Scott Walker assists Koch brothers in killing Democracy

[gotsnowgotslush]

Scott Walker, hero of selfish trillionaires

7/16/ 2015

This particular John Doe proceeding -- conducted in secret -- investigated got kicked off in 2012 because, as the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes, prosecutors suspected that Walker's gubernatorial campaign illegally coordinated with the Wisconsin Club for Growth.


The special prosecutor referred to it as an "a criminal scheme" and to prove it, investigators pointed to documents that seemed to show Walker urging donors to contribute to the advocacy groups, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.


“The four justices whose opinion halts an investigation and possible prosecution of Walker's campaign and allies and orders records to be destroyed were the beneficiaries of at least $10 million in campaign spending by parties named in the investigation,” said a statement from progressive group One Wisconsin Now issued after the decision.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-lose-to-walker-in-wisconsin-again-again.html


Kevin Kennedy with the Government Accountability Board said such a decision “would result in candidate’s direct control over millions of dollars of undisclosed corporate and individual contributions without limitation on the amounts accepted. A candidate could operate secret committees and direct them to run overwhelming and negative advertising, while the candidate remains above the fray and the public would not know the true source of the contributions and expenditures.”

The two Justices that dissented in the ruling shared similar concerns, saying the ruling will replace the state’s campaign finance rules with “anything goes,” which “will profoundly affect the integrity of our electoral process.”

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2...g-scott-walkers-alleged-illegal-coordination/


The motion passed with a 12-4 vote along party lines.



Finance committee member Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, who lost an open records lawsuit brought by a conservative organization last year, said this change would basically guarantee legislators will knowing and unknowingly break the law.

Journalists often use open records to investigate and report on suspicious activity among lawmakers.

“I have been in office since 1998 and this is the darkest day,” Erpenbach said at the meeting. “The darkest day.”

https://badgerherald.com/news/2015/07/03/finance-committee-votes-to-gut-public-records-access/

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Two key targets of the investigation—the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the state's leading business group—have spent more than $10 million since 2007 to elect a conservative majority to Wisconsin's top court. Given their involvement in the investigation, and the Wisconsin Club for Growth's position as a party to the case, good-government advocates question whether the four conservative justices elected with the help of these two groups should be presiding over the case.


July 16, 2015

Thursday morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court squashed a criminal investigation into whether Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative dark-money groups to defeat a recall effort against him in 2012. The sharply worded decision aggressively slapped back the local prosecutor leading the probe and contended there was no constitutional basis for the investigation. This move appears to permanently settle a matter that posed a potential threat to Walker's presidential ambitions.

The inquiry focused on whether Walker's top advisers worked with a dozen outside groups—politically active nonprofits that do not disclose their donors—to run campaign ads opposing the recall campaign that was launched after Walker crushed public sector unions in his state. On the federal level and in most states, it is illegal for outside groups that can collect unlimited amounts of money to work closely with candidates they support. In today's decision, the Wisconsin court ruled there was no legal rationale for an investigation because the dark-money groups did not explicitly call for voters to vote against the recall. Instead, they put out a slightly less specific message: support Walker. As a result, the court ordered the investigation to halt immediately—and they instructed prosecutors to destroy all related documents and free witnesses from the obligation to cooperate.

The majority opinion adopts an unprecedented and faulty interpretation of Wisconsin's campaign finance law and of the First Amendment," Abrahamson wrote in her dissent. "In doing so, the majority opinion delivers a significant blow to Wisconsin's campaign finance law." She added, "the majority opinion's theme is 'Anything Goes.'"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/wisconsin-supreme-court-kills-scott-walker-investigation

 

[PrincepsCyberius]

Civil Rights Victory


I have no great love for Scott Walker (indeed, I'm a public employee, Walker has cost me income), and I could not care less about the Koch brothers, but as an attorney who has read the opinion and has some knowledge of the facts, I can tell you that you and your sources got it all wrong.

The prosecutor in this case was on a personal vendetta. A whistle-blower from his office reported, at great personal risk to himself professionally, that the prosecutor was upset with Walker and started this not because they knew of any violations of the law, but because he wanted to harass Walker supporters. It was, at best, an unconstitutional fishing expedition. No one who suffered the pre-dawn, armed SWAT-team raids, that simply seized computers after trashing the victims' houses, were ever charged with a crime. In fact, for most of them, no crime was ever articulated. The only thing the the prosecutor could point to for the reason for the raids and seizures was that the victims had either donated a large but legal amount to Walker or conservative PACs, or belonged to one of the PACs.

In other words, the prosecutor violated these people's Fourth Amendment rights because he did not like the way they were exercising their First Amendment rights.

It is this visceral hatred for Walker that is blinding normally civil rights loving entities to condemn this decision. If it had been a Republican prosecutor targeting left wing groups, then all those same sources would be paising this decision for what it is: An important victory for the protection of our First and Fourth Amendment rights.

 

[aqwertyuiop]

The Federal Courts said it stunk too. How much money do you claim the Federal Judges got from Walker?

Hope the prosecutor gets disbarred, sued into poverty and goes to jail for abridging the Constitution the way he did.

 

[haven_beach]

Koch boogiemen

First I love how libs freak over the Koch brothers donating money but have o issue with the Soros groups and their millions not to mention the labor unions billions.

Second the Walker witch hunt is one of the most egregious abuse of power ever seen in the this country, but no Lib will speak out about it because it isn't about legal or illegal it is about moving the agenda forward.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/msnbcs-year-of-apologies-continues/

 

[someoneyouknow]

First I love how libs freak over the Koch brothers donating money but have o issue with the Soros groups and their millions not to mention the labor unions billions.

Second the Walker witch hunt is one of the most egregious abuse of power ever seen in the this country, but no Lib will speak out about it because it isn't about legal or illegal it is about moving the agenda forward.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/msnbcs-year-of-apologies-continues/

Hyperbole much? No one denies Soros funds various groups. The difference is he is open about it whereas the Koch Brothers deliberately go to great lengths to hide their donations AND, more importantly, have literally paid off members of Congress to make it so they do not have to report their donations through the Super PAC.

Second, how is it a witch hunt to find out if, in violation of the law, Walker's campaign was coordinating its efforts with an organization (see above) which is prohibited from coordinating with campaigns? I would hope any such collusion would be investigated regardless of the party.

The fact that four judges received donations from this very organization stinks to hell. It is the very thing President Obama warned would happen after the Supreme Court ruling and which Justice Alito mouthed, "Not true".

 

[Beco]

Scott Walker bad....got it

 

[Aglaopheme]

Truth.

 

[Beco]

But Hillary good.....got it

 

[Aglaopheme]

And Bernie's even better. Simple.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

July 26, 2016

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to attend a rally with Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence in Wisconsin on Wednesday night.

The campaign stop in the Republican stronghold of Waukesha is Pence's first solo stop since becoming Donald Trump's running mate almost two weeks ago.

The rally was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday

Walker had been tepid in his backing of Trump, but said last week that his choice of Pence as his running mate helped solidify his support.

http://host.madison.com/news/state-...cle_003f89bc-1335-5fa6-80f6-7b35ee45610f.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/mike-p...nesday-in-waukesha-b99768527z1-388301401.html


Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) appointed a largely unknown lawyer named Daniel Kelly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Indeed, Kelly’s primary qualification appears to be his allegiance to a species of conservatism that largely died out in the Roosevelt administration.


Much of the coverage of this appointment has focused on an odd quote where Kelly compares affirmative action to slavery.


http://thinkprogress.org/justice/20...-just-put-insane-person-states-supreme-court/


Mike Pence votes for less money for children's health care and children's daycare.
More money for wealthy corporations.



Where did Pence get his preferences, on his voting choices ?
Koch brothers or A.L.E.C. ?
/end sarcasm sequence

AMY GOODMAN:

The New York Times reports that Kasich directly spoke to Donald Trump and said no, that he would not accept this. So, it’s Donald—so it is Governor Pence. Talk about why you think Donald Trump chose him?

PETER MONTGOMERY:

Well, I think he probably chose Mike Pence because Mike Pence is close to both the Koch brothers’ political network and to the religious right. And those are two hugely important parts of the Republican infrastructure that have not been uniformly excited about Trump. And some of them have been very concerned about him. So, in one fell swoop, he strengthens his connections to religious right leaders and to the Koch brothers’ network. And he gets someone who comes across as a stable person, when people are concerned about his—you know, of Trump’s temperament.


http://m.democracynow.org/stories/16430

 

[Hard_Rom]

But Hillary good.....got it

Hillary not the worst.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Hillary not the worst.

Almost, good thing she's got a (D) in front of her name!!

LOL otherwise NOBODY would vote for her.