But Peter McKeevey of the Ed Garvey law office has a great article on how a current MBF attorney has inside info on the John Doe case. Who's the attorney? Let's just say you might have seen his name on this blog 6 months ago.
...[Milwaukee Co. DA John] Chisholm met with DOJ senior staff on November 15, [2010]. Among the staff present was Ray Taffora, then the No. 2 official in the department. It is safe to assume that sensitive and confidential information was discussed. This was, after all, a criminal investigation.Taffora had to have known he was leaving to get the big bucks and Michael Best at this point, but he still sat in on the meeting, and got the info that could be passed ahead in time for a cover-up from the incoming Walker Administration. (I smell an Open Records Request coming on!)
At some point, Walker’s campaign hired Attorney Steven Biskupic to represent his interests. Biskupic, a former U.S. Attorney under George Bush, is a criminal defense attorney with Michael, Best and Friedrich, a law firm with offices in Milwaukee and Madison. The Wisconsin State Journal recently described this law firm as “in-house counsel” for Walker and the Republican Party in Wisconsin.
Fast forward to January 20, 2011: Michael Best & Freidrich issued a press release announcing that Ray Taffora had left the Department of Justice and joined the law firm. It said, “Taffora will head the firm’s newly-formed Government and Regulatory law practice Group, which includes a number of highly experienced attorneys including former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic.”
Read that again: Taffora is now working with and apparently supervising the attorney representing Scott Walker in a John Doe investigation about which Taffora has insider confidential information from the prosecutor.
Not only that, Ray Taffora is the guy who donated $1,000 to Van Hollen's re-election fund in 2010, and signed the sweetheart no-bid deal between the Walker Administration and MBF just over a year ago in anticipation of Walker's union-busting bill, taking the issue away from state attorneys that have taxpayer accountability to worry about.
Chicagoans find this to be a sketchy setup. It's disgustingly corrupt, and it's why they all have to go as soon as possible.
H/T The Political Environment
Where are the fucking Democrats in this state raising hell about all this crap with MB&F? Someone other than Mike Tate or Graeme Zielinski, that is. Republicans would have this at Defcon 5 on every right wing media outlet in the country.
ReplyDeleteGarage mahal- Thanks for reading, and I agree. The Dems at least started a TV ad campaign online on Walkergate(and will probably run on stations soon after), but they need to be ALL OVER THIS.
ReplyDeleteThe media won't do enough of their job on their own, so the Dems need to be working the refs and making damn sure the media connects these dots. It's not really that hard to do, either.