The Milwaukee County DA & GAB to hold News conference on, separate, unrelated to "the 14000" story

[Ellipsis]

http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14420190


Election-related news conference set for Monday

Associated Press - April 11, 2011 6:45 AM ET

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Milwaukee County District Attorney and the group in charge of overseeing Wisconsin's elections are expected to make an announcement about a major investigation.

The Government Accountability Board and Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office will hold a news conference Monday afternoon in Madison to discuss the results of what they call a "significant investigation."

GAB spokesman Reid Magney only would say it's separate from the issues in Waukesha County, where the county clerk failed to report more than 14,000 votes on election night to the media. The mistake gave Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a roughly 7,500 vote lead over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. It had been neck and neck and apparently headed for a recount.

Neither office would comment further on the announcement until the news conference.

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) and the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office will be holding a news conference at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 11 at the GAB office in Madison,


Thats it.



Any guesses as what it could be about?




...

[PeaceNikki]

1. Yes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x862268#862614


And if Walker ordered them to do it... hello Governor Kleefisch!

o_O

[Ellipsis]

2. Bloggin Blue says... Tim Russell and Darlene Wink- allegations - illegal campaign work for the Gov.

My bet?

The results of the “significant investigation” that will be released today have to do with the investigation by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office into alleged illegal campaign work on the part of Tim Russell and Darlene Wink, both of whom worked in Scott Walker’s office during Walker’s time as Milwaukee County Executive. Both Russell and Wink have allegedly been under investigation by the Milwaukee County DA’s office due to allegations they engaged in illegal campaign work on behalf of Walker’s gubernatorial campaign from their County offices and on County time. Russell’s county-provided computer had previously been seized by the Milwaukee DA’s office, and if I remember correctly, Wink’s personal laptop may have been seized as well.

http://bloggingblue.com/2011/04/10/milwaukee-da-gab-to-announce-results-of-significant-investigation-tomorrow/


Thanks for the pointers.

[HereSince1628]

3. Yes, this from comments on a JS-online article...

Fresh from the rumor mill....
The results of the “significant investigation” that will be released today have to do with the investigation by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office into alleged illegal campaign work on the part of Tim Russell and Darlene Wink, both of whom worked in Scott Walker’s office during Walker’s time as Milwaukee County Executive. Both Russell and Wink have allegedly been under investigation by the Milwaukee County DA’s office due to allegations they engaged in illegal campaign work on behalf of Walker’s gubernatorial campaign from their County offices and on County time. Russell’s county-provided computer had previously been seized by the Milwaukee DA’s office, and if I remember correctly, Wink’s personal laptop may have been seized as well.

[PeaceNikki]

6. If Walker ordered them to do it... hello Governor Kleefisch!

O_o

[eowyn_of_rohan]

15. A few more possible players...

from the blogosphere...

In 2010 actions were taken by Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway, including terminating the employment of at least four Walker staffers including Tim Russell, Bob Nenno and Steven Kreklow.

It's believed that Tim Russell was fired, at least in part, due to his involvement in a growing scandal regarding illegal campaign activities during the gubernatorial election.

Russell and former Walker aide Darlene Wink are both being investigated in a John Doe investigation regarding whether they participated in illegal campaign activities. The investigation is also looking into whether the Walker campaign received illegal donations from William E. Gardner, president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.

If keeps expanding to include more and more people, so is a windfall for Milwaukee area defense attorneys.

From the newspaper’s article, we know that Michael Maistelman is representing Tim Russell. Former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic has been retained by the Walker campaign. Christopher Weismueller is representing Darlene Wink. Robert Friebert is defending William Gardner.

Milwaukee County First has learned of two other big name attorneys who have been hired by people embroiled in this scandal.

One of the attorneys is Frank Gimbel. It is not known who Gimbel is representing, but the rumor is that it might be Tom Nardelli, who was Walker’s Chief of Staff.

The other name that MCF has heard of becoming involved in this matter is former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher. It is not known at the time of this writing who has retained Bucher’s services.

adding
milwaukeecountyfirst.com

[PeaceNikki]

17. Oooo, I hate Bucher.

My god, Wisconsin just keeps getting more and more interesting by the second, don't we?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

26. What's the scoop on him?-nt

[PeaceNikki]

29. Well, he's generally a supreme asshole... just on a personal level.

Also the soap opera of this:
http://www.wisn.com/r/21667971/detail.html

A few Uppity entries:
http://uppitywis.org/tags/paul-bucher

[eowyn_of_rohan]

30. Niiiiice guy

I found something about him relating to hindering the investigation into the murder of a 15 yr old paper boy (killed by exploding bomb apparently meant for motorcycle gang member).

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h8OwogOa3isJ:www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentIssue/full_feature_story.asp%3FNewMessageID%3D18827+%22Attorney+Paul+Bucher%22&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

sounds like a devil man.

[TxVietVet]

36. Bucher is another Waukesha County conservanazi prick.

[Ellipsis]

19. Kreklow was Walker’s budget director.

He is the author of the 2010 budget and the 2011 budget, both of which are illegal and deficit-ridden. Because of the way Kreklow structured these budgets, trying to balance its deficits by claiming yet to be negotiated concessions from the unions, has caused the County to be found to be bargaining in bad faith with the unions, thereby weakening the County’s strength in future negotiations.

Kreklow also has repeatedly lied to the Board. As the Board started to work on correcting the Kreklow had authored, he repeatedly denied that there was a deficit in it, despite it being shown by county auditor Jerome Heer. Later, Kreklow was also caught lying about the size of the deficit in the budget he said had no deficit, this time claiming it to be 30 times greater than what it really was. Kreklow also didn’t do himself any favors when he became snarky and disrespectful towards the County Board.


http://milwaukeecountyfirst.com/?p=2230

[Ellipsis]

22. Rumor... Tom Nardelli - Walker’s Chief of Staff.

One of the attorneys is Frank Gimbel. It is not known who Gimbel is representing, but the rumor is that it might be Tom Nardelli, who was Walker’s Chief of Staff.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

25. yeah - that's a zinger

hope it is true.

[TurningPointTime]

4. Sounds like...

Good news for us! With any luck...

[rpannier]

5. If they're Republicans and they're tied to Walker

We'll be told there was no evidence of any impropriety in Waukesan.
But they've uncovered a scandal involving Acorn and have hired an outside investigators "Fair and Impartial Glen Beck and James O' Keefe" to investigate.

[TroglodyteScholar]

7. If you're going to be so self-assured, at least go to the effort to learn the place names.

It's Waukesha. Also, you may (not) have noticed from the OP that the announcement said it wasn't related to that tissue.

[rpannier]

10. Where did I imply that I was so self assured

The word "If" in almost every case refers to lacking certainty (or assured)

My apologies to the people of Waukesha. I guess I'm the first to misspell the name of the area.

[PeaceNikki]

11. I'm just glad this didn't happen in Oconomowoc.

;)

[rpannier]

12. Me too

:-)

[Ellipsis]

8. Darlene Wink she was spending much of her day posting comments favorable to her boss

What are they up to? Sunday, October 03, 2010

Will Tim Russell, a former Scott Walker campaign staffer, chief of staffer and longtime Republican operative, keep his job as Milwaukee County housing administrator?

Is Russell’s close friend Darlene Wink, who resigned in May as Walker's constituent services coordinator after reportedly acknowledging that she was spending much of her day posting comments favorable to her boss — and critical of his opponents — on the Journal Sentinel's website, working on Walker's campaign for the Republican Party of Milwaukee County?


That's a bit juicy.

http://political-capital.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-are-they-now-will-tim-russell.html

[tanyev]

18. That kind of thing might make them feel good,

but I can't imagine it really brings in many votes. How many people even read the comments on a news site? How many of those people already have their minds made up one way or other, and no amount of commenting would change it?

Makes as much sense as the people who try to do under the radar trolling at places like DU.

[PeaceNikki]

9. Here's another link

http://solidaritywisconsin.com/content/scott-walker-about-have-very-bad-monday

To refresh the reader's memory, there was quite the scandal last May, when Darlene Wink, who was one of Walker's aides as well as an officer in the Milwaukee County Republicans, was caught leaving comments on JSOnline during work hours. She immediately resigned and has since lawyered up pretty heavily, from what I've been told.

Three months later, another Walker staffer, Tim Russell, had his office literally raided and rifled through by Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputies. They took his computer, his cell phone and who knows what else. Presumably this stemmed from a complaint by WISDEMS that Russell was helping Walker campaign on county time. Russell has a long history of helping Walker on his campaigns, but had previously taken time off to do so, to the best of my knowledge.

By the end of the year, these events led to a formal John Doe investigation being conducted, presumably about these two people and their alleged activities. I haven't heard much about Wink, but I have heard from a number of reliable sources that Russell could be in real big trouble.

Just a few weeks after the John Doe was revealed, it was learned that a lot of high profile attorneys were being retained by various players and possible players. The lawyers include Steven Biskupic, Frank Gimbel and Paul Bucher. The possible defendants which I've heard of include Wink, Russell, Walker's campaign itself and Tom Nardelli.

It would be interesting if Nardelli is indeed part of this, since Walker had taken him along to Madison with him.

Another aspect of the probe includes the illegal campaign donations from William E. Gardner, president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.

I've also heard rumor that the probe might have included Walker compliance, or lack thereof, with open records requests.

[Ellipsis]

16. More on Tim Russell... More Questions Arise Around Walker Crony.

Milwaukee County Supervisor John F. Weishan, Jr., is calling on County Executive Scott Walker to disclose the full work history of the Housing Division administrator, Mr. Timothy Russell. It has been brought to Supervisor Weishan’s attention that Mr. Russell was terminated from a previous position at the Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) for illegal use of a department credit card for his personal use.

“After reviewing the past resumes of Mr. Russell, submitted to the County Board when he was considered for the position of Economic Development Director, I could not find any mention of this infraction,” Supervisor Weishan said. “It’s time for the County Executive and Mr. Russell to come clean about the Housing Division administrator’s work history.”

To clear up any misunderstanding related to Mr. Russell’s background, Supervisor Weishan sent a letter to the County Executive asking that he or Mr. Russell provide documentation from WHEDA that contradicts the accusation. Supervisor Weishan is also asking the County Executive if he had any knowledge of Mr. Russell’s reasons for leaving WHEDA and the accusation being made before hiring him for various high level positions in the administration.

http://milwaukeecountyfirst.com/?p=1992

[Ellipsis]

13. Walker staffer quits after admitting she posted Web comments while at work

Darlene Wink, constituent services coordinator for County Executive Scott Walker.



Using a pseudonym, Wink has posted about 70 comments on Journal Sentinel blogs and stories since October - most of them praising her boss, touting his gubernatorial bid or ripping his two opponents, Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett and ex-U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, a Republican. And she was becoming increasingly prolific, offering nearly 25 comments in April, according to a routine check of online search engines.

But here's the kicker:

The vast majority of these were done while she was on the clock for the taxpayers and the county.

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/93746099.html

[eowyn_of_rohan]

21. There ya go - proof that many of the pro-RW posters are paid hacks

good riddance and I hope she has to pay her dues for this.

[xchrom]

14. Recommend

[Ellipsis]

20. John Doe Probe Becoming Who’s Who List For Defense Attorneys

At the tail end of last year, we discussed some of the actions taken by Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway. This included terminating the employment of at least four Walker staffers including Tim Russell, Bob Nenno and Steven Kreklow.

We speculated that Tim Russell was fired, at least in part, due to his involvement in a growing scandal regarding illegal campaign activities during the gubernatorial election.

According to the last report, Russell and former Walker aide Darlene Wink are both being investigated in a John Doe investigation regarding whether they participated in illegal campaign activities. The investigation has a second tine looking into whether the Walker campaign received illegal donations from William E. Gardner, president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.

If nothing else, this John Doe is, as it keeps expanding to include more and more people, is a windfall for Milwaukee area defense attorneys.

http://milwaukeecountyfirst.com/?p=2246

[shraby]

23. Suppose this has anything to do with Walker turning down

the money for the high speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison?

According to the last report, Russell and former Walker aide Darlene Wink are both being investigated in a John Doe investigation regarding whether they participated in illegal campaign activities. The investigation has a second tine looking into whether the Walker campaign received illegal donations from William E. Gardner, president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.

[Ellipsis]

24. I thought about that... Well, we'll find out today.

[Ellipsis]

27. $43,800 returned to rail chief, his employees - used company money to reimburse employees donations.

Friebert indicated the matter is being reviewed by the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees campaign finance laws. He declined to say if criminal investigators are looking into the matter, but a criminal defense attorney says he is representing some of the Wisconsin & Southern employees involved in the case.

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said the allegations amounted to serious crimes if true.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/94344739.html

[Ellipsis]

28. Partnering with,State of Wis. and participating county governments, the WSOR plans to expand.

I am privileged to welcome you to our corporate website. Thank you for visiting. Our website provides up to date information on happenings within our company and throughout the railroad industry, and is a conduit between our company and others who follow or rely upon the WSOR as a transportation resource. Through the dedication of our employees, railfans, and railroad enthusiasts, our website remains one of the best in the industry.

The past couple years have posed great challenges to the railroad industry. With double digit declines in rail traffic across the nation, to aggressive efforts for increased government regulation--our rail industry is evolving. Our current economic climate has led the WSOR to market our services in creative ways that expand the market potential for our company as well as for our customers. From our truck ramp in Oshkosh to our transload yard at Milwaukee to our ramp and truck scale in Madison, our company has expanded our services and increased our market potential.


<snip>


Partnering with the State of Wisconsin and participating county governments, the WSOR plans to expand our 2010 capital plan, by installing the last remaining 16 miles of continuous welded rail between Madison and Milton Jct. Also planned, will be installation of nearly 50,000 new ties and reconstruction of several bridge structures, system-wide.


http://www.wsorrailroad.com/home/message2011.html

[Ellipsis]

31. ZING! Railroad executive charged with campaign law violations (WISCONSIN)

Railroad executive William E. Gardner was charged Monday morning with two felony counts of violating campaign finance laws for reimbursing his employees for making donations in political contests, including to Gov. Scott Walker in last year's governor's race.

Gardner was charged with one count of exceeding the campaign contribution limits, which is $10,000 per person in the gubernatorial contest. The other felony is for giving money to other individuals so they could make campaign contributions. Both are Class I felonies, which carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The charges were filed Monday morning in Washington County, where Gardner lives.

Gardner is being charged under a state law that prohibits anyone from giving money to someone else so they may make a political donation. The violation is a Class I felony, which has a maximum punishment of 3.5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to the complaint.

Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., told state regulators last year that he used railroad receipts to reimburse workers who had given to Scott Walker, who later defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat, for governor.


http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/119595644.html

[Blue Owl]

32. WTF? We all know how much value walker puts on rail.

Like ZERO.

[PeaceNikki]

33. :o

[eowyn_of_rohan]

34. I hope there is more to it than this...

Not just some scapegoat to distract us from much more pervasive crimes going on with the Walker adm

[Ellipsis]

35. Wow! This is a Goddamn greek tragedy!

http://www.destinationhollywood.com/movies/armageddon/quickclip_12.shtml