Ear to the rail

Nearly every child who lived within walking distance of a railroad track, has put their ear to the rail to see if they could hear the train coming. If it was, the vibration could be heard well in advance of the arrival of the approaching train. Now, with ear to the rail, the Walker Indictment train is a’comin.

The Vibrations of Indictment

Last Friday, Walker established a legal defense fund. Of course, those who stand with him, might say that he is just doing the wise thing; like an Eagle Scout, he is just following the motto “Be prepared”. Those million people who signed recall petitions hear a different vibration on the indictment rail, since the rule for establishment of such a fund is quite clear and narrow in specifying the conditions of such a fund defined as the “527 Status”.

But state election law makes clear that a candidate can set up one of these funds in limited circumstances.

“Wisconsin Statutes permit a state government official who is being investigated for or
charged with a violation of campaign finance laws or prohibited election practices to establish a ‘legal defense fund’ for expenditures supporting or defending the candidate while that person is being investigated for, or charged with, or convicted of a violation of those chapters,” says a summary of the statute provided by the Government Accountability Board. No Quarter Blog

Put your ear to the rail…

The Kevin Kennedy Vibration

Just yesterday Kennedy was asked if the Walker campaign had informed the GAB of an investigation against him, given the news that broke last week of the establishment of a legal defense fund for Walker. Kennedy gave a rather surprising answer “the law prohibits” him from answering that question. Wisconsin Media Co Op – Video and story.

The vibration of the rail would suggest the indictment train has made its stop at the Government Accountability Board (GAB) and Director Kennedy is legally bound to the silence that a John Doe inquiry drops, like a mail bag, as it leaves the station.

Put your ear to the rail…

Defendant Kevin Kavanaugh (conveniently) fails to appear in court

Kavanaugh is one of the half dozen former staffers who have been charged in the John Doe investigation. He was finally scheduled to appear at a hearing to face five felony charges accusing him of embezzling about $42,000 in donations intended to help military veterans and their families. At present all the separates the Governor of the State of Wisconsin from complicity in the allegations of his appointees and friends, is the 25 foot distance between his County Executive office door and the secret email network. If just one word of Walker’s knowledge of this network arrives in court, he becomes subject to felony indictment.

But, Kavanaugh failed to appear at the hearing because he was being treated for internal bleeding, a problem that has placed him in intensive care. This according to this lawyer Christopher Hartley.

Put your ear to the rail…

Attorney for Tim Russell Withdraws

Tim Russell was Deputy Chief of Staff under County Executive Walker and is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a veterans fund and illegally campaigning on county time. Just as his roommate Kavanaugh missed his hearing, we learn that Russell’s attorney, Andrew Franklin, told a judge he wanted to withdraw from the case because of a conflict. Attorney Andrew Franklin was granted the withdrawal but the reason will be kept confidential.

Put your ear to the rail…

More than one coincidence is not a coincidence

John Doe defendants are suddenly struck ill, attorney’s are quitting, defense funds are being set, the Director of GAB declines to answer questions for legal reasons – put your ear to the rail. Hear the vibrations?

Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues

I bet there’s rich folks eatin’,
In a fancy dining car,
They’re probably drinkin’ coffee,
And smokin’ big cigars,
But I know I had it comin’,
I know I can’t be free,
But those people keep a-movin’,
And that’s what tortures me.

GOP controlled assembly passes bill to limit recall

The bill passed, with the vote stuck in the rut that has deepened with each passing wheel through the partisan convoy of agenda items that have seeped away at the firm base of Wisconsin’s foundation of ethics and fair play – the bill passed along party lines 60-37. Surprise, surprise! The bill seeks to specify new limits on the “types” of behavior an elected official must exhibit, like “malfeasance in office”, before a recall can be initiated.

The definition of the word “malfeasance” suggests that any recall effort would only serve to pour money into the pockets of lawyers in an costly effort to initiate a recall – as GOP legislatures have want to do, judging from the hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into Michael Best Law firm for drawing vote district maps and litigating the voter ID law.

WIKI
Malfeasance has been defined by appellate courts in other jurisdictions as a wrongful act which the actor has no legal right to do; as any wrongful conduct which affects, interrupts or interferes with the performance of official duty; as an act for which there is no authority or warrant of law; as an act which a person ought not to do; as an act which is wholly wrongful and unlawful; as that which an officer has no authority to do and is positively wrong or unlawful; and as the unjust performance of some act which the party performing it has no right, or has contracted not, to do.

High Stakes Poker Game – Betting Against Trust of the People

What do many of the legislative initiatives of the GOP hold in common? What protections are sought through the voter Id law, limiting collective bargaining, drawing gerrymandered district maps and, now, redefining the recall statutes? Oh, and here is another recent example of the same:

MADISON (WSAU) Wisconsinites will no longer get to see their Supreme Court justices discuss the way they set their policies. The court’s four-member conservative majority voted yesterday to move its public administrative sessions behind closed doors. That’s after the open sessions exposed some of the bitter disagreements the justices have had on various issues in recent years, which culminated in a brief shoving match last summer between justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley.

The court also rejected Bradley’s request for a public hearing on the change.

The GOP seems to be playing poker with the Wisconsin long held tradition of trusting the voice of the people by limiting access to the polls (voter ID), ending the threat of people joining together to lobby for salary and benefits (Budget Repair Law) shifting vote districts for political advantage (Vote district law), adding a nebulous “malfeasance” requirement to the recall statutes (Recall law), and moving administrative sessions of Supreme Court back into the closet. All this, from a party who is hell bent a eliminating government intervention in matters of individual rights? Yet, every legislative move they make seems to be a direct intervention limiting individual rights, by reducing access to government, denying organized lobbying of workers, limiting transparency in the conduct of the courts, and, now, adding blurry barriers to the recall process.

Time to Call and Up the Stakes

Recall efforts have been myopically focused on the prime targets of the Wisconsin Senate and Governor. The stakes could well be raised to the congressional, and Senate representatives of the State with prime focus on Ron Johnson.

Who Can be Recalled?
Any elected officeholder who has served one year of the term for which he or she was most
recently elected, as of the date the recall petition is offered for filing, can be recalled.
§9.10(2)(s), Wis. Stats.
After one recall petition and recall election, no further recall petition may be filed against the same official during the term for which he or she was elected. §9.1 0(6), Wis. Stats.
If the regular term of an elected officeholder’s position is scheduled for re-election at the fall election to be held within six weeks of the date the recall petition is filed, a recall election may not be held.

Recall of Congressional Officals

You want malfeasance?

Wisconsin has been so focused on its back door step, that little light has been shed on freshman Senator Johnson.

Is it surprising that this tea party favorite has already shown his manipulative, self serving, Ayn Rand, behavior of bending the rules and dumping ethics to further the agenda of the Koch Bros, ALEC, and the greedy money holders?

Senator Ron Johnson gave himself a 10 million dollar loan from his own company, Pacur, shortly after he spent 9 million on his “self financed” 2010 election campaign.
Aside from election law violations, Johnson’s $10 million payday also may violate the Internal Revenue Code’s requirements that any deferred compensation agreement must be in writing – even if it’s between the top executive and the company he owns.

Johnson, who ran on his ability as an accountant and business man, demonstrates how he has mastered the ability to cook the books, manipulate figures, and fool the IRS under a hidden cloak, in a back room tax scam.

Read more about Johnson’s Accounting Tricks

Ron Johnson is an embarrassment as he stands up, again and again, with fringe right wing comments at hearings like the one below.

Take a breath – and recall Johnson

More than a year of confusion, misinformation, flip flopping, and scooter crashing.

Now, in what promises to be the end days of the schizophrenic carnival ride on the tilt-o-walker, the people are left with more of the endless recalculation of where we are headed. Will Walker be indicted before a recall election is triggered? If he is indicted will he resign? If and when he resigns who would be governor? Welcome to the world of the most ineffective leader in the history of Wisconsin. What is most surprising and frightening is that a large percentage of folks still stand by him.

Since the very nature of a John Doe investigation is directionless and secretive, the stage is set with all the mystery, and who-done-it questions and possibilities of Agatha Cristie on steroids.

Here is a scenario if Walker is indicted and resigns

Here’s how it could play out, according to Mike Haas, staff attorney with the Government Accountability Board, which oversees election matters:

If Walker resigned within 10 days of the recall petitions being certified by the GAB, he would not be on the ballot and other Republicans would be able to vie for the nomination in a primary. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch would become acting governor and could appoint a new lieutenant governor. Nothing, however, would stop the recall election from going forward.

The winner of the gubernatorial election would assume the office, replacing Kleefisch. Facing her own recall election, Kleefisch would return to the lieutenant governor’s post if she wins.

However, if Walker were to resign more than 10 days after the recall petitions are certified, his name would still appear on the ballot. Assuming voters would not favor an indicted, resigned governor, Republicans would likely be forced to mount some type of write-in campaign to try to prevent the Democratic nominee from being elected.

However, because the statutes are unclear, the GAB’s interpretation of the law would likely be litigated endlessly in court, with the losers crying foul, possibly until the next regularly scheduled governor’s election in 2014 If Walker Should Resign – Scenario

So, it is possible that the Walker legacy will be to leave Wisconsin right where it began when he took the oath of office – recalculating…recalculating.

It is this writer’s belief that Walker will be indicted and soon

This is from the “word on the street” and sheer speculation gathered from observation. The only connection for the undoing of Walker is that he had knowledge of the illegal campaign activities that were being orchestrated on a daily basis just 25 feet from his office door; not a very long distance from innocence to felony. If just one of those, already indicted facing years of jail time and fines, is ready to give up information of Walker’s knowledge for a reduced sentence, out come the handcuffs.

It is safe to assume that the meeting between District Attorney John Chisholm and Walker must have occurred. What might have happened at this meeting? D.A. Chisholm seems to be a fair and honest person, and as such, would take into consideration the far reaching political implications of indicting a sitting governor. It is my speculation that Chisholm may have given Walker a window of time to get his affairs in order, and allowed him to pick a time when the formal indictment would take place – like after the Winter National Governor’s Conference?

The conference ends today. We will see.

If not tomorrow….recalculating…recalculating.

Too Connected to Fail

The John Doe Investigation has netted the first of its big fish of its haul. All of the felonious fish traveled in a school off the reef of Scott Walker’s Milwaukee County Executives office – and the net has been recast into ever deeper waters. The word on the street is that “Scooter is going down within the week”.

How will the catch be processed as it is hauled into the courts? Will the prize trophies of the day, be thrown back after experiencing the pain of oxygen deprivation during the sorting process? Will the penalties match the offense or are we to expect the kind of hand slapping that the GAB and Tim Verhoff imposed on Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus?

The Kathy Nickolaus verdict does little to offer much hope for a sentencing outcome that matches the offense. If she were a South Side Milwaukee black woman selling pot, she would have been in a correctional facility for years, instead of continuing to keep her job while continuing to count the votes in Waukesha County.

Let’s not fool ourselves. Our system of justice has a miserable lack of empathy for non-white street criminals, and the soft hand of a angelic proctologist when it comes to the white, well connected felons who steal, entice, and manipulate votes, funds and money.

Case in point. Just days ago, Republican Secretary of State in Indiana, Charlie White was finally sentenced. Did he get jail time for 6 felony counts of vote fraud. No he did not, anymore than Kathy Nickolaus, anymore than any and all of the fish in the John Doe net are likely to expect. After all, they are all white, politically elite, former officials who “lost their way”. It is easy for a judge of the bent of Prosser or Gableman to see themselves in the suits of the convicted, and will look at the indicted and convicted through the rose colored glasses issued to wealthy and powerful. They are likely to issue the same kind Charmin wrapped sentencing as Charlie White got in Indiana.

Below are two examples of sentencing, that point up the divide, or shall we say the disconnect of the reflection of the empathy of a mob to the victim of a hanging.

Big Fish One Year Home Detention Republican Charlie White, Secretary of State of Indiana was sentenced to one year of home detention, a $1,000 fine and 30 hours of community service for 6 felony convictions. Indiana Home Detention Prosecutors contend that White voted in last May’s Republican primary after moving out of his ex-wife’s home in Fishers and the town council district he represented. White has previously acknowledged the voting error, chalking it up to his busy schedule and new marriage. He is charged with theft for allegedly continuing to collect a salary from the town council after he was no longer eligible to serve on it. The financial fraud charge pertains to White’s allegedly lying under oath about his address on loan documents, Dowd said. Dowd said the grand jury wasn’t sure where White had actually resided, “but the grand jury didn’t believe it was where he claimed.”Huffington – Charlie White

Little Fish Indiana’s Acknowledgment The final policy recommendation was in the area of public safety. Research showed that community-based substance use treatment programs are not available to many offenders under supervision and responses to probation violations are slow and ineffective, making re-offense more likely. Indiana Sentencing

The first post under the heading “Free Wisconsin” was headlined “Sleeping Giant Awakes in Wisconsin”. It really reflects my personal waking, as from a cold sweat, trembling nightmare, except that no shaking of the head or pinching of myself could make it go away. It was real.

Thus began a daily posting of the barrage of assaults on the rules, procedures, and dignity of the government of Wisconsin in the long year of GOP control under Scott Walker. My posts are often accompanied with a photo-shop picture or two, so I picked a picture with a caption to trace the evolution of events in Wisconsin over the first six months of the past year.

The Koch lobbying office on the capital square

The REAL Koch Bros February 23rd, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern The Call was a prank….the lobbying office is REAL Judging from the cozy conversation Scott Walker had with the prankster David Koch, one might suspect that similar calls could be made from this quaint little office.

A little piece of American SOLIDARITY March 10th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern There was a demonstration in front of the Court House in Richland County, Wisconsin, America at 9:00 a.m. CST on March 10, 2010. It will never go in Wisconsin in the long run; not with these Wisconsin born and bred people of strong and tested will in opposition. I left confident of success and damn proud of Wisconsin!

A mother with her children stood bundled against the cold holding hand-made, cardboard with magic marker signs.

April 5th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Why is it important to know who the Koch Bros are? Ask Bernie Sanders the Senator from Vermont who stood on the floor of the Senate for most of a whole day to deliver a good, old fashioned filibuster, which has become known as “The Amazing Speech”, to stop the action that would extend tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Who are the Koch Bros? Why should I care?

What a season of awakening and action with the result: a record breaking, recall of six (to date) Wisconsin GOP Senators facing a recall election in July!

Summer of UNREST May 1st, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern This is monumental! This is what Democracy looks like! Count them Darling, Kapanke, Olson, Hopper, Cowles, Harsdorf! All stood with Walker and when Spring came they found the ice melting beneath their feet. Final hour recall drives are still going on for the remaining two of the now infamous GOP 8!

Holy!- STEALING WISCONSIN- Sexy! May 5th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern We all suspect that the real problem in the Wisconsin recount is not likely to turn up in the recount of votes because it is quite possible that the votes being counted are already flipped! Why are we not getting to the real suspect issues: Kathy Nickolaus’ criminal history, “special software” given to her alone by the GAB (the board responsible for administrating the state-wide recount), the storage vote counting software on her private computer, the proven vulnerability of the Sequoia (Waukesha) voting system to hacking and manipulation?

Sexy Gap Opening in Ballot Bags!

The Brad Blog calls the Waukesha recount a “Dog and Pony Show”

Fraud 9 – Duct Tape (Really!) May 21st, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern They make it sound the Kloppenburg found a rip in a single ballot bag and are claiming fruad. It wasn’t one bag. It was many bags. Not only did they appear slit, torn, and lapping open the numbering would be an embarrassment to a third grader! To top it off the slit bags were repaired with duct tape!

Prosser and Activist Judges June 15th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Justice Shirley Abrahamson accuses the majority of 4 of giving case ‘short shrift’ In hastily reaching judgment, Justice Patience D. Roggensack, Justice Annette K. Ziegler, and Justice Michael J. Gableman author an order, joined by Justice David T. Prosser, lacking a reasoned, transparent analysis and incorporating numerous errors of law and fact. This kind of order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority’s ultimate decision.

ALEC – Anti Labor Elderly Children July 15th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern How does this activity differ from legislators meeting in party caucus, or designing a party platform for legislative action? - The workings of ALEC are secret. In fact, the existence of the “council” was all but unknown until the past few months even though its influence on Wisconsin legislation can be traced back to the Thompson Administration. - The workings of ALEC have nothing to do with “we the people” or promoting the general welfare, but focus firmly on the “pursuit of happiness” for the already most privileged and wealthy top 1% of the population. The Walker Policies never seemed a match for the historical character of Wisconsin.

What if the wealthiest Americans formed a secret organization

Round and Round we go expecting different results?

Election Merry-Go-Round August 10th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern Um, Dems better look into what is going on in district 8! MSNBC “With 62% of the vote in the dem had a 52/48 advantage, then, with 63% in the dem had a 51/49 advantage, THEN with a 64% of the votes in the republican had a 51/49 advantage. THAT CANNOT BE! A 1% swing cannot suddenly give the republican 3% points IF previously a 1% swing took away only ONE % point from the democratic challenger. THIS is the “smoking gun” – that should be investigated by the Dems TODAY. It’s PROOF Nicholas sat on democratic votes. Someone needs to get a copy of the MSNBC tape and look at what i was looking at. Again, if a 1% swing at 10pm means 1,000 votes, then, 1% swing at 11pm CANNOT mean 4,000 votes!!!” Posted by Darcy Gustavsson of the Election Integrity group on face book.

Hurricane Kathy Rips Wisconsin August 25th, 2011 | Author: Dennis Kern A “KAT 4″ Hurricane made landfall in the City of Brookfield in Waukesha County in April, 2011 leaving 14,000 residents stripped of their votes. The massive storm caught the residents of Wisconsin completely unaware. Few warnings were posted by the Government Accountability Bureau regarding the severity of the storm that left thousands of Wisconsin Residents stripped of their freedoms and at the mercy of the devastating power of special interest groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – the shadowy Koch Brothers, big tobacco, insurance companies, and a drug industry consortium.

Kathy Leaves Path of Destruction Across State

Van Hollen Files Suit to Purge Voter Rolls – Will You Make the Cut?

The suit presented in this post was dismissed in 2009 – the motives and misinformation regarding voter fraud concerns are present and on-going.

Attorney General Van Hollen has filed suit against the Government Accountability Board. Director Keven Kennedy and each member of the board is listed as individual party in his “complaint”.

In other words, he wants to purge the voter registration roles state-wide.

Pursuant to a grant of federal money, Wisconsin has developed the ability to ensure that fraudulent registrants and other ineligible voters are removed from the list before election day. In some cases, this requires registration information to be compared to information contained in other pubic databases. However, despite a clear legal obligation to do so, the Defendants, who control Wisconsin’s statewide, computerized voting list, refuse to verify the registration information provided to it prior to August 6, 2008.

Van Hollen Complaint

This Is Little More Than a Carnival Hucksters Trick

Most of us just approach the carnival game without knowledge of what’s under the counter or up the huckster’s sleeve. You say “vote fraud” – I say “election fraud” – put down your money, move the shells, then off to the tilt-a-whirl.

Fortunately, there is a Consumer Reports Magazine covering voting issues published in an effort to unscramble the whole voting snarl. Voting issues are complex and chaotic by intention, just like a con man will use language and slight of hand to confuse the victim out their money, in the case of voting, language and slight of hand is used to confuse the victim out of their vote.

Van Hollen’s suit to purge every existing poll book in every ward in the state, presents a prime example of a classic con. What’s the motive? Why would he do this? If you read his document and all the legal jargon, with reference to statutes, it sounds like he is citing a real and present danger. He is protecting the peoples’ vote from “fraud”. Welcome to the shell game. Vote fraud is when a person votes illegally; when they cast a ballot more than once or vote even though they aren’t entitled.

Step Right Up – You Win Every Time

Vote Fraud is the trick card. It is designed to fool you. Although it can and does occur, the danger of vote fraud swaying an election is one hair off the head of a wimp, when compared to the real serial killer of elections. ELECTION FRAUD. Election fraud is tampering with the vote totals by hacking or electronically flipping votes. The effect on the number of votes is obvious when comparing wimpy “vote fraud” and serial killer “election fraud”. How many people would need to vote twice to equal the thousands (14,000 comes to mind) votes which can be flipped by electronic computer manipulation or hacking?

Back to Van Hollen’s Suit

The State Attorney General is doing an exemplary huckster’s job of confusing us with the “vote fraud” hat trick to get us to focus on the wimp while the serial killer is left unmentioned. He is purging the roles as a partisan trick to garner more votes for his agenda. This is not a lefty activist ranting. Here is an explanation from a non-partisan, academic source:

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.

Update 2008 State Database Suppression Tactics are Hot this Year:

A widespread voter suppression tactic this year is the removal of voters from the State controlled election databases
Another tactic of State controlled database voter removal will be the election roster books. Printed versions can have people “removed”, though actually in the State database, just not in the printed version at the polling place. I can hear it now: “Oops, computer error.” Electronic versions of vote rosters can just be fritzed and not work in targeted areas to cause delays or late changes to “lose” people from the rosters. Even “live” changes as the elections are in progress can occur with some computerized vote roster systems. Data base tc.umn.edu

That pretty much sums up Van Hollen’s suit and motive. He is tricking us to focus on the wimp so as not to notice the threat of the serial killer. Don’t be fooled by the huckster’s rant or the flashing lights. He is out to kill your vote.

A recall election to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker from office could cost at least $9 million.

Wow! This is even more than Kleefisch projected in her TV ad by using simple math. She came up with a figure closer to $7 million.

GAB Director Kevin Kennedy cautioned that Friday’s numbers are estimates and election costs can vary. Republicans still pounced on the numbers, saying the state can’t afford recall after recall.

This is the classic “tail bites dog” story, that ever be told.

Since the story casts the donkey icon and democrats as the spend-happy villains, it might be pegged as more of a “tail bites ass” story. Anyway, Wisconsin republicans place the onus for the $9 million on the democrats, like the recall action targeting Walker/Kleefisch is a frivolous effort that is being orchestrated without real cause, or as Rebbecca Keelfisch says in her TV ad, “We already made our choice, back in November, just a while ago”. Life is so simple when you are pulling down $76,261 (after the recent increase) for being a former news anchor turned poster child and captain of the Walker cheerleading squad.

Kleefisch Plus Alter-Voice

Hey, GOP – Democracy is Free

The democrats did not just get together and do this in the dark of night. Wisconsin voters amended the state Constitution over 84 years ago. In 1926 laws were passed to allow for the recall of state officials. The democrats didn’t just post a late night meeting on March 9, 2011 to pass the recall legislation as did the republicans to end collective bargaining rights – a procedure resulting in an injunction in Dane County Court until it was finally ok’d by the state supreme court in mid June, following a choking incident, in a 4 – 3 decision. One of the four, Prosser, was elected under questionable found votes in Waukesha. Another of the 4, Gableman, is now under investigation for ethics violations for his “free defense” by Michael Best Law Firm.

But a Recall Election is too costly.

The democrats did not hire lawyers from Michael Best law firm to gerrymander the rules for recalling elected state officials, as the republicans did to draw new voter districts in their favor – a maneuver that is being reviewed by District Courts and has caused a mess of confusion as to who represents who in the state government.

But a Recall Election is too, too costly.

Not one associate of any democrat in the state senate or assembly has been granted immunity in a John Doe investigation in the past year, but the GOP and Walker cannot say the same. Associates of Scott granted immunity are: Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie, and GOP official Rose Ann Dieck, while associate Andrew P. Jensen Jr. was arrested for refusing to cooperate with the FBI investigation. Then of course William Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., whose company received grants from the state totaling $14 million, was sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading guilty to two felony violations of state campaign finance laws for exceeding the donation limits and laundering donations to Walker and other Wisconsin politicians. Not to mention the recent arrests of Walker’s former top aid Tim Russell, and his Milwaukee associates Brian Pierick and Kevin Kavanaugh who was Walker’s appointee to the Milwaukee County Veteran Service Commission, for charges including embezzlement and child enticement charges.

But a Recall Election is too, too, too costly.

The simple solution is to rescind the $14 million in grants from the convicted felon, William Gardner, and apply it to the cost of the recall elections and there would still be $5 million left over to launch a real investigation of Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nicholaus.

Or just buy a can of “democracy” shaving cream for 99 cents shave the whole Wisconsin executive, legislature, and court system clean.

Over $500,000 Owed to Taxpayers

Walker owes Wisconsin taxpayers over $500,000 in fines for failure to report campaign contributions.

Remember when the Walker Administration estimated a cost to taxpayers of $270,000 the physical wear and tear on the Capitol due to occupation by protesters? This was for unintended damage such as nicks and chips to stone as well as stains to stone from the skin oils from brushing hands, residues from tape used to hang signs, and a few isolated marker stains. The Capitol lawn and a few shrubs also need work after being trod on by the massive crowds.

$500,000 Owed Taxpayers

The $270,000 was the estimated cost (reduced from several million) to repair the physical damage to the Capitol building. Walker now owes twice that! Taxpayers are owed over $500,000 dollars for damage to the rule of law that the Capitol Building was built on. The protesters may have damaged surfaces by skin oil, but Walker has scared the very foundation of Democracy by snake oil.

Nicks and Chips Mar Wisconsin Statutes

Madison – As Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker violated the state of Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws 1,115 times since 2009 by failing to disclose information about contributors who donated more than $100.Walker Goes Over $500,000 in Improperly-Reported Contributions!

Walker’s serial offenses include 456 contributions filed in the last 72 hours totaling nearly $284,000. The total contributions in violation of Wisconsin statute 11.60(1) total $518,096. One Wisconsin Now previously filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board in September when Walker’s improperly-reported contribution tally was $235,000 half of what it has risen to in the last several days.
A copy of One Wisconsin Now’s previous complaint is available here.

So, the national press was consumed with reporting the visually obvious damages to doors, windows, and marble, yet is all but blind to the real damage to the laws of Wisconsin, the subjugation of the state supreme court, and the rules of the legislature. If the state statutes were a door, we could see more than a bent hinge; it would be pulled from its frame and left ignored for months. If the supreme court were window, it would be blackened by the choking smoke of Gableman’s deals with the Michael Best Law firm. If the rules of the legislature were a shrub, it would be pruned with the Fitzgerald chain saw within an inch of its life.

In the case of Walker’s unreported campaign donations, it is a law; not a suggestion, a guideline, or an item in the eagle scout motto. It is a Wisconsin Statute. It is the law.

This Is the Law of Wisconsin

11.001  Declaration of policy.
11.001(1) (1) The legislature finds and declares that our democratic system of government can be maintained only if the electorate is informed. It further finds that excessive spending on campaigns for public office jeopardizes the integrity of elections. It is desirable to encourage the broadest possible participation in financing campaigns by all citizens of the state, and to enable candidates to have an equal opportunity to present their programs to the voters. One of the most important sources of information to the voters is available through the campaign finance reporting system. Campaign reports provide information which aids the public in fully understanding the public positions taken by a candidate or political organization.
11.60  Civil penalties.
11.60(1)(1)  Any person, including any committee or group, who violates this chapter may be required to forfeit not more than $500 for each violation.
11.60(2) (2) In addition to the penalty under sub. (1), any person, including any committee or group, who is delinquent in filing a report required by this chapter may be required to forfeit not more than $50 or one percent of the annual salary of the office for which the candidate is being supported or opposed, whichever is greater, for each day of delinquency.
11.60(3) (3) Notwithstanding sub. (1), any person, including any committee or group, who makes any contribution in violation of this chapter may be required to forfeit treble the amount of the contribution or portion thereof which is illegally contributed.

Walker is Now Over $500,000 in Improperly-Reported Contributions

This was the most read post on the “Free Wisconsin” blog last year.

It was posted Saturday, June 18, 2011 and was read by 2,898 people. The issue of mis-dated poll tape was not addressed by Tim Verhoff, whose opinion was the sole basis for the determination that Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nicholaus was innocent of any wrong doing in the Spring Supreme Court Election. She remains in her position today.

A slip of paper is the “deep throat” of the Supreme Court Election Fraud

It is peculiar how the smallest, most innocent, observation can become the “straw that breaks the camel’s back”.

Barb With was volunteering as an observer at the Waukesha recount when she made a glaring discovery. The poll tape that was being counted and matched for votes cast in the April 5 election for Supreme Court Justice was dated March 30, 2011. When she brought the suspicious date to the attention of election officials, they could not come up with any reason for the mis-dated poll tape.

Weeks later Barb appeared before the Assembly Committee for Election and Campaign Reform. This is a portion of her testimony:

An observer of the Waukesha County recount noticed such a small, innocent piece of paper that was spit out of a voting machine in Pewaukee. It was a poll tape from a voting machine on which is recorded your vote. But what caught her eye was the date at the top of the tape: 03-30-2011 or March 30. That was six days before the Supreme Court election of April 5!

I recall the face book messages in the group Election Integrity as she communicated the finding to the group. “Get a picture!”, and she did.

Probably a test?
Ok. You must admit this is well…..suspicious. Her first inquiries about what it was, what it was doing there, and how it came to be in the official recount material, was met with the response, “It was probably a test.” I guess this goes along with the “human error” defense of all that is Waukesha, but look the time stamp on the tape Mary spotted was: 01:40 a.m.!

I know there are dedicated election officials out there, but who would run a test of a voting machine in those wee hours of the morning? Can you imagine the scenario? A person leans over to his/her mate and says: “Honey, I can’t sleep. I’m going down to the Court house and do a quick test of the voting machines”.

No such machine in Pewaukee

The other explanation for the poll tape was something like, “There were no electronic votes cast in Pewaukee,” Response? “Oh. Ok. My mistake. I must not be seeing a poll tape from a voting machine that clearly says, “Pewaukee”. “I must change my medication.” Come on. If there are no such machines in Pewaukee, how did such a poll tape record materialize?

Trying to bury the photos

The people in the Election Integrity group have posted and shared the photos with friends, newspapers, and media and have found something fishy. The links and posts have been deleted from postings or reported to the face book admin as being “inappropriate”. Is someone pulling a “Scott Walker stealing all the papers from his College election” action? There seems to be an attempt to keep the photos out of view and the story hushed.

When this story was first shared on face book – 3:15 p.m. May 26 it was blocked.
The message below appeared on a Bloggers Link:

We are on to something……..????

Another Unanswered Question

To date, no one has come up with a plausible explanation for the poll tape that appeared during the recount process in Waukesha, not even the Government Accounting Board GAB (That is BAG backwards!) See GAB Behind the Curtain post.

So why hasn’t the GAB demonstrated some concern in the highly irregular March Poll tapes findings? It turns out that any questions about the integrity of the Wisconsin electronic voting system strikes deep into the heart and history of GAB Director Kevin Kennedy. Jim Mueller has been looking at the integrity of Wisconsin elections for many years, and had this to say about GAB’s Kevin Kennedy. “The fear is that these companies throw money around is such a way that we do not know that people who are in positions of trust have been compromised. Since the Accenture deal occurred, I haven’t felt good about Kennedy’s performance” The Accenture Deal Article By Mike McCabe November 26, 2004 Can you believe it? They want to privatize our highways, our university, our museums and now our elections. Egad! Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state of Wisconsin’s Elections Board, signed a contract with a multi-national calling itself Accenture (it was part of Enron-tainted Arthur Anderson) to create “a total management package to run our elections.” Hello? See Bill Lueders’ column in Isthmus for the full, disturbing story, and then ask, What in the world is wrong with Kevin Kennedy?/

No public hearings were held on the outsourcing of our elections to a company–one that is based in Bermuda to avoid taxes in this country. When I called the Elections Board on Wednesday, I was told that it is, in essence, too late to complain because the contract has been signed. Really? Is it too late to fire Kennedy, appoint a new board, and cancel the contract? I don’t think so. Call the elections Board and demand that they cancel this contract. Believe it or not Mr. Kennedy, the citizens of Wisconsin are quite capable of managing our own elections. Kennedy’s Vested Interest Kennedy has a long history of chummy ties with the Accenture and Electronic Voting Systems. He pitched the system to the legislature. Do you really think he is going to be fair and impartial in answering questions about poll tapes?

The Brad blog has been investigating elections in the country for years, and this is what Brad has to say about the pesky poll tape.

“Worse, if the results printed on the poll tapes are the ultimate proof of the accuracy of results, what happens when — as discovered among poll tapes from the City of Pewaukee in Waukesha County late last week — the “recount” uncovers “Official Results Report” poll tapes dated a full seven days before the actual election was held?’

Prosser was the certified winner of the Supreme Court election and cast a deciding vote on the decision to end collective bargaining rights for workers and families in Wisconsin.

He was certified as the winner before evidence from the recall was published.

5) The GAB has not explained why it gave Kathy Nickolalus “special software” to tabulate the Waukesha County vote.

The information for this post has come through intensive hard work and investigation by the people of the Election Integrity Group, many of whom have been advocating for fair “every vote gets counted ONCE” elections in Wisconsin for years.

Look at the Wisconsin SC Recount BALLOT / POLL TAPE Anomalies

A permanent, online web cache of photo stills revealing just *some* of the GLARING and ALARMING ballot “irregularities” recently seen during the STATE WIDE (VIRTUAL) HAND RECOUNT of the SUPREME COURT ELECTION, held on April 5th, 2011. The following was recently compiled through the collective efforts and shared documentation from many wonderful citizen observers from all over the Great Badger State of WI. The Election Integrity community commends them for all their diligence, tenacity and hard work, and thanks them for the important contribution it’s lending to *all* American Voters. This kind of real time photographic documentation of evidence in real time is, to our knowledge completely unprecedented. EI can use all the Facebook love we can muster…thanks!

The WI Citizens for Election Protecion will deliver a petition to the Government Accountability Board to demand a hand-count of the upcoming recall election votes. It is the Board’s current policy to dissuade clerks for counting ballots by hand. Help protect your vote.

Please sign petition link

Please share this. Please demand an independent investigation of the GAB and Kathy Nickolaus. Another election is right around the corner, just waiting to be stolen.

Election Fraud in Russia?

Hillary Clinton’s State Department is up front and center to underscore the allegations of election fraud in the recent parliamentary elections. Tens of thousands protested in Moscow and cities like Khabarovsk. They alleged widespread fraud in last week’s parliamentary elections and had angry words for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whose party dominates the parliament.

STEVE INSKEEP It’s MORNING EDITION from NPR News
I am really far away from the capital. I’m in the city of Khabarovsk (Map left), But speaking to people out in the streets today in this city, the voice that really stuck with me, Steve, was a woman named Natalia Alexandrovna. She didn’t give me her full name out of fear for her job. She’s a 42-year-old mom. Russian Election Protests Biggest in 2 Decades

What About the U.S.A.? What About Wisconsin? What About Ohio, Florida? What About Waukesha? (Map right)

If Waukesha County or the States of Ohio and Florida where in Russia, would the State Department and the Justice Department step up to the issue of election fraud? Unfortunately, we know the answer. A long and slow NOOOooooo. The hypocrisy of the spontaneous outcry of Russian election fraud swirls blizzard like, while Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nicklaus sits in her cozy office unscathed. Well, Kathy did get a nasty reprimand for her mishandling of the election returns in her county over the past ten years, which finally resulted in the “find” of 14,000 votes in the Spring Supreme Court Election.

If Waukesha, Wisconsin were Khabarovsk, Russia?

If it were so, would the Tim Verhoff (pictured on map at right) report been accepted as the final determination in the matter of Waukesha and Kathy Nickolaus? Apparently not. Not if the evidence of documented election fraud were to occur in Khabarovsk. Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (pictured on map far right) would have issued strong words as to the need to expose and investigate evidence of election fraud in Khabarovsk. But not Waukesha.

Christmas came early to Waukesha County Clerk Nickolaus this year.

Jolly Old K Nickolaus Lean your ear this way Don’t you tell a sing soul What I’m going to say

MADISON, WI – Based upon an extensive independent investigation into the actions of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus after the Spring Election, the Government Accountability Board found probable cause to believe that she violated the state law requiring county clerks to post all returns on Election Night, but concluded that the violation was not willful and therefore did not constitute criminal misconduct.

Santa came in the form of Investigating Attorney Verhoff with the backing of his trusty elf GAB Directory Kevin Kennedy (pictured above ho ho ho)

They confirmed that all of the officials in Waukesha County were good little boys and girls who would never cheat, lie, or do anything naughty with voting software, vote bags, or inspector sheets. HO HO HO

They said it on a more official and lawyerly way of course.

Hear Yea! Hear Yea!

Public trust in the election process is essential. The poor condition of ballot bags and
potential breaks in the chain of custody of ballot bags can foster an environment where
members of the public begin to doubt the integrity of an election and begin to engage in
conspiracy theories. But given the number of individuals in addition to Ms. Nickolaus who would have to be involved in a conspiracy to engage in the type of fraudulent election practices described above, it appears highly unlikely to have occurred. The likelihood of a conspiracy also is negated when one looks at the results of the election. The vote totals for the City of Brookfield were provided to a reporter on election night and published to the public by BrookfieldPatch. These are the same vote totals ultimately reported to the state Canvass Reporting system the morning after the election, certified by the Waukesha Board of Canvass and confirmed during the statewide recount.

Ah….highly unlikely. Ah…of course.

Because this sort of highly unlikely consortium of conspiratorial collaboration has never been seen else where.

Yet all it takes is a little journey into a Christmas past. to prove that just such a conspiracy is not only likely, but has occurred in the recent past….

The verdict capped the latest phase of a federal investigation that has blown a hole in the power structure that held sway in Manchester and Clay County for years.

Jury convicts all 8 defendants in Clay vote-buying case

It took a federal investigation to uncover the eight year long conspiracy of election fraud in Clay County

Santa Verhoff and his Elf Kennedy are satisfied with unlikely?

This would not stand in Khabarovsk