William E. Gardner, Tim Russell, and Scott Walker

Good Morning!

Daniel Bice and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have some news bashing Scott Walker to start off your day.

Just another Journal Sentinel hit piece targeting Walker.

(I bet you didn't see that coming.)

Five weeks to go before the election and information regarding a Walker donor and campaign donor explode.

Actually, the explosive allegations are mostly a rehashing of previous hit pieces repackaged to appear fresh.

Bice writes:

Milwaukee County prosecutors are conducting two investigations with links to the current governor's race.

Two unverified investigations. TWO!

Big stuff.

They have opened a criminal probe of a railroad official who has conceded using company cash to underwrite his employees' campaign donations, say sources familiar with the case.

William E. Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., told state regulators earlier this year that he used railroad receipts to reimburse workers who had given to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a Republican running against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat.

In response, Walker returned more than $43,000 in donations to Gardner and a handful of his company workers. The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee also has forfeited $3,500 in donations from Gardner.

Yeah, we heard about that in May. It didn't derail Walker's support.

One source said the investigation had gone beyond the railroad exec and into what appears to be the wider practice of donations secretly being made through family members and friends. Another insider familiar with the case suggested it was part of a secret John Doe investigation by county prosecutors, though others disputed that.

"One source said...."

"Another insider familiar with the case...."

Bice should write for the New York Times. That outlet couldn't survive without its unnamed sources. It certainly couldn't advance its agenda.

It's important for the reader to know sources in order to judge the intent of the leakers.

I think it's safe to say the leakers are Dems, and likely part of that Democrat-Union-Media Complex that hasn't received anywhere near the scrutiny it deserves.

...Multiple sources said last week that District Attorney John Chisholm's office also is conducting a John Doe investigation into whether Walker staffers were campaigning on county time. Earlier, the Journal Sentinel made public some details from the probe.

John Doe cases typically are secret proceedings in which witnesses can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath about potential criminal matters.

Last month, investigators seized the work computer of Tim Russell, a former Walker campaign staffer who is now the county housing administrator. Russell, a longtime Republican operative, previously was Walker's deputy chief of staff.

Sources say Russell was close to Darlene Wink, who resigned in May as Walker's constituent services coordinator after acknowledging that she was spending much of her day posting comments favorable to her boss - and critical of his opponents - on the Journal Sentinel's website.

Investigators took her work computer earlier this year and executed a search warrant of her home as part of their probe. Former Appeals Court Judge Neal Nettesheim of Waukesha is overseeing the John Doe.

Wink's attorney, Christopher Wiesmueller, said Friday in an e-mail that he could not verify whether she is the subject of a John Doe probe.

"However, I have been aware of an ongoing investigation since the very public (County Supervisor John) Weishan complaint against my client," Wiesmueller wrote. "I also am confident my client did not break the laws related to campaign finance or misconduct in public office."

Ah, yes. Let's revisit the Tim Russell story and exhume the Darlene Wink episode.

"Sources say Russell was close to Darlene Wink, who resigned in May as Walker's constituent services coordinator after acknowledging that she was spending much of her day posting comments favorable to her boss - and critical of his opponents - on the Journal Sentinel's website."

Again with the "sources."

Russell was close to Wink. Oh, my God! GUILTY! CORRUPT! WALKER'S A CROOK!

Good grief.

Wink spent "much of her day" posting comments. Really?

That sounds like a stretch.

By the way, as long as we're sifting through old news, did "sources" have anything to say about Chris Liebenthal, Democrat hack and Barrett hack and union hack and unscrupulous guy, engaging in "extensive political blogging" from his taxpayer-funded computer?

The Democrat-Union-Media Complex rears its ugly head but the good soldiers of the Journal Sentinel are mum.

Can the JS go into more depth about the illegal activities of John-david Morgan, SEIU spokesman and unregistered lobbyist?

No?

Can the JS scratch the surface about the pattern of incompetence and sloppiness on the part of Tom Barrett and his campaign, instance after instance of violations of rules and regulations?

No?

What? No "sources"?

...Walker's office declined Friday to say if authorities had taken the work files or computers of any other courthouse workers as part of this investigation. Said Walker spokesman Bob Nenno: "I have been told to refer you to the DA's office."

Walker said last month that he knew nothing about the investigation.

Not surprisingly, the assistant district attorney who handles election-related cases also was tight-lipped.

Bruce Landgraf said he could not confirm the existence of any investigations. He turned aside questions regarding critics who might call any such probes politically motivated. Landgraf reports to Chisholm, a Democrat.

"I have no comment on anything that directly or indirectly relates to questions about an investigation," Landgraf said. "That's what I have to say."

Beginning late last year, Landgraf led the John Doe investigation into then-Supervisor Toni Clark's personal use of campaign funds. Clark, a Democrat, was sentenced in March to six months in jail and three years' probation for a felony conviction of filing a false campaign report.

But the two current cases are potentially more explosive given that they are coming in the middle of a heated gubernatorial campaign.

EXPLOSIVE! Of course.

Note that the assistant district attorney responsible for handling election-related cases is being "tight-lipped" about any possible investigations, unlike the loose lips of Bice's "sources."

Why let that get in the way? Just put out the information of the unnamed sources and downplay the comments of individuals in authority and on the record.

Barrett really has an advantage when it comes to spreading dirt, albeit old dirt, because he has the media serving as his accomplices, his "willing partners," to use Morgan's term.

Back to Gardner--

In the case of the railroad official, one of Gardner's attorneys alerted the Walker campaign in May about the reimbursements and informed Walker's staff that Gardner would report himself to state regulators. Walker's campaign separately alerted the state and reimbursed Gardner and seven other railroad company employees a combined $43,800.

The maximum individuals can give to governor candidates is $10,000 per election.

Campaign records show Gardner contributed $3,500 to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee in December.

Eric Couto, finance director for the ADCC, said last week that his group had made a donation to the state Common School Fund, which buys books for public school libraries, in that amount as part of an agreement with state election regulators. Couto said the committee had not been contacted by investigators as far as he knew.

A spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees state elections, declined to answer questions about his agency's discussions with the ADCC or Milwaukee prosecutors.

So what's the news here?

Why should Gardner's activities stick to Walker?

Allegations against Dennis Troha, the charged and convicted crook, weren't depicted by the media as an explosive problem for Jim Doyle. Oh, that's right. That investigation didn't get much attention until after Doyle was into his second term.

Bice mentions Troha in his Walker hit piece, a slight nod to being fair and balanced; but he doesn't differentiate that the Troha corruption case was tried and Troha was convicted - FACTS, not murmurings from "sources."

According to one source, Gardner's girlfriend told authorities she made donations with money given to her by Gardner. After the couple split, she was preparing to tell authorities what happened, but Gardner beat her to it and self-reported the donations, the source said.

"One source...."

This stuff is boring. We need some forged documents, a la CBS and 60 Minutes, to spice things up.

Allow me to sum up today's news:

An unknown number of unknown "sources" managed to get Bice to rehash old information and discuss virtually nothing verified regarding investigations into a Walker donor and a Walker aide to assist the floundering Tom Barrett.

The Democrat-Union-Media Complex chugs along.