Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Inside Information

This struck me as a little odd. As part of a puff piece about folks behind United Wisconsin, there was this tidbit:

But, sensing a political opportunity fueled by the John Doe criminal investigation…

Bear in mind that they are talking about a meeting they had in September or October of last year - long before the John Doe investigation issued any charges. Given how badly, and illegally, the John Doe investigation leaked, did they have some inside information? Did the DA collude with them on the timing of the charges? Given that the rationale behind the recall is their opposition to Walker’s governance, why would the John Doe investigation matter? Did they adjust their timing because they knew last fall that charges would be issued in January?

Perhaps somebody should look into if the Milwaukee DA was illegally leaking information to recall supporters.

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1110 hrs
Law + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. The John Doe investigation has been going on for almost two years, and there was coverage prior to September, with plenty of talk about whether charges were on the way.  That’s all.

    I do suspect that the timing of the latest charges, just after the governor’s state of the state speech, suggests that the DA may have decided to delay those charges until after the speech as a courtesy.  There is not a conspiracy around every corner, so let’s get out the map to find intersections more worthy of conjecture.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 01, 2012 at 1803 hrs


  2. With their grass-roots and county organizers, they had been pushing for a January or February launch date. But, sensing a political opportunity fueled by the John Doe criminal investigation into top aides of Walker during his tenure as Milwaukee County executive, and learning Walker’s chief of staff was resigning to start up a recall campaign for his boss, they picked Nov. 15 instead.

    I wonder who leaked that info about the formation of Walker’s recall campaign?

    I think if there was the level of coordinated leaking that you suppose they would have waited until all the indictments from the John Doe were in.

    They would have 2 million signatures.

    And let us not forget that the recall was kicked off by the “last wish” guy. Brandt, right?

    Did that effort ever turn in any signed petition?

     

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 02, 2012 at 0701 hrs


  3. At the end of the day, this stuff probably doesn’t hurt Walker much at all politically.

    1. A lot of people see this as prosecutorial misconduct. And the offenses not really that big a deal. 

    2. Remember Bill and Hillary?  They find missing Rose Law firm records next to Hillary’s office.  And 1.900 secret FBI files on republicans on the dining room table in the east wing. 

    Crazy bad stuff.  Terrible.  But people didn’t care because the majority liked the other stuff Clinton was doing. 

    And this Walker thing is about 1/100th as serious as that crap the Clinton’s pulled. 

    The “This is Watergate” applied to every instance of a dumb staffer argument doesn’t fly anymore.  It has been used too many times for situations that didn’t apply.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 02, 2012 at 0814 hrs


  4. Using the logic in your #1 I would expect Johnny Thomas’s political career to really take off.

    Do you think he’ll be satisfied with that comptroller spot or will he announce as a gubbernatorial candidate in the recall race?

    Yep, I remember the Clintons.

    I didn’t realize that Tonette had political ambitions? Wanna spill the beans?

    Any insights on who’s playing Lewinsky’s role in this Walker thing? Does Scotty really like cigars?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 03, 2012 at 0626 hrs


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