Ed Schultz and The Nation's John Nichols discuss the latest on Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker as the recall efforts there continue.
Scott Walker Slams Out-Of-State Money In Wisconsin Recall While In Washington For Fundraiser:
As Wisconsin Democrats continued their push to force his recall, Gov. Scott Walker (R) came to Washington on Thursday to raise funds for the election that is all but certain to occur. But while Walker has slammed the influence of out-of-state money in the recall effort, he defended his own fundraising from non-Wisconsinites as fundamentally different from what he called the "excessive amounts" raised by unions and liberal groups.
"The people from around the country who are helping us at the grassroots level are trying to match the amazing levels of money coming in from unions from Washington and throughout the country," said Walker at a question-and-answer event at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday morning. Walker spoke at AEI before meeting with Republican donors at the Capitol Hill Club later in the day.
According to his latest campaign finance report, Walker has raised $5.1 million since the start of the recall effort on November 15th. Nearly half of that amount, $2.4 million, has come from outside of Wisconsin. Read on...
Meanwhile as Ed and John discussed, this additional news doesn't bode well for the odds of him being recalled either -- Milwaukee D.A. Announces Charges Against Ex-Walker Aide, Two Others In ‘John Doe’ Probe:
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm (D) announced on Thursday charges against three men, including a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker (R) during his time as Milwaukee County Executive, in two separate sets of criminal allegations.
Tim Russell, a former county aide to Walker, and Kevin Kavanaugh, former treasurer of the Milwaukee chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (and also Walker’s appointee to the Milwaukee County Veteran Service Commission), are charged with mishandling funds involved in a military charity project that had been spearheaded by Walker, called Operation Freedom. The money was intended to help wounded veterans and the families of service-members who were killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To be clear, Walker’s county office itself, in 2010, asked prosecutors to investigate the missing money, after a shortfall of $11,000 was discovered. [...]
Kavanaugh is charged with stealing over $40,000 from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, including funds connected to the Operation Freedom event. This includes $4,800 taken from part of the donations from then-state Rep. Mark Gundrum (now a judge), who was serving on active duty in Iraq in 2008, and chose to donate his legislative salary to charity for the purpose of helping wounded veterans.
Also charged by Chisholm, in a separate matter that was discovered in the investigation, is Russell’s domestic partner Brian Pierick, on what Chisholm described as a count of child enticement, and a count of causing a child to expose his genitals.
Pierick has worked at the state Department of Public Instruction, as an office operations associate for school improvement grants and education for homeless youth. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the DPI says Pierick was fired Thursday, had a clear background check at the time of his hiring, and did not work directly with children.
Chisholm said that the alleged child enticement by Pierick occurred in neighboring Waukesha County, but that he has been granted the jurisdiction to investigate the matter in his capacity as a special prosecutor.
