If Walker applies same standards to himself as he did to Jim Doyle, he must resign
Remember Georgia Thompson? She was the mid-level state employee victimized by trumped-up charges brought by an overzealous Republican federal prosecutor trying to save his job by smearing the Jim Doyle administration.
You can bet Scott Walker remembers her --and is trying to forget what he said about the case.
The prosecutor's move worked for awhile --huge headlines, a firestorm of publicity right during Doyle's reelection campaign, Thompson's June 2006 conviction on charges she illegally steered a state travel contract to a bidder who was close to Doyle, her sentencing to prison in September, and the inevitable negative television commercials from GOP candidate Mark Green, suggesting Doyle was a crook.
Doyle won the election in spite of the constant barrage from both Green and the right-wing media. Thompson's lawyer said the prosecutor tried to squeeze her to implicate Doyle, but there was nothing to tell.
A few facts as a refresher: Thompson, a purchasing agent, was not even hired by the Doyle administration, but by Republican Scott McCallum's administration. Thompson acted on her own; there was no evidence or suggestion in the trial that anyone in Doyle's office or administration asked her to do what she did. Doyle had never met her. As the NY Times later pointed out:
To charge her, Mr.[Steven] Biskupic had to look past a mountain of evidence of innocence. Ms. Thompson was not a Doyle partisan. She was a civil servant, hired by a Republican governor, with no identifiable interest in politics. She was only one member of a seven-person committee that evaluated the bidders. She was not even aware of the Adelman campaign contributions. She also had a good explanation for her choice: of the 10 travel agencies that competed, Adelman submitted the lowest-cost bid.
Her conviction was overturned in April 2007 by a federal court of appeals that appeared to be outraged, calling the evidence against her "beyond thin," and ordering her release that same day. That was probably little comfort to Thompson, who had been in prison for months and lost her home.
But back to Scott Walker, then the county executive and running for governor at the time Thompson was charged (he later dropped out before the primary.) Here we go:
From WisPolitics.com:
Statement from Milwaukee County Executive and Candidate for Governor Scott Walker on the Indictment of one of Jim Doyle's Top Aides in the Department of Administration:
“The indictment handed down today shows how corruption can infiltrate all areas of government.
Unfortunately we have a Governor and administration that condones unethical and illegal behavior. The people of Wisconsin deserve better.”
“Today’s indictment provides further confirmation that the Doyle administration is damaged and must be removed from the Capitol. Jim Doyle’s political connections to this aide are, without question, mentioned as a defining piece of the evidence used to bring forth this indictment.” ...
“Governor Doyle needs to purge his administration of individuals who place politics and special
interests ahead of the people of Wisconsin....
“Little can be said to underscore the seriousness of this charge. I am hopeful that the people of Wisconsin will allow me the opportunity to clean up Madison with the same fervor that guided my reform movement in Milwaukee County.”
Strong stuff.
Thompson, of course, was not a "top aide" to Doyle; he didn't know who she was. A top aide would be some of the Walker cronies recently charged with felonies for breaking the law while working right in Walker's office. Two of them, Tim Russell and Kelly Rindfleisch, served as Walker's deputy chief of staff.
Walker was quick on the trigger to hold Doyle personally responsible for alleged crimes by an underling who worked elsewhere in state government, not directly for him, in an office 25 feet away, as is the case with Walker's staffers who face felony counts.
If Walker held himself to the same standard he demanded of Doyle, he would already have fired two members of his administration, Cullen Werwie and Brett Davis, who were both part of the illegal operation where Rindfleisch, while working on the county payroll, spent her says illegally raising money for Davis's campaign. Both were communicating with her on a secret email network set up in the county executive's office to break the law without being detected.
If he really held himself to the same standard he applied to Doyle, he would already have resigned the governorship.
Dan Bice wrote a less inflamatory piece about it today in the Journal Sentinel.
