every single Republican legislator went to an attorney's office, got a look at the proposed redistricting boundaries for his or her district only, signed a promise not to disclose what they'd seen, and voted to approve the changes wholesale.

We know that the chief of staff to at least one prominent legislator, Neal Kedzie, the State Senator from Elkhon, twice continued this cover-up by telling a constituent that Kedzie had not signed this pledge, when, in fact, the Senator had signed.

And the only reason the existence of the secretive process was disclosed was because federal judges forced the Republicans' lawyers - - being paid for by taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars , by the way - - to turn over the records of the secret agreement after the documents had not been routinely disclosed, per standard courtroom procedures.

An elaborate scheme like this, set in motion by people with significant political and legal skills and willing to risk tampering with the foundations of an open government, indicates planning and execution by people at a far higher pay grade than the Fitzgerald brothers or the ham-handed State Rep. Robin Vos, (R-Rochester), who is still fumbling the explanation for who drafted which pieces of the plan and for what reasons.

Getting to the bottom of this mess may not have the display-window appeal of watching Scott Walker and his troop go down, but the stakes are at least as high.

Kedzie Was Waiting For The "All-Clear" Memo

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:50:00 +0000

State Sen. Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), the once-moderate Republican who has turned into a rightist stalwart, shows his contemptuous mettle for the public again by letting his chief of staff twice say Kedzie hadn't signed the now-infamous secrecy pledge on the redistricting bill.

When Kedzie had signed.

Another Republican Fowl Story

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:24:00 +0000

A bird expert warns that the sandhill crane's "diversity" could suffer if Wisconsin Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomowoc), gets his wish and the big birds are hunted for their rib-eye steak-like tenderness.

These are sandhill cranes

Kleefisch probably needs be told that it's a bad thing when legislation could put a fowl's diversity at stake, not at ~~s-t-e-a-k~~. ("Rib-eye of the sky" is his remark. Really.)

There seems to be some disagreement about whether sandhill crane makes good eating.

One Kentucky commentator last year says he'd heard "yes," though he ended with an admonition as his state considered adding a sandhll season:

I would not want to shoot a sandhill crane any more than I would want to kill a mockingbird or cedar waxwing...

I am not opposed to hunting per se, but I do question whether adding sandhill cranes to the list of game birds in Kentucky is necessary, particularly when you realize that whooping cranes sometimes fly in the flocks with them. The penalty for killing a whooping crane can be thousands of dollars, plus jail time. So if you think it is OK to shoot into a flock of high-flying, long-legged wading birds with little edible meat on their body, be sure not to hit the white ones with black wing tips. That could cost you.

Then there's this commentary on a hunting website, where the notion of sandhill crane as flying rib-eye was mocked:

Sandhill crane is quite possibly the worst eating there is.

In fact, the comment "my dog wouldn't touch it" is not uncommon.

The most popular Sandhill recipe:

Wrap the breasts in bacon and jalepeno peppers, secure with toothpicks and string. Grill over a medium flame until bacon and jalepenos are well cooked. Unwrap the bacon and jalepenos and use to garnish t-bone. Throw the sandhill crane breast out.

Kleefisch is said to be a duck hunter.

Seems to me that turkey season is coming early for some GOP legislators.

One true fact below:

This is a rib-eye beefsteak.

Republican Legislator Commits No Fowl

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000

Among these birds of a feather, the robin says he is no parrot.

State Rep. Bobin Vos, (R-Burlington), co-chair of Joint Finance and manager of a tainted redistricting process, gave the Journal Sentinel a novel way of denying he was a mere parrot of a GOP attorney who wrote talking points for GOP legislators that said, 'no chirping about all this' - - and who worked with Vos to recruit Republican legislators into signing a written pledge at the lawyer's office against disclosing the makeup of redrawn election maps the lawyers were proposing:

Rep. Robin Vos acknowledged Wednesday that talking points were created for him last year that told Republicans to ignore public comments on new election maps.

But Vos, one of the Assembly's top leaders, downplayed the memo's significance and said he simply told other Republicans they should not listen to Democrats on the issue - a claim that critics called implausible.

Vos said he did not know why the half-page memo was phrased the way it was. He also distanced himself from other parts of the memo...

"(the attorney) put that in the memo but it was not one I agreed with or used," Vos said. "It doesn't mean just because he wrote them down I was a parrot."

Senate Majority Leader Thinks He Can Prevent A Recall, But...

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:40:00 +0000

Challenged signatures do not equal signatures thrown out.

And who'd have thought the most powerful State Senator would be reduced to starring in his own episode of "Fear Factor?"

Wisconsin Lawyers Should Protest Secretive Procedures Used In Redistricting

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Members of the State Bar of Wisconsin could sign a non-partisan public letter objecting on principle to the secretive procedures - - including off-site, private meetings, and confidentiality agreements that distort lawyer-client privilege and defeat the Open Records and Meetings statutes - - that were used to draft with taxpayer dollars Wisconsin redistricting maps and legislation for Republican members last year.

There is a dangerous trend in and around the Capitol and it needs to be nipped in the bud.

If Redistricting By Secret Agreement Is The New Wisconsin Standard...

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:17:00 +0000

Look out.

That's precedent for letting the budget and any other piece of legislation being written under the cloak of lawyer-client privilege, off-site and out of the public view until a quick vote.

Eliminate the Legislative Reference Bureau and Fiscal Bureau and let the trade associations and law firms make the law.

That's how an oligarchy operates, not a democracy.

Records, Reputations Trashed On Walker's Watch

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:15:00 +0000

Team Walker is setting a perverse record for ~~managing~~ hiding Open Records - - fitting nicely with their lust for secrecy:

* Darlene Wink, the former Milwaukee County constituent services [Sic[ manager for Scott Walker who pleaded guilty Tuesday to performing campaign work on public time, is helping prosecutors look into the possible destruction of electronic records, according to Jan 27th remarks by Dan Bice, the Journal Sentinel columnist and lead staffer on John Doe probe:

But today we learn for the first time that prosecutors are looking into evidence tampering and the destruction of records. Wink had some evidence along these lines that she shared with prosecutors, and she has agreed to testify in future prosecutions or proceedings.

* Speaking of this subject: Walker, staff, records, destruction of...did entire file cabinets of records in Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's office suite self-destruct when he left that office to become Governor?

From a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story 13 months ago:

The thorough housecleaning of the Milwaukee County executive's office when Gov. Scott Walker left late last month has left his successors wondering whether any records are missing...

A tour this week of the sparsely staffed offices revealed banks of empty file drawers, save a set of various bureaucratic forms, county budget books and one stack of papers on various issues left in the office of Fran McLaughlin, who was Walker's county spokeswoman.

The empty drawers, coupled with the absence of any message or memo telling the whereabouts of Walker's office documents - and at least two bins of shredded paper left by Walker staffers - were perplexing, [incoming County aide Harold] Mester said.

"There was nothing left," Mester said. "There was no communication from the previous administration as far as where anything was."

* And there's this fascinating tidbit in a Journal Sentinel column last Sunday:

The John Doe investigation of Walker's tenure as county executive has taken many odd twists and turns.

But what to make of this?

Last week, Frank Busalacchi, head of the county Transportation and Public Works Department, was asked by investigators for a particular county Dumpster.

"All they asked was if I could move it, and we did," Busalacchi said Thursday. "I think they wanted to look through it."

Was it full or empty?

"I have no idea," he said.

Secrecy In Government Undermines Wisconsin Democracy

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000

(Originally posted, 5:45 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012) Within just a few days, Republicans in Wisconsin have promoted a more closed government or been caught communicating or managing public business with public dollars in secret.

This is an unacceptable series of events that strikes at the heart of Wisconsin's tradition of open government - - including long-standing law mandating Open Records, Open Meetings, detailed disclosure of lobbying activities and expenditures, and campaign donors' information.

Some of these circumstances have been unearthed in criminal investigations or civil litigation, thus were forced into the sunlight against the wishes of Republican operatives, office holders or attorneys-under-contract who were out to defeat or limit disclosure:

* Confidentiality agreements believed to be unprecedented that were signed by legislators in the offices of lawyers hired by Republican legislators at taxpayer expense - - agreements designed to keep new redistricting maps secret and away from effective comment until they were approved by legislators complicit in the secrecy scheme.

* The existence in the office suite of then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker of a secret, wireless email system - - installed on public property, and used by public employees for Republican campaign coordination and fundraising matters, according to the Milwaukee County District Attorney.

(Here's a link to my personal favorite, Scott Walker, hush-hush story.)

* A proposal by State Sen. Glenn Grothman to reduce campaign donor information available to the public at a time when information-free campaign donor cash is flooding the political system, and when existing laws about donor disclosure have been shabbily-enforced.

There's no good reason to let the state slide back to a dark age of secret governance and slippery campaign finance.

The public's business must be conducted in the open, since we're all paying the tab and law impacts sveryone.

This trend has got to be stopped cold, right now, and the state's media, operating under the First Amendment, have to take the lead.

Non-Binding GOP Delegate Selections Are Boring, Non-Binding Stories

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:51:00 +0000

"Portlandia" DVR'd is a much better TV tonight.

Before Komen Flap, Walker Went After Women's Health Services

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:29:00 +0000

The Susan G. Komen For The Cure foundation deservedly got slammed - - with brutal consequence - - for politicizing the provision of women's health services, but don't forget that Scott Walker was ahead of Komen in stopping a Planned Parenthood contract and other ideological moves, the Wisconsin affiliate has said:

Open Letter to Governor Walker and Secretary Smith

Hand delivered
December 12, 2011

Dear Governor Walker and Secretary Dennis Smith,

On December 1st, Planned Parenthood was contacted by an employee of the Department of Health and Services by phone to notify us that as of January 1, 2012 you will be ending our 16-year partnership facilitating breast and cervical cancer screenings as a part of the Wisconsin Well Women program in Winnebago, Outagamie, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties.

The Counties, Planned Parenthood and the state have scrambled to maintain those services, but Walker's intent and attitude were manifestly clear.

Walker had displayed his contempt for low-income Wisconsinites' needs after just a few weeks in office, Planned Parenthood reported:

For immediate release March 2, 2011

Governor Walker Eliminates Women's Health Program and Rolls Back Women's Rights
Governor’s anti-birth control position displayed throughout budget

MADISON, WI – With his anti-birth control beliefs in full display, Governor Walker’s budget completely eliminates Title V, the only state funded family planning health care program, which provides critical health care services to uninsured women and men including cervical cancer screens, testicular cancer screenings, breast and well women exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and access to birth control.

The Governor also continues his assault on basic rights and allows discrimination against women by repealing the Wisconsin’s Contraceptive Equity law. Governor Walker’s budget allows insurance companies to discriminate against women by denying coverage for prescription birth control even when other prescriptions are covered.

Planned Parenthood catalogued a sample of reductions by Walker and the legislature in women's health services in a January statement:

Act 32 the State Budget Bill, which cut $500 million from the Badgercare program kicking 65,000 Wisconsin citizens off of their health insurance and denying them access to cost effective, lifesaving, preventative care.

Act 32 also eliminated funding for women seeking cancer screens, health exams, birth control, STD testing and pregnancy testing at Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin’s largest reproductive health care provider,.

Act 32 eliminated funding for women seeking Colposcopy services, a cancer screening method, at Planned Parenthood – one of the only health care providers that provide colposcopy services to low income women.

SB 237 which repeals the Healthy Youth Act that requires the teaching of abstinence based, age-appropriate, medically accurate information to our students as a means of preventing unintended pregnancy and the transmission and spread of STD’s.

AB 386 eliminates funding for women seeking lifesaving cervical and breast cancer screenings under the Well Woman Program at non-profit health care providers like Planned Parenthood. Terminating the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood to coordinate breast and cervical cancer services under the Well Women Program in Outagamie, Winnebago, Fond du Lac, and Sheboygan counties against the counties wishes, without notice, and without a ready transition plan. AJR 77 a Constitutional Amendment to outlaw abortion, IVF services, stem cell research, and birth control which was so extreme it failed to pass in the most conservative state in the nation- Mississippi.

AJR 34 a bill to honor crisis pregnancy centers which provide medically inaccurate and dangerous information to women.

AB 371 a bill which reiterates current abortion barriers and adds additional restrictions for the four remaining Wisconsin abortion providers. AB 448 a bill which mimics current federal law prohibiting certain abortion procedures in all circumstances, even if the life of the mother is at stake.

SB 92 a bill which prohibits health insurance companies from covering abortion services which will negative impact women in the most tragic health circumstances like if a pregnant woman is diagnosed with cancer or other life threatening conditions. Currently 80 % of private insurance companies cover abortion services.

Walker's John Doe Meeting Preceded By Misdirection, Lies

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:14:00 +0000

(originally posted Monday, Feb. 7, 6:14 p.m.)
You simply cannot believe Scott Walker - - whose PolitiFact ratings are overwhelmingly in the "false" categories, and who has a track record of drawing a blank when the chips are down.

So here we go again, as Walker shows his dark side - - which is not normal for a political CEO - - and is and reinforces the growing belief that when he states a fact, the opposite is true:

The Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice on Monday gets Scott Walker to admit that it was the DA who initiated the John Doe probe meeting with Walker, not the other way around:

Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday that prosecutors initiated the upcoming meeting they will have with him as part of the John Doe investigation about activities that occurred during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive.

And that campaign emails turned over to the DA in 2010 had been subpoenaed - - in other words, after an order:

On Nov. 1, 2010 - the day before the general election - Chisholm's subpoenaed Walker's campaign emails. He said Monday that the campaign has turned over thousands of emails as a result.

Three days ago, Walker said this to the same newspaper:

"Last year, my representatives voluntarily contacted Mr. Chisholm's office to arrange a time to discuss any outstanding issues. I will be voluntarily meeting with Mr. Chisholm," Walker said.

Voluntary actions - - after a subpoena? And a meeting after the DA asked for it?

Nah.

Best Site For Obama Visit: Master Lock

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:23:00 +0000

The Pres. is coming 2/15. Master Lock would be a good stop.

Michigan Newspaper Wants End To SS Badger Coal Ash Dump

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:54:00 +0000

Still looking for an editorial this strong from Wisconsin newspapers against Lake Michigan pollution.

In A Tempest, Scott Walker Knows Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Scott Walker is proving, as his John Doe appearance looms, "What's past is prologue," though who knows if he's heard of that weighty saying or that Shakespeare, with appropriate foreshadowing, inserted it into "The Tempest."

Connect these dots:

* At the end of the infamous prank, taped call between the fake David Koch and Walker that Ian Murphy, the fake David Koch said he'd fly Walker "out to Cali" for "a really good time" after Walker "crushed those union bastards."

And Walker said, "All right, that would be outstanding." (transcript here).

Not long thereafter, Walker found himself in front of a House sub-committee on Capitol Hill, where he denied, under oath, that 'fly me out to Cali' was the offer of something of value because:

"I don't even know where Cali is," he said (video).

* A few months ago, Scott Walker told the AP he didn't have a clue about the John Doe probe. Here's how the Eau Claire paper framed the story when running it:

Walker says he knows nothing of investigation

"We don't know what exactly is involved," Walker said Friday when asked about the raid after a public event at Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport.

"As far as what I know is what I've been reading in the press. I don't have any more information beyond that."

* Then a few weeks ago, Scott Walker drew another blank when the Journal Sentinel asked about where he thought the John Doe was headed, and he commented in this story:

Walker says he has met man jailed in investigation

In response to a question about those around him, Walker went on to say that he believed his aides - some of whom have come under scrutiny from authorities - had acted correctly as well.

"I'm not aware of anything, particularly for people working for me right now. There's nothing brought to my attention that would be a problem," Walker said.

Now this was beginning to ring a bell. Where have we seen this blank, 'I dunno,' slate before?

* Here's one example, after a patient starved to death at the Mental Health Complex, the gubernatorial campaign was underway and a report about it could have surfaced:

Walker defends withholding Mental Health Complex report

"I don't know what's in it, so it's hard for me to say" if it should be released, Walker said. His administration had nothing to do with the report being withheld, Walker said.

But isn't there something earlier?

* Ah, The Marquette Tribune had it in 2010, and used its files clear back to 1988, when Walker's campaign for student body president imploded over ethics and rule violations, and it was time to take responsibility:

Walker’s campaign record murky

In the run-up to election day, the Tribune’s editorial board endorsed Walker’s opponent John Quigley, but said either candidate had the potential to serve effectively.

However, the Tribune revised its editorial the following day, calling Walker “unfit for presidency...”

The revision also expressed disappointment in Walker’s campaign workers reportedly throwing away issues of the Tribune after the endorsement was initially made.

Walker dismissed this, saying he had no knowledge of what his supporters did, according to a Tribune article from February 25, 1988.

Like The Bard said, "What's past is prologue."

The Wreck Of The Governor Walker

noreply@blogger.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000

(Updated: Originally posted Sunday, Feb. 4, 12:01 a.m.) I've had this picture (click on it for a surprise) out on my blog's home page for about a year labeled "Scott Walker, Train Wreck" - - - and now I see in it a possible route to understanding the unfolding Scott Walker political scandal and its core "what-were-they-thinking?" question.

What's needed is the same kind of go-back-to-the-beginning analysis that federal investigators use to figure out why a plane went down or a train derailed or 50 vehicles collided on an interstate highway. The goal is not to punish but to inform the public, ascertain the facts, and help prevent similar disasters down the road.

I spent years covering transportation catastrophes at the old Milwaukee Journal, and without exception, the official post-mortems would find that a disaster's earlier roots nurtured a more complex, causal web of cause-and-effect.

For example, when Midwest Airlines flight 105 crashed on takeoff in Milwaukee in 1985, killing 29 people, federal investigators almost immediately found a piece of metal on the runway that indicated an engine part called a "spacer" had broken.

But the cause-and-effect wasn't as simple as 'part broke, engine failed, plane crashed.'

The final investigative report into the crash of Flight 105 by the US National Transportation Safety Board and released after a lengthy probe said the tragedy's probable cause was the flight crew's having inputted an incorrect rudder command when the engine failed that "led to an accelerated stall and loss of control of the airplane."

A contributing factor, investigators said, was "a lack of crew coordination in response to the emergency."

So, yes, an engine spacer had failed on takeoff, and the pilots hadn't responded appropriately - - but the NTSB also noted the Federal Aviation Administration had recommended, but not mandated, that the problem spacer that failed be upgraded on an accelerated schedule even though 15 similar spacers had previously failed elsewhere.

And the final report questioned the adequacy of the airline's cockpit coordination and management plans and the FAA's approval of those plans, so in addition to a section on causality, the NTSB also:

issued two recommendations on flightcrew training in response to emergencies during the initial climb phase and one recommendation on qualifications for [FAA] Principal Operations Inspectors.

So, yes - - the engine failed and the plane went down - - but foundational and institutional events and decisions elsewhere contributed to the crash.

Likewise, after the fiery derailment of a Central Wisconsin train in Weyauwega, WI in 1996, NTSB investigators again first pinpointed something broken - - a crack in a rail - - but subsequently ruled that earlier issues were related to the probable cause:

"the switch point rail broke due to an undetected bolt hole crack that progressed from improper maintenance because Wisconsin Central management did not ensure that the two employees responsible for inspecting the track structure were properly trained.

Why not apply this type of detailed, look-in-the-rear-view-mirror methodology to the crash of Scott Walker to look for ways to prevent a recurrence, and also answer questions like:

* If after a mere ten years after the caucus scandal in Madison - - when Scott Walker had been in the Legislature, and presumably read the newspapers - - and after which public officials went to jail for directing and using public resources to manage partisan campaigns, how could Scott Walker's former Milwaukee County Executive and campaign staffers have put themselves in a position, or been directed, to commit caucus-scandal-style offenses with which they are now being charged?

* And after a much-bigger scandal brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974 - - when a secret campaign apparatus was established to raise and spend money illegally with the approval and direction of the White House - - how could some former Walker aides set up and use in his County office suite what the Milwaukee County John Doe says was a secret and illegal communications system to illegally coordinate political events and raise money for partisan campaigns?

So the issue is more than what the John Doe has alleged, or may expand.

The issue is: are there clues in Walker or his inner circle's past that can shed light on events now?

Here's where I think there is paydirt:

During the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, The National Journal cited the Marquette student paper when noting that Walker's sophomore-year run for Marquette student body president imploded over university ethics and campaign rule violations.

The Marquette Tribune wrote in 2010:

His sophomore year, Walker ran for president of the Associated Students of Marquette University (ASMU, the former title for Marquette Student Government). He was accused of violating campaign guidelines on multiple occasions.

The Tribune reported then that he was found guilty of illegal campaigning two weeks before his candidacy became official. Later, a Walker campaign worker was seen placing brochures under doors at the YMCA. Door-to-door campaigning was strictly prohibited.

Walker initially denied this but later admitted to the violation, which resulted in lost campaign privileges at the YMCA.

In the run-up to election day, the Tribune’s editorial board endorsed Walker’s opponent John Quigley, but said either candidate had the potential to serve effectively.

However, the Tribune revised its editorial the following day, calling Walker “unfit for presidency.” The column cited Walker’s distribution of a mudslinging brochure about Quigley that featured statements such as “constantly shouting about fighting the administration” and “trying to lead several ineffective protests of his own.”

The revision also expressed disappointment in Walker’s campaign workers reportedly throwing away issues of the Tribune after the endorsement was initially made.

Walker dismissed this, saying he had no knowledge of what his supporters did, according to a Tribune article from February 25, 1988.

So what, if anything, got started, strengthened or weakened at Marquette University, where Walker and some of his long-time associates all went to school?

Were the seeds of Walker's current political breakdown sown in that troubled campus campaign nearly a quarter-century ago? Were there cracks in the track or the first signs of inept cockpit management already propagating, but we're still not seeing them, their connections and their full consequences?

The brakes on the Walker express are failing and the train is heading for a steep curve - - his sit-down with the same John Doe probe that has already charged Walker donors, former County employees and political operatives.

How did the Walker train get so far down that track? What did we miss about the crew, and especially the engineer?