Good thing the RW pours money into Scott Walker;
he needs it for lawyers.
Gov. Scott Walker funneled more than $320,000 from his campaign account to defense attorneys over the last six months as he and his allies fought a secret probe into fundraising and spending during the 2012 recall election.
I'm sure he wanted to keep it secret, but there are reporting requirements on the use of campaign money.
Walker's report showed his political committee sent nearly $213,000 to Sidley Austin, a large Chicago law firm where defense attorney John Gallo is a partner; more than $83,000 to the Mequon-based Biskupic & Jacobs law firm; and $25,000 to Milwaukee defense lawyer Michael Steinle.
A Little Back History
The name Steven Biskupic should ring some bells. He's the Dubya appointee as US Attorney for the Milwaukee area who jumped over jurisdictional lines to prosecute a former state employee with corruption charges so phony that an appeals court demanded that she be released from prison pending her appeal (they later tossed out the charges with a verbal spanking for Biskupic). They got what they wanted, though; the ability to run ads about corruption during Governor Doyles re-election campaign (it didn't work, thankfully).
He's also one of the Bush-appointed US Attorneys who had to be literally pried out of his position after President Obama was inaugurated and he should have resigned. He later joined the law firm of Michael Best and Friedrich that served the Walker administration and the GOP until the stench of corruption from the secret gerrymandering done in their offices became too powerful. Biskupic then formed his own law firm and continues to work for Walker and the GOP.
Did I forget to mention that his wife is Judicial Assistant to Federal Judge Rudolph Randa, the judge who shut down the second John Doe Probe and ordered the evidence prosecutors collected be destroyed?
Yes, the GOP weaves a very entangled web.
Now We Can Resume the Rest of the Story
This is only the spending done the first 6 months of this year. Last year Biskupic received $86,000 for the last 6 months of 2013.
The latest legal expenses come on top of almost $650,000 that Walker's campaign paid to attorneys during an earlier John Doe investigation into his aides and associates during his time as Milwaukee County executive. That brings the total the governor has had to spend on John Doe investigations to more than $1 million.
(bolding is mine)
Yup, Scotty Walker has spent more than a MILLION DOLLARS on lawyers in John Doe Probes and he's not done spending either.
While the second John Doe Probe (looking into illegal coordination between dark money groups and campaigns) is halted pending federal appeal, we are anxiously awaiting the release of the first batch of full documents from the original John Doe Probe. The original probe resulted in the convictions of 6 of Walkers top aides and associates.
Walker himself was never charged (and I still can't understand why), but documents that have been released to the public from the appeal of one of his former top aides have exposed the completely political nature of Walkers office when he was Milwaukee County Executive as well as extensive racism and bigotry.
And Then There's More
Ron Johnson, Wisconsin's Teabagging US Senator and Political Embarrassment had his Obama Care lawsuit laughed out of court.
A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Monday brought by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and one of his aides attempting to force members of Congress and their staffs to stop getting subsidies for their health insurance under Obamacare.
Johnson likely forgot (if he even KNEW) that Congressional Aides once received health care as a benefit of their employment, but Republicans in Congress insisted that they be forced into the Federal Health Exchanges instead. This was done, of course, as one of their innumerable attempts to stop the Affordable Care Act from becoming law. So, if they're pissed off at having to use Obama Care, they need only blame themselves as Herman Cain would say.
"Given that the plaintiffs receive, at worst, a benefit, they cannot claim to be injured under an equal protection theory," Griesbach wrote in his 20-page decision.
Bwahahahaha!
Johnson says he's deciding whether or not to appeal. Considering the fact that he's been "schooled" that neither he or his aide have "standing" in the case, any appeal might just get laughed out of court, too.
Even fellow Republicans aren't happy with Ron Johnson.
The suit has caused a rift within Johnson's party. U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls has called it "an unfortunate political stunt" that would cause top congressional staff to quit if Johnson won.
If Congress doesn't offer health benefits and can't recruit the best staff, it would ultimately weaken the legislative branch and increase the power of the presidency, Sensenbrenner has argued.
Buy. More. Popcorn.
UPDATE:
Poor Snotty! The man who just loves to lie about his campaign being mostly funded by small dollar, in-state folks got called out by PolitiFact:
Of the $8.3 million raised by the Republican governor in the first half of 2014, $4.6 million, or 55.4%, came from out of state donors while $3.7 million, or 44.7%, came from within the state, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis.
Of the $3.6 million brought in by Burke, a Democrat and former Trek bicycle executive, donors living outside Wisconsin gave $1.2 million, or 34%, and in-state donors gave $2.4 million, or 66%, the newspaper's analysis of state campaign filings found Tuesday.
Of course they haven't looked at the big money hauls he's managed by over 100 fundraising trips he's made in the 3 years he's been Emperor of Wisconsin.
He needs a lot of that money for lawyers to keep him out of prison.
.
.