Wisconsin Republicans are getting so desperate to get out of their downward spiral that they are willing to try to make scandals out of whole cloth. Their latest effort was when a couple of basement dwelling bloggers got spoon fed "exclusive" information about a supposed scandal involving Governor Tony Evers, which involved Evers using a secondary email address to conduct state business.
This scandal quickly fizzled out and became a nothing burger. Many reporters have confessed that the governor's office have released emails from the account and have been fairly open about it. Even worse for the right, he wasn't even the first one to do this. Scott Walker did it too:
The alternative email allowed Walker to use an inbox "that wasn't flooded with emails from constituents," though she noted constituent emails were handled by staff, and that Walker still saw such emails as needed.
Ignatowski said Walker's administration worked with attorneys in the state Department of Justice and felt there was a legal basis to protect Walker from being emailed directly, given there were other ways for constituents to contact the governor's office.
However, in their rush in trying to absolve themselves, the mainstream press is missing another aspect that the right doesn't want people to remember. Walker did so much more than use a secondary email address. He also used a second email system:
Bildsten said Huebsch, Walker’s top aide, gave this warning at a cabinet meeting: “Don’t send me an email of anything important on my state computer, and don’t call me on anything of importance on my state phone. If you have anything of consequence or importance, call me on your personal phones or walk it over.”
“And that,” Bildsten said, “is how most communications were handled going forward.”
Walker used the secondary email system to not only avoid transparency but to hide the fact that he was once again campaigning illegally while on the taxpayers time, just like he did when he was Milwaukee County Executive and had to use a secret router.
In the grand scheme of things, this is really a nonstory about an even bigger nonstory, but dang, it sure is fun to laugh at the Republicans as they continue to flail about.
