Wisconsin protests

Will Scott Walker Be Given a Pink Slip, an Orange Jump Suit or a Second Chance?

Mary Bottari — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:25:02 -0400

Madison -- Since September of 2010 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS) has been detailing an ongoing "John Doe" criminal investigation being run out of the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office involving Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's former staff and associates. The wide-ranging investigation has included allegations of campaign finance malfeasance, embezzlement of veterans funds, bid-rigging, and even child enticement during the period when Walker served as Milwaukee County Executive, but was running for governor.

On June 1, 2012, the MJS broke the story that Milwaukee County prosecutors were forced to move from a regular investigation to a secret "John Doe" criminal investigation more than two years ago after being stonewalled by the County Executive's office. Court records released in the trial of one of the defendants showed that prosecutors said Walker's office had been "unwilling or unable" to turn over requested records. This new information contradicts Walker's repeated claims that he has been "fully cooperating" with the investigation since the start.

As of today, this ongoing criminal investigation has resulted in six indictments, 15 felony charges, and two convictions. At the moment, five people are awaiting trial. Below we provide a John Doe primer for the uninitiated.

1) What is a John Doe investigation?

In Wisconsin, a "John Doe" investigation is a closed-door criminal proceeding that operates much like a Grand Jury does in other states. Rather than appearing before a jury, though, a John Doe investigation takes place before a judge. Witnesses with evidence relevant to the investigation can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath about potential crimes. Due to the secrecy rules governing the investigation, the scope and targets of the investigation are sometimes difficult to discern. The John Doe investigation involving Walker's tenure as County Executive is being prosecuted by the Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm before Judge Neal Nettesheim of Waukesha. It has been underway since May of 2010, but it is active and ongoing, with the latest immunity deal being announced last week. New evidence emerged this weekend that there is also a parallel federal investigation underway.

2) Who is the target of the investigation?

When Current TV's David Shuster broke the story on Friday that Walker was a "target" of the John Doe investigation he cited anonymous sources. On Saturday, Walker issued a strong denial, saying any suggestions that he has become a target of the John Doe probe are "100 percent wrong." Late on Saturday, Shuster revealed more. "I stand by my reporting 100 percent," Shuster said in a conference call, adding that Walker was also a target in a federal investigation citing unnamed sources with the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section. Shuster also said that Walker's attorneys had been seeking to have their client publicly cleared of wrongdoing for the last five or six weeks, but prosecutors would not clear him.

Shuster's report is the first on a federal investigation parallel to the ongoing investigation by the Milwaukee DA, but the news did not come as a surprise. Walker has hired high-powered criminal defense lawyers and is using a portion of his $30 million campaign finance war chest to pay legal bills being run up by his campaign attorneys and his personal criminal defense attorneys, over $320,00 combined so far. The use of a campaign war chest to pay legal fees is only permitted under Wisconsin statutes when a person or their "agent" acting on their behalf are "under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of a criminal violation" under campaign finance and election laws. Walker announced he was starting a criminal defense fund in March 2012.

Walker's recall opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, has challenged Walker to turn over all the emails related to this controversy. Walker says he can't reveal any emails or speak about the investigation because of secrecy rules from the prosecutor. However, Judge Nettesheim made clear to a reporter in a rare interview, that no individual would be subject to the secrecy order unless he physically appeared in front of the judge while in court on the John Doe proceeding and personally received the secrecy order from the judge (not a prosecutor). Further, he said that an individual who had not appeared as a witness would be free to discuss or distribute documents even if those documents were evidence. We do know Walker was called in to talk to prosecutors in February 2012, but we do not know if he appeared before the judge.

3) Who has been charged and what are the charges so far in the investigation?

So far the investigators have charged six people with 15 felonies; one person, who turned himself in to prosecutors, was convicted on two counts:

* Timothy Russell (former deputy chief of staff to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker) was charged with two felonies, and one misdemeanor related to embezzlement of donations intended for Wisconsin veterans in a special fund, which was created at Walker's direction. The money was used by Russell and his partner, Brian Pierick, to take a few vacations. Read the criminal complaint here.

* Brian Pierick (partner of Timothy Russell): charged with two felonies involving child solicitation. It appears Russell's phone records led to Pierick and a nasty story about two men soliciting a 17-year old minor for sex. Read the criminal complaint here.

* Kevin Kavanaugh (appointed by Walker as a county veterans' official): charged with five felonies related to embezzlement from the veterans fund. Kavanaugh appears to have been raiding the funds separately from Russell. Read the criminal complaint here.

* Kelly Rindfleisch (former deputy chief of staff to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker): charged with four felonies relating to campaign fundraising while on the county payroll. Rindfleish's worked on a secret Wi-Fi system, in her office, just steps away from Walker's office. Rindfleisch continued to work for Walker's campaign until she was charged. Read the criminal complaint here.

* Darlene Wink (former aide to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker): pled guilty to two unclassified misdemeanors as part of a deal that she made with the prosecutors relating to working on campaign fundraising while on the county payroll. Winks office was down a short hallway from Walker's. Read the complaint here.

* William Gardner (President and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad): Gardner pled guilty to felony violations of Wisconsin's election campaign laws in April of 2011. Gardner tried to convince prosecutors that his $50,000 in illegal contributions to Walker, which he funneled through his employees and a girlfriend, was an innocent mistake, except he had done the same thing the previous year. Read the criminal complaint here.

4) What did Walker know and when did he know it?

The investigation was initially sparked by a probe into some $60,000 in missing veterans' funds. Based on discoveries made in that investigation, it expanded into a probe of illegal fundraising activity by government employees who were Walker's staff. The allegation is that Tim Russell set up an unofficial email and Wi-Fi system in the Milwaukee County Executive's office so that staffers could conduct campaign business on laptops while their salaries were being paid by the taxpayers. This type of activity is a felony in Wisconsin, and other high-level politicians have been prosecuted and convicted of similar misconduct in the past. The existence of the secret email system was "never disclosed to county employees outside a closely held group within the Walker administration," says the indictment of Kelly Rindfleisch, the employee hired by Walker who spent the most time on fundraising activities. On county time, the staffers communicated extensively with Walker campaign staff, organized fundraisers, made invitations, exchanged fundraising lists, and sent out campaign press releases, all just steps away from Walker's own office.

Walker says he knows nothing about it, but an email included in the Kelly Rindfleisch charging documents suggests otherwise. When the MJS caught Darlene Wink Facebooking for Walker's campaign while working on the county payrolland printed a story on the morning of May 14, 2010, she was fired. Walker sent an email to Deputy Chief of Staff Tim Russell that same morning at 8:46 a.m. -- not demanding an investigation or a top to bottom review of staff procedures -- but telling him he felt bad about firing her and stating "we cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc." Many have described this as a "smoking gun" email.

As if the story were not complicated enough, the MJS has also reported that investigators are looking into bid-rigging charges related to the county's decision, when Walker was County Exec, to move the Wisconsin Department of Aging from a public facility to a private facility using a bidding process. That investigation has lead to raids on the home of Walker's former chief of staff, Jim Villa, and a focus on his long-time campaign treasurer, Joe Hiller, a realtor involved with the potential county real estate contract. The MJS has reported on a private email exchange between Walker and Hiller that has been described as a "bombshell" in the investigation, but has not yet been released.

5) How many people have had their homes and computers raided by the FBI?

This may not be knowable. About a dozen law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, raided the Madison home of Cynthia Archer, who worked for Walker as a top aide at both the state level and at the county level. The raid on Archer's home was watched with interest by friends and neighbors in her close knit community, but we are now finding out about more raids that went unnoticed at the time. Lawyers involved in the defense of Kelly Rindfleisch, are trying to suppress evidence gained by searches of the homes and offices of Walker's former chief of staff Jim Villa and former state Rep. Brett Davis, who ran for the Republican nomination as Lt. Governor at the time that Walker ran for governor. Darlene Wink and Tim Russell apparently also were visited by the FBI.

6) How many people have been granted immunity?

So far, 13 people have been granted immunity in the case, but not Walker according to court records. This means that 13 people surrounding Walker could have been charged with a crime, but avoided prosecution by agreeing to cooperate with investigators and waive their constitutional right against self-incrimination. The 13 include Governor Walker's Press Secretary, Cullen Werwie and Fran McLaughlin, Walker's spokeswoman while he was Milwaukee County executive; David Halbrooks, a Milwaukee attorney with Democratic ties who specializes in procurement; GOP official Rose Ann Dieck; and Suzanne Immel, a Walker donor, and others involved in the prosecution of the railroad magnate who sought to conceal his illegal donations to Walker's gubernatorial campaign.

7) Who are the lawyers?

Walker's campaign has attorneys, including former federal prosecutor Steven M. Biskupic of the Wisconsin firm Michael Best & Friedrich. Walker himself is represented by a pair of high-powered law firms. Michael J. Steinle is a criminal defense attorney at the law firm Terschan & Steinle, LTD. Steinle has been included in the Best Lawyers in America and has been selected as one of Wisconsin's Super Lawyers every year since 2005. Some of Steinle's cases include a former flag football coach accused of molesting several of his underage players. He also represented clients in several homicide cases including the high-profile case of Richard Berhens who killed his live-in girlfriend and buried her body. Walker's other attorney is John N. Gallo, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, a large law firm in Chicago. He is a 1986 graduate of Harvard Law and a former federal prosecutor in Chicago with a specialty in grand jury investigations. Walker has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers already, but many in the legal community think that the lawyers are holding back their bills until after the election.

8) Is this a partisan witch hunt?

Chisholm was already taking a lot of heat for alleged leaks to the MJS when the right-wing online media source "Media Trackers" used a data-base of recall petition signers prepared by an out-of-state Tea Party group to document that people in the Milwaukee DA's office signed Walker's recall petition. This is hardly surprising given that these county workers were directly affect by Walker's collective bargaining bill and other policies. Chisholm responded that none of the attorneys or staff working on the investigation signed the recall petition. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently protected the free speech rights of public employees.

While Chisholm was elected as a Democrat in a democratic county, he has a track-record of prosecuting democratic politicians. During Chisholm's first term, he worked with federal prosecutors to convict democratic Alderman Michael McGee, Jr. on a series of state and federal charges that included bribery and extortion. More recently, he charged democratic Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny Thomas with accepting a bribe in public office and with misconduct in public office. If proven Thomas could serve 10 years. Judge Nettesheim defended Chisholm and the integrity of the case to the MJS. "This has been an orderly and professionally conducted procedure," he said. MJS's lead reporter, Dan Bice, has repeatedly denied receiving leaks from the Milwaukee prosecutor's office. With a growing number of witnesses, and with computers and data and other information being subpoenaed all around town, Bice likely has plenty of sources, but has not been able to get his hands on key emails in the possession of prosecutors.

Visit PRWatch.org for more reporting on news from Wisconsin.

On Anniversary of Prank Call the Real David Koch Wants to "Stop Union Power" in Wisconsin

Mary Bottari — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:01:10 -0500

One year ago this week, blogger Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast pranked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by posing as billionaire David Koch on a phone call. As the crowds at the Capitol protesting Walker's bill to end collective bargaining were increasing in size and volume, the fake Koch inquired how Walker’s efforts to "crush that union" were going. Walker's fawning response helped rocket the Wisconsin protests into the national media limelight.

Now the real David Koch reveals that crushing unions is indeed at the top of his agenda. In an interview with the Palm Beach Post, Koch talks about Walker, unions and the historical importance of the Wisconsin recall fight.

"We have spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We are going to spend more."

Koch didn’t know that when he sat down with Palm Beach Post reporter Stacey Singer that he was talking to a native Wisconsinite and University of Wisconsin graduate, who follows state politics closely. Singer knows that residents filed over one million signatures to recall Walker (almost half of the people who voted in the last statewide election) and that a spring recall election is likely.

Although the interview was slated to be about Koch’s charitable efforts to cure cancer, Singer got in a few questions about the Wisconsin fight. To his credit, Koch answered the questions expansively, for the first time giving America his views on Scott Walker and his battle with Wisconsin's working families.

Koch acknowledges working hard on behalf of Walker. "We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years," he says. "We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more."

Koch may be referring to the efforts of AFP, his Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a 501(c)(3) "charitable" organization, which is up on air with another $700,000 TV ad-buy in defense of Walker and his budget. AFP is also sponsoring astroturf rallies around the state that few attend. While most Americans understand fighting cancer as a "charitable" activity, it is harder to see AFP's ads in defense of Walker in this light.

But Koch may also be referring to expenditures we don't yet know about. "If Koch is willing to spend $700,000 on issue ads, there is no telling how much he will spend to directly aid Walker when the recall is scheduled," warns Wisconsin Common Cause Director Jay Heck.

"There Will Be No Stopping Union Power"

While Walker has consistently framed the collective bargaining issue as a fiscal necessity -- "Wisconsin is broke" -- refreshingly, Koch states the obvious. He tells us the fight in Wisconsin is about "stopping union power."

"What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He's an impressive guy and he's very courageous," Koch told the Palm Beach Post. "If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power." The reporter adds: "As Koch speaks, he repeatedly uses the phrase ‘union power’ as though it's interchangeable with the word ‘Bolshevik’ -- a new red scare for a new century."

As CMD's Lisa Graves has reported, the Kochs’ mistrust of unions can be traced to their father, Fred Koch, who raved that the National Education Association was a communist group and that public-school books were filled with "communist propaganda." He even suspected President Eisenhower and spoke of the "pro-communist" Supreme Court. Today, David Koch follows in his father's footsteps every time he calls President Obama a "hard-core socialist."

"Koch seems to be driven by his hatred for unions. Anyone who equates unions and Bolsheviks has some pretty extreme views," says Common Cause’s Jay Heck. "It emphasizes how Walker has decided to align himself with some extreme elements outside of the state."

Koch-Funded Ads on Air, But No Ads from Critics

A year ago, Walker asked the fake Koch to help defend Wisconsin senators facing recall for their collective bargaining votes. AFP got the message and delivered, going up on air to defend the collective bargaining bill and Walker's austerity budget, which generated six straight months of job loss starting in July, the month Walker's budget kicked in. Walker was elected on a promise to create 250,000 jobs in the state. According to the most recent data, while the nation added 853,000 jobs over the last six months of 2011, a steady growth of 0.7 percent, Wisconsin lost 35,600 jobs, a loss just over one percent. No other state lost that many jobs.

But AFP's newest ad fails to mention the striking impact the budget has had on jobs in the state, nor do they mention teacher layoffs, increased class sizes and cutbacks in services. Instead, AFP and the right-wing McIver Institute have tried to convince voters that Walker ended collective bargaining "abuses" and saved the state money without any "mass layoffs."

As Walker travels around the nation giving policy address after policy address at Koch-funded institutions (the Texas Policy Foundation, Arizona’s Goldwater Institute, Florida’s James Madison Institute), he complains ceaselessly about the "union ads" being run against him and the efforts of "out of state unions" to unseat him. He follows his speeches with high-dollar fundraisers that have netted $250,000 checks from out of state billionaires like Bob Perry of "swift boat" fame.

In reality, there are no union ads on TV in Wisconsin or any other ads critical of Walker, only pro-Walker ads from AFP and the Walker campaign. Walker has successfully raised $12 million with this gambit and has spent some $7 million on television already, but unions and independent expenditures groups have yet to spend a nickel on television. Given that six Walker aides and associates have been indicted in a wide-ranging being run out of the Milwaukee District Attorney's office, the lack of ads is surprising.

Federal Reserve Forecasts More Job Loss in Wisconsin

In his conversation with the fake David Koch over a year ago, Walker said Wisconsin is "ground zero, no doubt about it." For once, Walker was right. Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to suffer six straight months of job loss. Worse, the state is only one of six forecast to continue this damaging contraction.

These predictions arise not from the Bolsheviks or the unions, but from the staid Philadelphia Federal Reserve. Economists there say "there is little prospect that such trends will reverse. Given the Contractionary policies implemented in the budget, this is no surprise."

Given the impact of his policies, to many observers Walker's recall election will be a bellwether on whether or not Americans will allow policymakers to force them to bear the blame and the brunt of the Wall Street financial crisis, which tanked state revenues, or if another view of Wisconsin's future will prevail.

Will Scott Walker's Love Affair with Realtors Be Part of the "John Doe" Investigation?

Mary Bottari — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:08:04 -0500

Governor Scott Walker and his new team of criminal defense lawyers will be meeting with the Milwaukee County District Attorney soon to answer questions in a multifaceted "John Doe" probe being conducted by the DA into potentially illegal activities of Walker’s staff during the time he served as Milwaukee County Executive. Because everyone involved in the investigation is subject to a gag order, the scandal has the state guessing about the next shoe to drop.

One of them may shine a light on Walker's long-time love affair with big money realtors.

To Recap: Six Criminal Indictments and Counting

If you are keeping count, the perp walks are proliferating. Tim Russell, a long time Walker aide, who served on the campaign and as Deputy Chief of Staff for the County Executive and later as Housing Director, got two felony counts for stealing $11,000 from a veteran's charity and using the funds to party in the Caribbean and Hawaii with his boyfriend. The boyfriend has been charged with child enticement. According to the indictment, it appears that both men were involved in soliciting teenagers for sex. Why Russell was not charged as well is a puzzle.

Kevin Kavanaugh, Walker's appointee to the Milwaukee County Veteran's Service Commission, also got five felony counts for theft of veterans' funds. He was apparently bilking vets independently of Russell.

More recently, another Walker staffer, former Deputy Chief of Staff Kelly Rindfleisch, has been charged with felony counts of doing campaign work while on the public payroll using a secret email system apparently set up in the County Executives office by none other than Tim Russell. Another staffer, Darlene Wink, pleaded guilty to similar but lesser charges, after agreeing to testify about destruction of digital evidence in the case. (When Walker left his county job to take over as governor, the complete absence of paper work, dozens of empty filing cabinets and brand new computers were noted in the news media.) William Gardner, a railroad magnate and a top donor to the governor's campaign, has already pleaded guilty to felony violations of campaign finance and tax laws. His railroad also paid a civil forfeiture of $166,900, which is the largest fine ever imposed by election officials in the history of Wisconsin.

Now Walker has been called to meet with the DA, prompting him to hire a team of criminal defense lawyers last week. One of Walker's new lawyers, John Gallo, has a practice that specializes in "representing criminal defendants and grand jury targets."

As Walker travels around the United States raising unprecedented amounts of money ($12 million and counting) to stave off a recall election that over one million Wisconsinites are petitioning for, the national news media seems to be unaware of the scandal rocking Wisconsin. Instead of asking Walker about the six indictments, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow pitches a series of softballs and lets him tout his fundraising website in this fawning interview. Kudlow has received money from the Koch-funded Mercatus Center and is a co-founder of the right-wing group called “Club for Growth,” which has a Wisconsin chapter closely connected to Walker’s inner circle. Now that Walker has formally lawyered up, one wonders if Fox News legal correspondent Greta Van Susteren might finally tackle the story.

In the meantime, Wisconsin is abuzz with speculation about other avenues the investigation may take.

"Realtor of the Year" Arrested

Since Russell was discovered to be robbing vets, his Caribbean vacations with stolen money, his previous track record misappropriating state funds and other facets of his life have drawn a lot of scrutiny. But what drew little notice in this increasingly complex investigation is that Tim Russell is also a realtor, one of the many who are close to Walker.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that John Doe investigators are looking for signs of real estate bid-rigging in the county government during the time Walker was County Executive. The county owns hundreds of acres of land it sells to developers. It deals with thousands of leases and millions of dollars in state and federal housing funds. It does a lot of business with realtors.

The media was alerted to this new line of investigation when Andrew Jensen Jr., "Wisconsin's Realtor of the Year" for 2010 was thrown in jail for a day last December by the Milwaukee prosecutor for failing to cooperate with the secret investigation. Jensen is a commercial real estate broker with the Boerke Company, a Walker campaign contributor, and past chairman of the Commercial Association of Realtors-Wisconsin (CARW). Walker has acknowledged knowing Jensen slightly.

According to the Journal Sentinel, Jensen was involved in an controversial effort to move the county’s Department of Aging to a different, private location, after a rushed five hour bid. The DA appears to be squeezing Jensen for information. He may be seeking information the Department of Aging incident, other real estate deals or on a raft of characters in Walker’s "inner circle" who had real estate business with the county.
Walker’s "Inner Circle"

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listed Tim Russell as part of Walker’s “inner circle” along with John Hiller, Jim Villa, and Bob Dennik -- all realtors and developers.

Jim Villa:Jim Villa was Governor Walker's chief of staff during the time he was a state legislator and during part of Walker’s time as County Executive. He helped him run his various campaigns and remains a close friend according to newspaper accounts. In 2008, he took the job as President of the Commercial Association of Realtors-Wisconsin (CARW), where he worked with Board Chair Andrew Jensen. He is also a lobbyist for Wisconsin Realtors Association (and Altria/Phillip Morris.) Villa has also created small businesses over the years, likely to allow him to take lobbying and consultancy income.

Villa testified in the Milwaukee County DA as part of the John Doe investigation into the illegal fundraising activities. Kelly Rindfleisch lived in Villa’s house at the time she worked for the county, yet spent at least half her time fundraising for Lt. Gov. candidate Brett Davis. In one electronic chat exchange between Rindfleisch and Villa, Villa made it clear that he thought both Rindfleisch and Davis were obliged to him for his fundraising efforts on behalf of Davis. "Brett AND YOU owe me," Villa wrote. Rindfleisch was allegedly living with Villa to get around Milwaukee County’s residency requirements for county employees. According to the Journal Sentinel, Villas name has also come up in connection to the Department of Aging deal.

Many wonder if the Milwaukee DA is putting pressure on Jensen to get information about Villa.

John Hiller: Another Walker insider is John Hiller who has been president of Hiller Realty for over 21 years. Hiller was Scott Walker's campaign treasurer of 13 of those years. He led Walker's transition team when he became governor. Yet, in May of 2011 as news of the John Doe investigation was breaking, Hiller inexplicably left his post as Walker's treasurer.

Like Villa, Hiller opened a consulting business in 2005, JM Hiller Consulting LLC. Hiller advertised his consultancy business in the CARW newsletter: telling members he could help them with "Project Approval, Zoning, Grants/Awards" in other words, with county and city deal approvals.

Hiller's pattern of campaign contributions is mentioned briefly in the Kelly Rindfleish indictment. Hiller’s name has also come up in relation to the Department of Aging deal, where he reportedly acted on behalf of Andrew Jensen’s firm Boerke.

Allegations of Pay to Play

In total, real estate interests have given more than $480,000 to Walker since 2009 making them one of the governor's top supporting special interest groups. CARW funnels campaign contributions through a conduit to the Realtor's Political Action Committee (RPAC). RPAC maxed out on direct contributions, contributing $43,125 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign. Realtors have given $15,000 so far to his recall effort and provided him with an early endorsement, without consulting their full membership. In return, the Walker administration has moved on many pieces of legislation supported by the realtors over the past year. On the list: private health savings accounts, the "landlord preemption bill," a controversial proposal largely benefiting landlords at the expense of tenants, and stricter regulations on wind turbines.

But it is Walker's earlier relationship with realtors that is raising questions now. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel suspects bid-rigging, the Milwaukee Shepherd Express suspects "pay to play" politics -- campaign contributions for favorable treatment.

It has yet to be seen if Walker's love affair with realtors will land him, or his friends, in more hot water.

Secret Email System Revealed in "John Doe" Probe of Walker Staff

Mary Bottari — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:26:55 -0500

The morning after his “State of the State” address where Governor Scott Walker reassured Wisconsin “We are turning things around. We are heading in the right direction,” the Milwaukee County District Attorney charged two more Walker staffers with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of misconduct in public office.

Darlene Wink and Kelly Rindfleisch were charged with conducting partisan campaign work while on the public payroll. The alleged crimes took place while Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and running to be governor. These charges are no joke in the state of Wisconsin, where in 2005, two Senate Democrats and the Republican Assembly Speaker were sentenced to jail time for similar crimes in an episode dubbed "the Caucus Scandal."

This time, Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm, is in charge of a secret "John Doe" investigation where he can compel testimony under oath and every person involved is subject to a gag order. Chisholm has used this process in the past to jail Democrats for similar misconduct in office.

If you are keeping count, these are the second set of charges against Walker aides. Earlier this month, Walker’s former county Housing Director Tim Russell and his top county veteran official were both arrested and charged with embezzling more than $60,000 in charitable contributions intended for veterans. Phone records retrieved from the investigation also led to charges against Russell’s boyfriend for child enticement.

There is no end in sight for this multifaceted investigation.

Secret Communication System Set Up by Russell

The whole scandal broke into the open when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Darlene Wink, a low-level constituent services coordinator, was caught Facebooking nasty comments about Walker’s democratic campaign opponents while working at her county job. Reporter Dan Bice, who was tipped off about the on-line activity, interviewed Wink, but wasn't sure how big of a deal it was until he was called by the Walker team a few hours later and told she had resigned.

Now we know from the indictments that the activity went far beyond Facebook. Investigators found boxes for two wireless routers in an armoire in Walker’s County Executive office. Packaging labels found with the boxes bore the name “Timothy Russell.”

The allegation is that Russell set up an unofficial networking system so that staffers could conduct campaign business on their personal laptops while their salary was being paid by the taxpayers. The secret email system was available for use by certain staff for both official and unofficial business. Its existence was “never disclosed to county employees outside a closely held group within the Walker administration,” says the indictments (available here). On county time, the staffers allegedly communicated extensively with Walker campaign staff, organized fundraisers, made invitations, exchanged fundraising lists and sent out campaign press releases.

Stunning Email Revelations

The indictments include dozens of telling emails and chat sessions with county and campaign staff about political activities. In a chat session with Russell, Wink explicitly inquired about how to delete and destroy documents. She asked Russell: “How do I get rid of the PDF from my IM?” “I don't want to go to jail for this, ha ha.”

After the story about Wink’s activities was printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the morning of May 14, 2010. Walker sent an email to Russell at 8:46 a.m. telling him simply “we cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc.”

This week Walker said he had an explicit policy against county staff doing campaign work at the office and revealed for the first time that he had fired Wink. “Clearly if we had known anybody else had done that we would have applied the same standard,” Walker told WISN Channel 12. But why the other staff, either supervising Wink or in improper communication with Wink, were not fired was not explained.

Campaign Work Conducted 20 Feet Away from Walker

While Wink was busy organizing Walker fundraisers down the corridor from Walker’s office, Kelly Rindfleisch was organizing multiple fundraisers from a spot 20 feet away. Thousands of emails were sent by Rindfleisch from her personal laptop organizing fundraising events on behalf of Brett Davis, the Walker team's choice for the lieutenant governor. Davis now runs Wisconsin's Medicaid program.

Many of these emails went to people like Keith Gilkes, Walker campaign manager who went on to serve as the governor’s Chief of Staff. Gilkes was in a position to know that Kelly was supposed to be at work on county business. Others went to Cullen Werwie, who was working on Brett Davis’ campaign, but who now serves as the governor’s spokesperson. Werwie is now in the awkward position of continuing to work for the governor after taking an immunity deal from prosecutors.

The indictment reveals that Rindfleish, who worked for Walker’s campaigning until last week, was in a good position to know that the behavior she was engaged in was improper since she worked both the Assembly and Republican Caucus during the period when illegal campaign activity was underway and was even interviewed by the State Department of Justice agents investigating the Caucus Scandal in 2002. Walker himself served as a state legislator when the scandal broke and felony charges were issued against legislative leaders of both parties.

Further Charges Anticipated

It is unclear what the DA has against Walker beyond the one damning email, which suggests that Walker knew about the special “laptops” in his office. However, the charge documents indicate that the investigation is ongoing and that Wink is willing to testify about “destruction of digital evidence."

In addition to destruction of evidence, there is another thread of the investigation that may result in further charges. This thread explains why “Realtor of the Year” Andrew Jensen was jailed for a day, and involves allegations of bid-rigging in the County Executive’s office.

For his part, Walker insists he is not the target of the secret John Doe and insists: "I have every confidence that when this is completed, people will see that our integrity remains intact.”

The John Doe investigation is not Walker's only headache. Earlier in January, 1 million petitions were filed seeking his recall. An election is anticipated this summer. With a record $12 million dollars raised by Walker of largely out-of-state money, 2012 is shaping up to be a historic year in Wisconsin politics.

Scott Walker’s Plutonomy: An Economy for the One Percent

Mary Bottari — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:45:24 -0500

While volunteer after volunteer from each of Wisconsin's 72 counties marched into the state's election board to deposit over one million signatures for the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Walker was no where to be found.

At the hour petitions were being deposited on January 17, Mother Jones revealed that Walker was scheduled to attend a high-dollar fundraiser in the heart of the New York's financial district at 339 Park Avenue -- the towering headquarters for global financial giant CitiGroup. The $5,000 per couple fundraiser was hosted by none other than Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former CEO of AIG.

Walker's choice to be on Wall Street the day of the recall filing is so astounding, for many it goes far beyond the notion of a tin ear. "Walker could not have sent a clearer signal to Wall Street, that he is on the side of the 1 percent ready to do their bidding and take the heat," said Scot Ross of the Wisconsin group, One Wisconsin Now. Ross points to the data his group compiled to support his claim that Walker is constructing an economy that only the 1 percent could love.

CitiGroup and AIG

No two institutions are more responsible for the economic collapse of America than CitiGroup and AIG.

Citi is the original too-big-to-fail bank. Citi's merger with Travelers Group in 1998 blew apart the Glass-Steagall protections that had kept the U.S. financial system safe from major financial crises for 60 years.

Citi was a primary driver of the subprime mess. A top Citi official testified before Congress that the firm was betting that the housing market would go sour as early as 2006, yet it remained the nation's top lender of subprime mortgages and continued to underwrite billions in subprime mortgage-backed securities. It hedged risk by taking out insurance in the form of credit default swaps with firms like AIG.

Like Goldman, Citi has been caught betting against its own customers. Citi's $285 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) -- for fraudulently selling packages of mortgage-backed securities that they knew would fail -- was just tossed out by a federal judge who called it "is neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest."

Today, Citi is considered by many to be a zombie bank, with billions in toxic assets and growing legal liability. Yet, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit hauled in $23 million in bonus money in 2011, giving him plenty of pocket change to support pet politicians.

It was a surprise to see Hank Greenberg's name on the Walker invite (below). Greenberg was last seen fleeing down Wall Street with Elliot Spitzer hot on his heels, pursuing him for securities fraud and bid-rigging in 2005. AIG later settled federal and state charges for $1.6 billion, one of the largest fines in history. Greenberg, now the CEO of global finance firm CV Starr, and Co., settled the charges against him for $15 million.

All this took place, before that critical week in September of 2008 when the Lehman Brother's and AIG collapse triggered a global economic meltdown. AIG had issued some $500 billion worth of credit default swaps it could not pay for when mortgage-backed securities went sour. In 2008, AIG was taken over by the U.S. government and bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of $68 billion. Most of that money is still outstanding.

Right now, Walker can raise unlimited sums due to a quirk in Wisconsin's recall law. How much he raised from Wall Street on January 17 is still unknown, although in his latest report, Walker raised 60 percent of his campaign war chest from out of state according to One Wisconsin Now. This included four eye-popping $250,000 contributions.

CitiGroup's "Plutonomy" Memos

In his 2009 movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore unveiled two explosive memos written by Citi analyst in 2005 and 2006. The memos coin the term "plutonomy" and describe in glowing terms Citi's view of a U.S. economy entirely driven by the wealth and purchasing power of the 1 percent. The memos can be accessed here and offer a stunning glimpse into the cognition of Wall Street elite.

Plutocrats Drive the Economy: "The world is dividing into two blocs -- the plutonomies, where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few, and the rest. Plutonomies have occurred before in sixteenth century Spain, in seventeenth century Holland, the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties in the U.S."

The Future: "We project that the plutonomies will likely see even more income inequality, disproportionately feeding off a further rise in the profit share in their economies, capitalist-friendly governments, more technology-driven productivity, and globalization." "Society and governments need to be amendable to disproportionately allow/encourage the few to retain the fatter profit share."

Forget about Main Street, Invest in the Plutocracy: "Since we think the plutonomy is here, is going to get stronger..." "It is a good time to switch out of stocks that sell to the masses and back to the plutonomy basket."

While Henry Ford believed that the economy thrived when the people who made the cars could afford to buy them, the Citi plutocrats believe that growth is powered only by the super rich and that catering to their taste for imported baubles and bags should be the goal of every investor and policymaker.

Some believe Scott Walker got the memo.

In Wisconsin, a Budget Only a Plutocrat Could Love

If you believe that "the earth is being held up by the muscular arms of its entrepreneur plutocrats," then the first thing you should do as governor is send them some money.

Massive tax breaks for the wealthy: With a series of bills, Walker delivered $2.3 billion dollars worth of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo. He also gave them Health Savings Accounts and other perks for the wealthy that few Wisconsinites will be able to utilize.

Race to the bottom in wages: At the same time, Wisconsin protesters believe that Walker decided to balance the state's budget on the back of the middle class. Walker's first "budget repair bill" forced concessions from Wisconsin's 380,000 public workers, who already made on average 8.2 percent less than private sector workers. Walker's collective bargaining bill amounts to an 11 percent cut in pay for workers making $25,000 a year, and 8.5 percent cut in pay for workers making $50,000 a year, according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo.

Pounding the middle class: Walker's budget bill made steep cuts in the state's largest programs that aid the middle class: $749 million in direct cuts to schools; $848 million in cuts to Medicaid; $170 million in cuts in state aid to cities and counties. The cuts in state aid contribute to the fact that Wisconsin now leads the country in public-sector job loss. The working poor were hammered as well, with $56 million in cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit program and cuts to BadgerCare, where Walker is threatening to deny 65,000 residents health care. (Data available here.)

Rejection of federal funds: At the same time, Walker has turned down billions in federal assistance: $810 million for light rail (funds quickly snapped up by other governors); $23 million in broadband money (the first state in the nation to turn down broadband); $38 million for health care exchanges, and $11 million for health care for the poor.

The result of all these changes? Employment in Wisconsin dropped off a cliff the in the month of July, the month that the Walker budget kicked in. At the same time, employment nationally was on the uptick, as can be seen from these compelling graphs by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Wisconsin is the only state to suffer 6 straight months of job loss.

One realtor put it this way: "Walker doesn't get it. People don't want to move to 'Wississippi.' They want to move to a modern, pro-growth state where there will be jobs, modern infrastructure and opportunity. His policies are scaring off my customers." A local economic think tank dubbed the issue "the price of extremism."

Plutoparticipants?

The Citigroup memos pose the question, how long will the electorate continue to endorse plutonomy?

"The rising wealth gap between the rich and poor will probably at some point lead to a political backlash," opines the Citi analysts. "Whilst the rich are getting a greater share of the wealth, and the poor a lesser share, political enfranchisement remains as it was - one person one vote (in the plutonomies). At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be political backlash..."

Some might say that the residents of the state of Wisconsin have also gotten the memo. They did not just take out their anger and frustration with sustained street protests, frequently topping 100,000 last winter. They put their discontent into democratic action, petitioning for the redress of grievances in the unique way provided for by the Wisconsin Constitution.

They are refusing to be Citigroup's "plutoparticipants."

1 Million Petition for the Recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Mary Bottari — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:45:41 -0500

The petition drive to recall and remove Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has surpassed all expectations, collecting one million signatures in just 60 days. The signatures represent the largest recall effort in the history of the United States.

Petitioners were only required to collect 540,000 by law. They far exceeded this number, making a successful legal challenge of the recall highly unlikely. Volunteers also gathered 845,000 signatures to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and additional signatures to recall four of the state senators who voted for Walker's collective bargaining bill in March 2011, creating a mountain of paper estimated to weigh over one ton.

As for Walker, he attended a New York fundraiser hosted by no less than Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of American International Group, according to Mother Jones.

Wisconsin Recall Will Make History

The numbers coming out of Wisconsin are stunning. Of the 19 states that permit the recall of governors, Wisconsin has one of the highest thresholds. For governors (and legislators), recall organizers must gather signatures equaling 25 percent of the turnout in the previous election for the office. That means organizers faced the daunting task of collecting 540,000. To avoid losing the election through signature challenges, signature collectors wanted a "cushion" of additional signatures, so they set a goal of 720,000 signatures. They surpassed even that goal.

When California governor Gray Davis was recalled in 2003, residents collected 1.6 million signatures out of 21.1 million eligible voters or approximately 7.6 percent. In Wisconsin, 25,000 trained volunteers had 60 days to collect approximately 1 million signatures from 4.37 million eligible voters or approximately 23 percent. Plus, 1 million is almost half of the votes cast in the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election. Wisconsin volunteers did it with less money, over the holiday season and in the depths of winter.

As a heavy snow fell on Wisconsin, volunteers explained that the 3,000 pounds of petitions would be delivered to the non-partisan elections board in trucks escorted by armed security guards. Volunteers from United Wisconsin, the grassroots organization that took charge of collecting the signatures, have designated two volunteers from each of Wisconsin's 72 counties to hand carry a box containing a portion of the petitions to highlight the fact that the work took place in every corner of the state.

Red State Blue State

In the months to come, the remarkable story of the recall organizers' massive, grassroots, signature-collecting drive is likely to be lost to the unprecedented sums of money the campaigns and the independent expenditure groups will raise and spend, and to the charges and counter-charges that will volley back and forth as they do in all elections, but today recall organizers celebrated.

Tina Nelson, a Dane County Coordinator for United Wisconsin, said she was "unbelievably excited," but also "wondering what to do with myself" now that she did not have thousands of emails to send and volunteers to organize. In Dane County, the liberal bastion surrounding Madison, volunteers collected an estimated 160,000 petitions.

But signatures came from red as well as blue areas of the state. In conservative Walworth County, represented by Rep. Paul Ryan in Congress, volunteers collected an estimated 10,000 signatures, 2,000 more than their goal. "I am feeling pumped, optimistic and gratified," said Ellen Holly, a United Wisconsin coordinator for the county. "But deep down, I am also a little bit angry and sad. I have never lived somewhere where I had to recall my government before," she explained.

Volunteers in the small town of Burlington, which voted to support George W. Bush and John McCain and strongly backed Scott Walker in 2010, collected over 6,000 recall signatures from the area. Mary Ann Staupe, a retired school teacher, explained why people signed: "I asked every person who came into [the Burlington] office. Every person added another piece to the puzzle. Collective bargaining was just the tip of the iceberg. People were also concerned about neglected schools, neglected infrastructure, health care changes that hurt the poor and the disabled. Many people have friends and families in those situations. It was a huge tent."

In Delavan, Scott Walker's home town, volunteers set up shop in "Circus Park" in the town's tiny main square, where a towering statue of a giraffe watches cars roll by. On the first day that volunteers circulated petitions "we created a traffic jam. People were whipping up in their cars like NASCAR trying to be among the first to sign. Delavan was our 'hot spot' for a very long time," said Holly.

For Peggy Ellerkamp, a high school librarian, signature gathering felt more like a civic duty. "Walker has caused so much damage in less than one year," Ellerkamp said, referring to Walker's anti-union budget repair bill, $1.6 billion in public school aid cuts, Wisconsin's precipitous job losses, and the general climate of despair and anger in the state. "Just think what he can do if we don't get him out of there by end of his first term."

Making a List, Checking it Twice

The unofficial estimates coming in from around the state are impressive. Over 14,000 from Sheboygan County (6,000 above the goal) and 9,000 from Manitowoc County (2,800 more than the goal). Although Wisconsin Republicans have been raising the specters of "Mickey Mouse" signing petitions multiple times, the petitions were checked and rechecked.

Volunteers described a meticulous process by which signatures were reviewed first by the circulator, then by the local recall office, then in a regional recall office, then at the Madison headquarters. Volunteers were first looking to make sure the record was complete and correct. They also scanned for questionable names and other mischief. No one I spoke to reported any problems other than the occasional "WI" in the zip code spot. "We wanted to do it right, we knew that every signature had to count," said Staupe, who described the process as "arduous." In Madison, the recall office apparently entered all the records in the computer in an attempt to scan for duplicates.

Walker Team Petitions Court to Delay

The latest employment figures show Wisconsin lost 14,500 jobs in November. The latest poll shows that support for the recall is around 58 percent, up from 47 percent in the spring. For Scott Walker's lawyers, delay appears to be their strategy. During that delay, Walker can continue to raise unlimited campaign funds and has already brought in close to $5 million, approximately half of which is from out of state.

In a normal recall, lawyers representing the candidate targeted for recall would review each signature and challenge any that seem inappropriate or unclear. Each challenge would be considered by the nonpartisan elections board. That is the way recalls have been handled in Wisconsin for decades, but even with 5,000 volunteers at the ready to review signatures, the Walker camp decided to bring a lawsuit to change standard procedure and lay the burden of the recall review on the small state elections board. On January 6, they succeeded in convincing a court to order the elections board to conduct a costly review. Kevin Kennedy, the head of the elections board, testified that entering signatures into a database and looking for duplicates could take eight extra weeks for his staff or might require the hiring of an outside computer firm.

Yesterday, Kennedy told the press, "we used to say that we could see an election as early as late May, but now we just don't know." An eight-week delay when the numbers are so overwhelmingly in favor of the petitioners is likely to spark a court challenge of its own. Some anticipate that the whole issue is likely to end up in the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, no stranger to partisan bickering and controversy.

Putting off worries about the future and the massive amount of work ahead, thousands of recall volunteers prepared to party tonight at Frank Lloyd Wright's Monona Terrace, the site of Scott Walker's 2010 inaugural.

Walker's "Anything But Jobs" Special Session Wraps

Mary Bottari — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:40:11 -0500

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has promised to create 250,000 new jobs. In advance of a planned gubernatorial recall election, Walker announced last month that the State Legislature would focus "like a laser" on job creation. With his "special session" on jobs now concluded, it is clear that the legislative package had little to do with jobs and much to do with spin, special interests and the illusion of momentum.

old bicycle This is the second time legislators have met in special session to address jobs this year. The first special session produced the now-infamous Act 10 that stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights. Wisconsin is starting to feel the impact of that bill. The state lost an eye-popping 11,500 public sector jobs in September.

Wisconsinites had good reason to be worried about a new special session.

Bicycles, a Wing and a Prayer

The new session started with a prayer and a distinct lack of ambition. With a straight face, Republican State Representative Alvin Ott prayed for deregulation: "Father, we ask your blessing today as we start a session again and as we become busy and try do things that will help the people of the state of Wisconsin, create jobs, lessen regulation and so on and so forth, dear Lord," said Ott.

Republican Rep. Jim Steineke set the bar low: “The focus has been and remains to be on job creation, but government can not create jobs, all we can do is give the private sector the tools they need to feel confident in expanding and hiring new workers."

When you believe philosophically that you can't do anything to create jobs, some very interesting proposals emerge. For instance, the legislature passed new rules that change the definition of bicycles and make it easier for cars to pass bikes (AB 265). The bill would exempt bikes from the 15-mph speed limit for vehicles equipped with metal tires. Now bikers can speed their goods to port.

The GOP also reached out to Hollywood, reducing the application fee for a film and franchise tax credit from $5,000 to $500 (SB 3). Do you hear that, Tom Cruise? Wisconsin is open for business!

Another innovative bill says that a property owner is not liable for injury or death of a person trespassing on their property (SB 22). So if a kid gets killed falling out of a tree in your backyard -- no worries!

The legislature passed a bill that would reduce the interest rate that major corporations have to pay on court-ordered payments to consumers injured or killed by dangerous products to 4.25 percent (SB 14). Another bill would cap the fees that lawyers could receive in this type of civil case (SB 12). While these ALEC-inspired "tort reform" bills surely harm consumers and their lawyers, it is less clear how they create jobs.

The most controversial measure in this special session's package dealt with the state's Department of Natural Resources permitting process. The bill would make it easier to pollute the state's waterways with mining waste, among other things (SB/AB 24). Apparently you have to pollute to create jobs. For now, that bill is stalled.

Sex Ed, Guns and Deer?

Rather than focusing "like a laser" on the economy, hands-off legislators threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Lawmakers mandated abstinence-based sex education and reversed an earlier decision to allow for teaching about contraceptives (SB 237). Public health experts kindly called the bill “scientifically inaccurate.” Democrats were more blunt: "We’re taking a step back to the Flintstone era," said Senator John Erpenbach.

Wisconsin deer hunters will no longer have to kill an antlerless deer before they bag a trophy buck, perhaps giving a boost to the taxidermy industry in the state (SB 75). Hunters and taxidermists can also celebrate the new law that allows them to buy beer at 6 a.m. rather than 8 a.m (AB 63).

The legislature also passed the ALEC-inspired “castle doctrine” legislation long promoted by the National Rifle Association, a "shoot first, ask questions later" bill that gives a person immunity from civil and criminal liability if they kill another in their home, work, or vehicle and allege self-defense (AB 69).

Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan hit the mark when he dubbed it the "anything but jobs" session. Wisconsin is increasingly becoming a national laughing stock, especially as the legislature secures the arrest of 18 people for carrying cameras in the Capitol at the same time that they move forward with a measure to allow concealed guns in the Capitol and right onto the Assembly floor.

WI Unemployed Have Been Abandoned

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO released a common sense jobs plan that calls for investment in infrastructure and retrofitting to reduce energy costs, procurement policies that stimulate local businesses by "buying local," and investment in the technical college system, but not a single one of these measures was considered.

As the state enters its fourth month of negative job growth, the unemployed in Wisconsin have been cut loose by Scott Walker and the Wisconsin GOP. At the federal level, Republicans are actively sabotaging any bill that would aid the economy in order to ruin Obama's chance of reelection.

For America's 30 million unemployed and underemployed, it is going to be a long, hard winter.

Lessons in Positive Policing From Wisconsin's 'Original Occupation'

Mary Bottari — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:40:22 -0400

After two tours of duty in Iraq, 24-year-old Wisconsin native Scott Olsen managed to escape unscathed and with seven medals for valor. But Olsen was critically injured in an Occupy Oakland march last week by a police projectile. See video here. According to eyewitnesses, Olsen was acting as a human barrier between unarmed civilians and Oakland police in riot gear who were charged with keeping a public park cleared for sanitation purposes.

Whether this was a case of an inexperienced mayor (check) or a historically aggressive police department (check), the incident underscored the potential for catastrophe as cops increasingly confront peaceful protesters with riot control weapons.

Did they even consider mops and brooms?

"There had to be a more civil way of meeting the challenge of dealing with these people who wanted to occupy that space than to kick people's heads around when they have valid concerns about society, what we're doing and where we're going," said Olsen's uncle George Nygaard.

A member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Olsen had a good job and a busy life in San Francisco. But he visited Occupy Oakland every night because he fought to protect people's right to protest and "he felt corporations and banks had too much control over our government, that they weren't being held accountable for their role in the economic downturn," according to his roommate.

After exercising his first amendment rights, he remains hospitalized with a fractured skull unable to speak.

Confrontations and Arrests on the Rise

As Occupations spread across America, the arrests are starting to mount: 700 on the Brooklyn Bridge, 300 in Chicago's Grant Park, 130 people on Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway, 39 in Portland, 38 in Austin, 16 in front of the Mortgage Bankers Association, 11 in front of JP Morgan Chase, and 22 at Citibank. The majority of arrests are for trespassing on public -- not private -- property. Thirty-two farmers and community folk were arrested in Iowa for refusing to leave the State Capitol grounds.

The number of arrests is certain to increase. So is the number of injuries. It's time for a law enforcement gut check. Are you arresting the right people, for the right reasons? Is pepper spray, horses, batons, tear gas and riot gear the way to approach peaceful protesters?

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) recently conducted a series of interviews with Wisconsin law enforcement on what some call the "original occupation" of the Wisconsin Capitol in the winter of 2011. They offer some thoughts on positive policing techniques that work.

Protecting Free Speech Not "Marble"

On February 11, 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced a bill that would limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees, require 100% voter participation in union recertification and end the state's practice of withholding and reimbursing union dues. The bill was perceived as a deathblow to public employee unions and prompted massive, sustained and peaceful protests inside and outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in the winter of 2011.

Sheriff Dave Mahoney was elected to represent Dane County, which surrounds Madison. He was part of the command team that was set up to deal with the protests and ensure public safety. Thousands occupied the Capitol day and night for over two weeks. Hundreds of thousands surrounded the Capitol each weekend. For many it was a very emotional issue. Scott Olsen was one of many vets present who marched in solidarity with Wisconsin workers.

"The number one direction that was provided by Chief Tubbs of the Capitol Police Department, Chief Wray of the Madison Police and myself was that we were going to ensure that it was a safe gathering, and that we were not going to be protecting marble; we were going to be protecting people's rights to assemble and their right to free speech," Mahoney told CMD. Mahoney also thought it was important that his deputies were well-trained for highly charged situations. His deputies in their plain brown uniforms maintained a friendly presence on the Capitol grounds.

In the end, no injuries were reported and there were only a handful of arrests. While the Walker administration put out a press release pegging the damage to the Capitol at $7.5 million, a number that was repeated endlessly on Fox News. In the end, the protest tab amounted to $269,550 mostly to plant new seed on the muddy Capitol lawn.

According to Mahoney, "this was a momentous occasion -- not only in state history but one that will go down in national history and probably internationally. The goal of law enforcement was to protect the rights of the people while at the same time ensuring a safe and orderly gathering and allowing normal business to go on. I think how things took place in Madison, Wisconsin is an example of how law enforcement can successfully achieve both goals, not only in this state but across the country."

Hot Heads and the Police State

As the occupation moves across the country from big towns to small, numerous instances of police overreaction have been documented. On September 24, New York Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna brushed passed colleagues to attack five women who had already been corralled by police officers in orange plastic netting. He pepper sprayed the young women, who were unarmed and barely dressed. They dropped to the ground screaming in a disturbing video viewed by hundreds of thousands on You Tube.

Mace and pepper spray were used on a small crowd of older protesters at the State Capitol in Iowa, simply to clear the Capitol grounds. More Iraq veterans were beaten when Boston police cleared protesters out of a public park. On October 14, police in riot gear descended on Occupy Denver protesters in the wee hours of the morning to clear them from a public park across from the State Capitol. Twenty-three people were arrested.

Gina Ray, is a 20-year veteran of the Governor's security detail of the State Capitol Police force. In an interview with CMD, Ray says she thinks a lot of problems can be avoided.

As a senior officer who had to deal with thousands of Wisconsin protesters as they streamed up to the Governor's office beating drums, blowing horns or simply leaving notes, Ray kept her cool and looked for fellow officers who would be successful in that type of situation. "We had backup coming in from all over the state. Each day when I was given five new troopers, I'd give them this little quasi-lecture; the biggest part of my lecture was, if you don't think that you are them, then you shouldn't be standing there with me. Some got it, some didn't. The ones that didn't, didn't last long. We had to be on the same page," said Ray.

She also thought it was important that leadership set the right tone. Speaking about her boss, Chief Tubbs of the Capitol Police, Ray noted that: "He was successful in bringing this to a peaceful conclusion, because he is a very compassionate person and when he touches your hand or looks you in the eye, you know he's for real. It's very unusual for a police chief to be that honest and direct. He establishes trust with everyone he deals with."

Protesters Have Responsibilities as Well

The members of the University of Wisconsin's Teaching Assistants' Association (TAA) were some of the first to whip out their sleeping bags, plug in their computers and camp out at the Capitol. At the time, Peter Rickman, was the TAA co-president. He told CMD that the protesters in the WI Capitol did a lot of things that aided in a peaceful, successful outcome.

"From the first day, we opened up a line of communication with the police," said Rickman. As the occupation continued, this developed into regularly scheduled meetings on a daily basis and designated spokespeople on both sides.

In addition, "protesters need to create and maintain a culture of nonviolent civil disobedience and project that actively," says Rickman. "We explicitly embraced the role of nonviolent resistance in our history" and made it clear to the police that "we were marching in the footsteps of Dr Martin Luther King."

With these ground rules, protesters were able to invite workers, families, kids and even grandmothers to the safe space created in the Capitol. In the end, hundreds of thousands took to the streets around the Capitol. "We could not be evicted because we had so many people backing us," says Rickman.

No Banker Has Yet Done a Perp Walk

While law enforcement has been quick to corral and arrest the rabble, it is still true that not a single employee of a major American bank has gone to jail for wrecking our economy. Instead they have dodged harsher justice by settling charges of serious wrongdoing with the Securities and Exchange Commission time and time again. (See the list here).

The Occupy Wall Street camps do not create social ills, they showcase them. There is no doubt that the camps are a form of protected free speech.

Elected officials and police forces need to take a deep breath and gain some perspective. The Wall Street bankers have done far more damage to cities and counties by tanking the economy and local tax receipts than a few hundred protesters could ever do.

Don't get caught arresting the wrong people.

Recall On: Scott Walker's Campaign Coffers "Open for Business"

Mary Bottari — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:23:30 -0400

Putting aside a laundry list of potential dates, calculations and concerns, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin announced last week that they will be joining with community groups to launch a campaign to recall the state's governor, Scott Walker. With a corruption scandal brewing behind the scenes, political activists decided there was no better time than now.   Hurdles for those wishing to recall Walker are high.

Wisconsin Recall Law Blows the Caps Off of Fundraising

Starting November 15, volunteers will begin collecting the 540,206 signatures needed to trigger a recall election, which is one quarter of the votes cast in the gubernatorial election. They will have 60 days to do this under the state's recall statute. Then they will submit signatures to the state elections board so a recall can be authorized for sometime in the spring.   An odd quirk in Wisconsin's campaign law allows donors to give unlimited cash to Scott Walker until the day that the state authorizes an election. In other words, Walker does not have to abide by the $10,000 limit that applies to a regular election, but could in theory accept $1 million dollar checks or $10 million dollar checks from now until an election is triggered in the spring.   "This is going to be tough," Mike Tate, chairman for the state's Democratic Party told the Ed Show. He anticipates that Walker could raise huge sums of money from the Koch brothers, and others, to keep his seat. "We need to be ready for a big fight." The summer recall elections of nine State Senators cost $44 million. A gubernatorial recall might cost upwards of $70 million.

Corruption Scandal Brewing

Missing from official statements was any discussion of the secret "John Doe" investigation of Scott Walker's staff and campaign funders.   Wisconsin has been riveted in recent weeks by reports that Walker top aides are implicated in a secret investigation being conducted by the Milwaukee County District Attorney into potentially illegal campaign practices during Walker's 2010 gubernatorial race. Although the investigation has been underway for at least a year, recent revelations that the governor's spokesperson has been granted immunity and that another top aide had her house raided by the FBI, has the state abuzz with speculation about the target and scope of the investigation.   To date, 11 people have received immunity in the investigation.

New Polling Shows Support for a Recall

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin released a poll this week showing that independents support the recall of Walker by a margin of 16 points -- 52 to 36 percent -- and that 52 percent of all voters disapprove of Walker's job performance. Polls results that have not been released show various Democratic candidates beating Walker by healthy margins. Walker's job approval ratings are very poor. A recent Badger Poll says 59 percent of Wisconsinites disapprove of the way Walker is handling his job as governor.   But even with polls in their favor, the task won’t be easy. Only two gubernatorial recall elections in U.S. history have been successful. In 1921, North Dakota Governor Lynn Frazier was recalled, and in 2003 California Governor Gray Davis was recalled.

"Independent" Election Board Under the Gun

With the looming threat of recall, the Wisconsin GOP has begun to meddle in decisions promulgated by the independent state elections board. The Government Accountability Board (GAB) recently issued decisions on several measures that would make the recall petition process smoother and facilitate voting by college students. The GAB is allowed to make independent decisions of this type.   But under pressure from the GOP-led Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, which threatened to force the decisions into formal rule-making giving lawmakers a say, the head of the GAB agreed to "revisit" the decisions. Under reconsideration is a plan to allow Wisconsin residents to download petitions supporting the recall from the Internet and stickers to be used on student IDs making them acceptable for voting in state elections. The stickers would make it cheaper for colleges and universities to comply with newly-enacted American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Voter ID legislation, which disenfranchised over 300,000 Wisconsin college students by making their current IDs obsolete.   After a scandal in 2005, where legislators of both parties were found guilty of felony abuses of the campaign finance system, legislators moved to merge and revamp the elections and ethics boards. In 2007, the GAB was established as part of a bipartisan agreement. Now retired judges review issues and make rulings, not a board composed of Republicans and Democrats. Walker's GOP is now threatening to blow up this bi-partisan compromise.

Walker's Challengers?

Here are a few of the rumored candidates thinking about challenging Walker if a recall election is triggered:

Kathleen Falk was the County Executive of Dane County from 1997 until 2011, where she balanced many budgets for a major metropolitan area. Prior to this, she served as an Assistant Attorney General and Public Intervenor,an environmental advocacy position, in the Wisconsin Department of Justice. She is a well known entity with plenty of fundraising ability.

Democratic State Senator John Erpenbach, who rose to fame as one of the "Wisconsin 14" Democratic Senators who left the state in February in efforts to stall the passage of Governor's controversial collective bargaining law, is also considering a run. His good-natured appearances on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, won him many fans.

Milwaukee's current Mayor, Tom Barrett, lost the previous election to Walker, but is very competitive according to recent polling. He is a former Congressman with a liberal record. He is very well liked and would bring good name recognition and a record as an administrator to the race.

Liberal businessman Kevin Conroy, CEO of Exact Sciences, has also been mentioned as interested in a run. He considered running for governor in 2010. As a successful businessman, he may be able to provide initial self-financing. He is not a proven entity as a campaigner, but has made a good impression on many interested parties.

Former Democratic Congressman David Obey is rumored to be considering a run. Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, who famously challenged the state's Republican majority as they rammed through the vote on Walker's collective bargaining bill and Mahlon Mitchell, President of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, are also mentioned as possible candidates.

One thing is for sure: The winter of 2012 is shaping up to be as interesting as the winter of 2011 for Wisconsin residents and voters.

The Occupaton is on the Move, Find a Big Bank Protest Near You

Mary Bottari — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:45:31 -0400

U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone used to say "sometimes you have to pick a fight to win one."

Now Occupy Wall Street has picked one, right in Jamie Dimon's backyard.

But it won’t stay contained in Zuccotti Park. While Brookfield Properties called the park a "public sanctuary" in 2005, they have apparently changed their minds. Mr. Zuccotti wants his park back and the police may be preparing to clear it with new rules barring camping, sleeping and breathing.

They are too late. The train has left the station and the Occupation is on the move. From Manhattan to Hawaii big bank protests are planned. Everyone who cares about creating an economy that works for working people should get on board. See list below.

“We are the 99%”

As the Occupation of Wall Street enters its third week, the group has been criticized by the media as not having a coherent message, as if a PR firm was a precursor to membership in our democracy. But from out here in Wisconsin, their message rings clear and true. The 99% percent has been shafted, our economic system is broken, and we need an economy that works for all.

The hopeful nature of the message, that change is possible when the monied elite have a stranglehold on our economy and our democracy, is itself remarkable and revolutionary. Too many Americans are ground down by opaque forces and feel powerless to change anything.

Messages like this one on the Occupy website resonate: "On September 27th, 2011, we marched on the Financial District's Luxury Night Out, where couples wore outfits that cost more than we will ever make in a month and looked at cars that cost more than we will ever make in a year, afterward, they went back to one of their many houses that cost more than we will make in our lifetime."

But for those who need a concrete list of demands, a working draft was produced though a consensus process on September 29.

Lesson from Wisconsin: Pizza and Pizzazz

As someone who participated in the Seattle 1999 WTO protests and in the WI uprising, I offer a few observations as the “American Autumn” gets underway. The Occupiers have already learned a key lesson of Wisconsin, the physical occupation of a space can’t be beat. When folks are sleeping, eating and strategizing together, a lot of quality communication and consensus building gets done fast. New alliances can be forged. And quality pizza can be delivered from supporters across America.

Another important lesson from Wisconsin, don't forget to put the classy in class warfare. We learned that fun is essential to turning out large crowds. Only in a safe peaceful space will your supporters feel comfortable bringing kids and grandma, and your numbers can grow day by day, week by week. If the police give you trouble, as they have in NYC, try not to rise to the bait.

Lessons from Seattle: Big City Police Are Not Your Friend

Although Wisconsin protesters were able to forge solid relationships with police and firefighters who saw they were next in the collective bargaining firing line, this was a rare occurrence. Police in big cities, whose entire careers have been spent protecting private property, will not be your friend.

This weekend, there were 700 arrests in Manhattan as occupiers took to the streets stopping traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. Protesters charge that the police encouraged the march as a way of emptying the park and rounding up a large number of protesters and their leadership. This video shows police leading protesters onto an on ramp on the Brooklyn Bridge where they were later corralled and carted away. Over the weekend news broke that the New York Police Foundation received an unprecedented $4.6 million from JP Morgan Chase. “These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," chirped Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Protesters from the global justice movement, which staged the successful 1999 WTO protests in Settle and forced the end of the “Millennium Round” of global trade negotiations, can give you some advice based on subsequent battles. Police will infiltrate you by the dozens. They will identify and arrest your leaders without cause and hold them for as long as it takes.They will lure groups of you away for the sole purpose of corralling you and arresting you.

Stay calm and protest on.

Find a Protest Near You

A season of “Pay U.S. Back!” actions are planned for October under the banner of the "New Bottom Line" coalition, which is demanding an end to the foreclosure crisis and a financial speculation tax on the big banks. Find updates here.

Plus, the Occupation is spreading fast, you can find updates on many of the actions listed below here.

In San Francisco, hundreds of protesters took to the streets targeting Bank of America, Charles Schwab and Wells Fargo.

In Seattle, hundreds of people shut down a Chase bank branch and 11 were arrested.

In Suncaidia, the Washington Community Action Network infiltrated the annual policy summit of Association of Washington Business, sponsored by Chase bank.

In Boston, 3,000 marched on Foreclosure King, Bank of America, to present their demands to stop foreclosures.

In New York, Occupy Wall Street, Move On and organized labor are joining forces for a major march planned for Wednesday, October 5.

Occupy LA is underway at City Hall.

Occupy Chicago is underway at the Federal Reserve bank.

Occupy DC starts on October 6 in Freedom Plaza.

Refund California is planning a “home visit to a Wall Street executive" October 4 in Los Angles.

Chicago is planning a Pay US Back Action October 9.

Minneapolis is planning a Pay US Back Action October 10.

New York City is planning a Pay US Back Action October 11.

Occupy Milwaukee starts October 15.

Denver is planning a Pay US Back Action October 25.

Honolulu is planning a Pay US Back Action November 5.

Keep us posted on the actions planned for your neighborhood on Facebook and Twitter.