Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Coggs Staffer Alleges Criminal Behavior By Staff

Well, well...

A former aide to Spencer Coggs has filed a complaint with the GAB charging the Dem state senator hired a Capitol staffer largely to work on his lt. guv campaign and had other employees in his office attend to personal family matters, including helping his wife’s business.

Jana Williams, who Coggs terminated last January, alleges in the complaint that Enis Ragland’s “support and interest” in the senator’s 2010 lt. guv campaign was evident from the time he was hired just months before Coggs announced in December 2009.

But Coggs, D-Milwaukee, denied the allegations in an interview with WisPolitics.com and said he has not been contacted by the Government Accountability Board about the allegations. He was aware a complaint had been filed against Ragland, who was hired eight months before Coggs announced for lt. guv, according to Senate records. But Coggs said he had not been told he was involved and disputed the allegations that any of his staffers did anything improper.

You you know what’s (not at all) shocking about this allegation?

Jana Williams said she first raised the allegations with the GAB in November 2010 after she was notified she would be fired.

According to the Milwaukee DA, this is felony behavior. Yet it was alleged over a year ago and nobody has done anything about it? Oh yeah, I forgot… these are Democrats. Only Republicans get charged with this kind of stuff.

(9) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0946 hrs
Law + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. Recall Chisholm!  Shame!  Shame!  Shame!

    (Cue the drumbeats.)

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 01, 2012 at 1014 hrs


  2. “Only Republicans get charged with this kind of stuff.”

    Except for Chuck Chvala.

    And Brian Burke.

    And Gary Geoge.

    And Georgia Thompson.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 01, 2012 at 1304 hrs


  3. And Tanya Bjork.

    And Doug Burnett.

    And Raghu Devaguptapu.

    Chvala, George, and Burke all served time, Chvala and Burke as the result of investigations and successful prosecutions by Democratic DAs.  Because hey, not everyone has the resources to stonewall the court for half a decade until friends in the legislature can change the law so a guy can move his case to his home county and get a softie plea deal from a pushover Republican DA.  You know, like Scooter what’s his face?

    Yeah Owen, justice sure is one-sided in Wisconsin.  Pull your head out of your derriere.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on February 01, 2012 at 1505 hrs


  4. Game, set, match on this one.

    By the way, if Mr. Coggs turned his Senate office into a patronage dump, then by all means nail his sorry butt.

    But also remember that charges involving a governor’s office and staff will receive more media play than charges involving a state Senator’s office and staff. Coggs represents 1/33rd of the state (and ran a pathetic race for lieutenant governor). Walker represents 100 percent of the state.

    Posted by Northern Pike on February 01, 2012 at 2031 hrs


  5. I wonder if this one will be a RICO?

    If he’s guilty?

    Hang’em.

    Maybe we should have a gallows @ the Capitol.

    On a serious note it seems that all manner of elected officials have offices that are so overstaffed that this kind of crap can go on.

    And this is in support of part time positions for legislators, correct?

    Smells like bacon to me.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 02, 2012 at 0637 hrs


  6. One component missing from this story, although I’ve seen it mentioned in other stories, is that Mr. Ragland “retired” from his $62,000 a year job with Coggs, but then 30 days later, was rehired by Coggs as a non-benefited full time employee, at a rate of $29.70 an hour…or $62,000 a year, if you do the math.

    So, he’s currently collecting a pension and now receiving a hourly wage from a job he supposedly retired from; double-dipping, in lay terms.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 02, 2012 at 0743 hrs


  7. Chisolm would have nothing to do with this as it occured in Dane County.  Good luck getting that Democrat hack to do anything with it.

    Posted by Fred on February 02, 2012 at 1038 hrs


  8. RS is perfectly correct on this one. For Owen to say:

    Oh yeah, I forgot… these are Democrats. Only Republicans get charged with this kind of stuff.

    Was completely foolish. It is bad when all do it including the Governor. If they are not aware what goes on in the office then they are not very good at the job.

    Scott Jensen was the most blatant offender but got off with little or nothing. The more you defend that the less I respect your judgement of values.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 02, 2012 at 1257 hrs


  9. That’s the problem, MoveFoward.  It’s this smart/stupid dichotomy that people use to defend their own side while criticizing the other.

    So Scott Walker is awesome and bright and capable and principled.  Oh, but he’s also naive and ignorant enough to be totally clueless as to what his chief of staff and senior advisers are spending much of their days in the office doing.  You know, the ones he talks to all the time and who work right outside his door.

    Brett Davis is bright enough to work for a Governor and hold a relatively high level position at HHS and serve in the Legislature and run the state’s Medicaid program, but why would he ever think to ask what his fundraiser was really doing for a living during the week?  I mean, he’s not that smart.

    You can’t possibly rationalize that Walker and Davis are smart enough to do their jobs, but too stupid to know what their closest advisers and employees are up to.

    It’s just like the caucus scandal.  If you tell me you think Jensen, Chvala, Mickey Foti, Bonnie Ladwig, Shirley Krug, Russ Decker, Wally Kunicki, Mike Ellis, Bob Welch, David Prosser, Ben Brancel, and everyone else in leadership from the 90’s on didn’t know what the hell the caucus employees were up to, or what their own staffers were doing, I will tell you that I think you are 100 percent full of crap.

    My first day as an intern in college for one of the aforementioned legislators involved me sitting in the legislator’s office with the door locked stuffing envelopes for a fundraiser.  That’s how fast you were introduced to the game.  And no, as a 19-year-old kid I had no idea what I was doing was illegal.  I just thought it was par for the course.  After all, everyone was doing it or knew about it. 

    Walker knew.  He had to have known.  The only way for him to not know would be for him to be the stupidest, most clueless man alive, and even I don’t think he’s that dumb.

    But many conservatives will forgive Walker, or rationalize it away as a partisan witch hunt, or pretend that he really could be that dumb, because they’d rather win, even with a a guy who plays dirty.  The same people who think Chuck got what he deserved but that Jensen was some kind of martyr for the cause.  Hypocrites, all of them.  And the Democrats are no better.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on February 02, 2012 at 1619 hrs


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