Now I understand why Dan Bice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote about Tom Barrett and Jeff Fleming yesterday -- to avoid the appearance of being a Barrett hack and disseminating propaganda for Barrett's campaign.
With all Bice's blabbering about journalistic integrity and ethics, is it any wonder that he's trying to seem fair?
Just a day after Bice's piece on Barrett and Fleming, he gets to the BIG story. Of course, it's anti-Scott Walker.
Bice writes:
A longtime aide to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had his work computer seized by authorities last week, sources familiar with the situation said Monday.
Those sources said the computer was removed Friday while Tim Russell - the county housing administrator and a former Walker campaign aide - was away from his office.
Russell did not return numerous calls regarding the confiscation of his computer as part of an investigation by county prosecutors. He has an office in the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center on W. Vliet St.
Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf, who is overseeing the probe, refused to respond to questions.
"I have absolutely no comment," said Landgraf, who typically handles cases involving election and campaign fraud.
The action by the DA's office is made all the more interesting in that it is occurring just weeks before the Sept. 14 gubernatorial primary. Walker is running against former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann for the Republican nomination, with the winner squaring off in November against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat.
More interesting? Why? In what way?
Is Bice suggesting that this story could break Walker?
Reached Sunday at a car show, Walker said he knew nothing about the situation.
"Tim's not said anything to me," he said.
Walker also declined to offer any criticism of the office of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, for pursuing this investigation so close to the upcoming election.
Asked if he was surprised by the timing of the probe, Walker said: "I can't be surprised by something I don't know about."
The county CEO wasn't the only one pleading ignorance.
Walker spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin said she had no comment because she knew nothing. Also mum was Tom Nardelli, Walker's chief of staff.
"I know nothing of it," said the former alderman. He said Russell, who used to work with him as deputy chief of staff in Walker office, had not contacted him to discuss what had happened.
Why doesn't Bice just come right out and say that he thinks Walker and his staff are lying, "pleading ignorance"?
This doesn't seem like investigative reporting. It seems more like a press release from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
Russell, 47, used to run former Gov. Tommy Thompson's Milwaukee office and has been with Walker since he ran for county executive in 2002.
It remains unclear what Landgraf is pursuing.
There are several possibilities.
Oh, goody. Bice is going to speculate. What fun!
A number of groups have been making open records requests about Walker and his staff because of the governor's race, said Cynthia Archer, a Walker aide.
It's possible that one of those requests turned up information that prompted a complaint to Landgraf's office.
In addition, Landgraf has repeatedly declined to say if his office is investigating Darlene Wink, a former Walker staffer who resigned in May after admitting that she was frequently posting comments on Journal Sentinel stories and blogs while on the clock for the taxpayers and the county. Nearly all of her posts praised Walker or criticized his two opponents, Neumann and Barrett.
Hers was admittedly a minor offense.
But not long after that, Citizens for Responsible Government, a pro-Walker outfit, complained that a liberal blogger, Christopher Liebenthal, was using his county computer for political activity.
That led prosecutors to seize Liebenthal's computer earlier this summer. The investigation concluded that Liebenthal had engaged in extensive political blogging, but prosecutors said the matter should be considered a personnel matter, not a criminal one.
Of course. Chris "Capper" Liebenthal is the author of Whallah! It's a despicable blog, founded on cruelty and harassment. (Russ Feingold likes it enough to include it on the blogroll of his official campaign website. Go figure.)
Naturally, good Barrett soldier Bice points out that Liebenthal's offenses are deemed to be a personnel matter and not criminal.
But what about Russell???
Why was his computer seized?????
So many questions, so very, very, few answers. No matter.
It's less likely that the investigation has to do with Operation Freedom, an annual military appreciation day held at the zoo.
A couple of months ago, Russell said the Walker administration had asked Chisholm to investigate what had happened to $11,000 raised in 2007 for the event. The DA confirmed that his office was looking into the matter.
"Nobody's making accusations about anything here," Russell said in June. "Maybe there are records in somebody's bottom drawer that would demonstrate that money was appropriately spent."
But an official with the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which acted as fiscal agent for the program in 2006-'08, said the investigation appeared dormant.
"I have not been contacted by prosecutors, period," said Kevin Kavanaugh, treasurer of the Milwaukee Purple Heart chapter.
Of course, it could be something that has yet to surface.
Whatever it might be, Walker said he can't be considered out of touch for not knowing that one of his aides had his computer seized as part of a criminal probe.
"I've been busy on other things," he explained.
This is so Bice.
He writes at length about nothing factual.
Russell's computer was seized. Fine. Report that, but why go on and on with guesses regarding the reason? It's stupid, empty blathering by Bice; but I'm sure Tom Barrett appreciates the innuendos.
Anything to help ol' Tom.
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