The billionaire primary appears to be over and a winner declared. (drum roll....)
All hail Scott Walker!
“When the primaries are over and Scott Walker gets the nomination,” Mr. Koch told the crowd, the billionaire brothers would support him, according to a spokeswoman. The remark drew laughter and applause from the audience of fellow donors and Republican activists, who had come to hear Mr. Walker speak earlier at the event, held at the Union League Club.
Two people who attended the event said they heard Mr. Koch go even further, indicating that Mr. Walker should be the Republican nominee. A spokeswoman disputed that wording, saying that Mr. Koch had pledged to remain officially neutral during the primary campaign.
But Mr. Koch’s remark left little doubt among attendees of where his heart is, and could effectively end one of the most closely watched contests in the “invisible primary,” a period where candidates crisscross the country seeking not the support of voters but the blessing of their party’s biggest donors and fund-raisers.
Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin, Walker's benefactors are busily trying to bury the possibility of an indictment.
The John Doe case investigating his corrupt campaign finance schemes is going forward in a cone of silence.
These dark money schemes left voters completely in the dark about who was truly influencing elections in the state, CMD argued in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Wisconsinites never knew that a Florida-based mining company lobbying for a massive open pit mine in Wisconsin secretly gave $700,000 to WiCFG, nor did they know that John Menard gave $1.5 million to the group, and in turn received at least $1.8 million in tax credits from Walker's job development agency.
The investigation has been halted by a passel of lawyers hired by the groups under investigation and its fate now rests with the Wisconsin's Supreme Court.
In an unprecedented move, the court's right-wing majority decided not to hear oral arguments, in order to protect the defendants against leaks, over the strong objections of the Chief Justice.
But no worries there, because the KoBros have taken care of the pesky little Chief Justice problem.
To orchestrate a constitutional coup a phony “vote yes” group was formed by Rogensack’s former campaign manager and WMC piled on the cash in a $600,000 ad blitz saying it was all about “democracy.” In the final weekend before election day, the liberal Greater Milwaukee Committee fielded an extra $200,000 in ads, but it was too late to make a difference.
Perhaps if the WMC ads had explained that they were unseating the chief and purchasing the best court money could buy, the result may have been different. But it was no surprise when, as the Capital Times explained: “They secured a narrow 53 percent to 47 percent victory in a low-turnout election; barely 10 percent of Wisconsin’s voting-age population supported the deliberately confusing amendment.” Court observers tracking the "We Hate Shirley" amendment assumed that she would soon lose her title and her authority.
They haven't actually quite taken care of the problem, because the Chief Justice is a feisty sort who doesn't take kindly to being shoved aside.
But the feisty 81-year old Chief Justice is not taking the dark money onslaught lying down. She filed a federal lawsuit (documents here) brought by one of the nation’s most respected constitutional lawyers, Robert Peck of the Center for Constitutional Litigation, arguing that changing the rules concerning how a Chief is selected in the middle of her term violates the Equal Protection and Due Process rights of the chief herself and the voters who elected her under the U.S. Constitution.
The rest of the candidates should just give it up, because the KoBros have made their decision.
As an aside, I find it interesting that the original NYT headline was "Kochs Signal Support for Scott Walker" until someone changed it to "G.O.P. Donors Signal Support for Scott Walker." Just more evidence that they're hopelessly addicted to Koch.
