Scott Walker Ex-Aides: Two Accused Of Illegally Doing Campaign Work While On Taxpayers' Dime

MADISON, Wis., Jan 26 (Reuters) - Two former aides to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker during his term as the top elected official in Milwaukee County have been charged with political fundraising on public time, the Milwaukee County district attorney said on Thursday.

The charges were the latest in an investigation of staffers surrounding the first-term Republican governor, who could be forced to defend his seat in a recall election after opponents gathered more than 1 million signatures to support a recall.

Kelly Rindfleisch, 43, who was a deputy chief of staff for Walker while he served as county executive, has been charged with four felonies of misconduct in public office, according to District Attorney John Chisholm's office.

Rindfleisch was accused of spending significant time raising funds for a former state representative who was a candidate for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, prosecutors said.

The investigation found that a private email network was set up and run out of the county executive's office to communicate political campaign and government-related information to "select individuals," Chisholm's office said in a statement.

Darlene Wink, 62, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation for engaging in fundraising for Walker while in a county building and using county equipment, prosecutors said. (Reporting by Jeff Mayers and Brendan O'Brien; Writing by David Bailey. Editing by Paul Thomasch)

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[99to1]

02:53 PM on 02/11/2012

this man need not only be recalled but arrested

[sgraham59]

06:06 PM on 01/29/2012

Walkers Handy Work

http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/01/28/scott-walker-faces-tightening-noose-in-john-doe-investigation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=scott-walker-faces-tightening-noose-in-john-doe-investigation

[billbb]

07:59 PM on 01/29/2012

Very, very interesting. So now the Scotty shills posting here can try to explain away Walker knowing about the illegally used laptops in the office, even though they were not county issue. If he knew they existed, not exactly a great leap to him knowing why they were used, especially with a micro-manager like Snotty.

I wondered about the mild charges against Wink, when they could have put her away for decades on the thousands of counts, if charged as a felony. Looks like another plea deal, and those are never offered unless the underling sings on higher ups.

Dad, but we warned Wisconsin people that this guy was a lying slime.

[Fay Wild]

09:36 AM on 01/29/2012

Lets be honest folks.

Is anyone really shocked?

[billbb]

02:03 PM on 01/29/2012

No. Caught his act too many times in Milwaukee County, stupidity, arrogance, lying, and manufactured crises right along. We will take back the state, and the only serious question is if we do it with Walker under indictment or not. I note that the main act is beginning, after the "look what we found on those computers!" sideshows. The revelation of the secret email system is highly damaging to Walker's position, as that is a direct violation of state law. With four aides looking at jail time, and even more under immunity, this starts to blow the lid off his out-of-state donor network of Replug millionaires. That exposure would lose him even more supporters.

[Fay Wild]

04:48 PM on 01/29/2012

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Badger33]

10:39 PM on 01/27/2012

The DA should do a good job prosecuting this but don't count on the politically-conflicted AG to perform impartially on appeal.

[pollclaire]

10:22 PM on 01/27/2012

"The complaint reveals a "secret email system" that was "routinely used by selected insiders within the Walker administration" for county business as well as unofficial purposes such as campaigning."

Well, read it yourself. A much more complete article here.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/doe27-6q3v4uj-138159264.html

[adarps5]

10:12 PM on 01/27/2012

Yesterday his office went into lockdown and he cancelled all appearances. Scotty is sweating and it is showing. Kinda goes back to his Marquette days of running for office and breaking the rules while doing it. He was deemed unfit for office back then, the same applies today.

[Ginger23]

10:23 PM on 01/27/2012

Yeah, what's up with that? The weather was quite fine but that was the reason for his cancellation.

I can't imagine that he wants to speak to, yet alone rub elbows with his constituency.

Bleah.

[enoughalready]

04:20 PM on 01/28/2012

All Scott Walker has to say is he had nothing to do with or nothing of this secret email system, etc. He has not. That speaks volumes to me.

[pollclaire]

09:59 PM on 01/27/2012

Sure, she might have done a little fundraising, but she only did it 1,380 times. That we know about so far.

[4 EYES]

11:03 PM on 01/27/2012

As M1TT3N$ would say, "It's not that much."...8-)

[agr8rn]

08:47 PM on 01/27/2012

Remember, two members working with him currently also worked with him in Milwaukee; they have asked for immunity...now why do you think that is? Look up in a law text exactly what it means seek immunity in a criminal case, then try to intelligently defend your assumption that Walker is an innocent victim in all of this!

[billbb]

03:02 AM on 01/29/2012

I'm sure that is why Snotty is in lockdown mode. His denial of reality field is fading fast, what with the million signatures and all.

[enoughalready]

03:30 PM on 01/27/2012

So curious that Reince Prebus name comes up. With so many of Walker's aides knowing about this secret email system, I just have to believe that Walker knew about this. When all the investigation info comes out we will see what happened.

[Eidolas]

03:21 PM on 01/27/2012

Darlene Wink? Old news. She was the reason they launched the John Doe in the first place and she was also the reason Scott Walker issued his cease and desist email toi his staff.

When Jim Doyle was Governor, his staff was doing far more campaign work on the state's time on a regular basis than anything Wink has been accused of, but we'll never see a Democrat investigated for that type of thing in Wisconsin, let alone one that drags on for years in their zealous desire to find something, ANYTHING on Walker himself. Sandy Pasch and Shelia Harsdorf committed more egregious offenses and not a peep from the left.

[caymen]

03:28 PM on 01/27/2012

Face facts, princess. Walker and his vermin are guilty, guilty, guilty and will face jail time.
The left hasn't done anything like this, or the right would have soiled their panti es over it a long time ago. Chew on that for awhile.....

[Eidolas]

03:53 PM on 01/27/2012

That so Sunshine? What is Walker guilty and going to jail for exactly. Do tell. The left does things like this ALL the time, not that it matters to you. Because you don't care about that issue anyway, you just want to see Walker out of office by any means necessary, trumped up or not. So you've sold your soul, good for you.

[ydnas639]

06:42 PM on 01/28/2012

. . . and while you're at it, chew on the soiled panti es.

[jbrantow]

03:31 PM on 01/27/2012

Darlene Wink, cut a deal with prosecutors under which she agreed to provide information in a related investigation about the destruction of digital evidence and to aid in further prosecutions. This is the first indication that the multifaceted John Doe investigation may be pursuing charges of evidence tampering.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/two-more-former-walker-staffers-charg

[Eidolas]

03:48 PM on 01/27/2012

If they had anything on Walker they would have charged him a year ago. It's never going to happen, but Tom Barrett just issued a blatantly political campaign press release on City of Milwaukee letterhead this week attacking the GOP. Don't hold your breath waiting for the investigation.

[Tim Hogan]

03:06 PM on 01/27/2012

So, who's surprised these clowns working for Walker broke the law? I want to know, did Walker know and, if so, when did he know it and what did he do about it? Seems it would be tough to do all of this without the boss knowing what was going on in the office, eh? Let's see who makes a deal and dumps in on Walker!

[billbb]

03:07 AM on 01/29/2012

Snotty is a known micro-manager, so the odds are against him not knowing. But even beyond that is the Nixon conundrum: either he did know, and is a crook, and didn't know, and is incompetent.

This is the same guy who managed to appoint two separate people to the veterans fund he took over, each of whom stole money independent of the other. So I am inclined to believe that either choice is a possibility.

[natgirrl]

02:01 PM on 01/27/2012

My suspicions have now been confirmed. I had a sneaky feeling that the scott supporters on this site were paid operatives.

[billbb]

03:37 AM on 01/29/2012

They aren't paid enough to be interesting or effective, though. Maybe Walker needs to hire some competent, union workers to do his underground writing.

[natgirrl]

11:20 PM on 01/29/2012

F&F

[sgraham59]

01:49 PM on 01/27/2012

How Much Did He Charge Us For His Motorcycle Vacation Around The Midwest????

[annadams]

12:54 PM on 01/27/2012

Here's more information on Walker.
•During Walker’s time as County Executive, property taxes had gone up 17% and he increased spending by 22%

[annadams]

09:28 AM on 01/27/2012

Here's another thing Walker did in Milwaukee County.
•Walker would regularly place campaign workers in high paid county positions, regardless of their lack of being qualified for that position. Walker would give exorbitant pay raises to his cronies even as he was laying off hundreds of workers and/or making them take huge pay cuts.

[nuppup]

09:55 AM on 01/27/2012

Who ? How much were they paid ? What qualifications did they lack ?

[annadams]

12:58 PM on 01/27/2012

I just found the highlights from this site. I did not did deeper for all the details. I have a relative who worked in the local Government during Walker's time as the Director and he said the guy was a disaster. Milwaukee County is still paying for Walker's neglect and he is a Republican. The only time he ever voted for a Democrat was when Walker was running - then he always voted for the Democratic candidate. My Republican relative can't wait for the Recall and he will vote for whoever is running against Walker.
http://grassrootsnorthshore.org/?p=1932

[Cheryl2]

01:05 PM on 01/27/2012

They were paid about 57% more than the job paid before Walker made it into an appointment. They lacked any education and their only experience was in a county jail for a DUI. But they did provide funds for his campaign, that in the end is the only thing that mattered to Walker.

[pollclaire]

10:26 AM on 01/27/2012

True. That happened quite a bit.