Walkergate hacks cracking?

I saw last week that Keith Gilkes was going to be part of a Marquette Law School panel discussing the recent elections, and I was stunned at the hubris involved. After all, Gilkes was prominently mentioned in Milwaukee County Assistant D-A Bruce Landgraf's slideshow during the Kelly Rindfleisch sentencing hearing. And Gilkes headed up the "Campaign team," which Rindfleisch illegally worked with to coordinate strategy on Walker's run for governor in 2010 while Rindfleisch was working on the taxpayer's dime in Walker's Milwaukee County Executive's office.

Gilkes also famously gave the order to Rindfleisch and other county staff that there be "not a paper anywhere that details a problem at all" with the O'Donnel Parking garage, when a piece of concrete fell and killed a teen in the Summer of 2010, lest Walker be blamed for mismanagement of the County-owned facility. Gilkes was the subject of the Rindfleisch's statement of "You are in the driver's seat," of who was calling the shots in Milwaukee, a message sent from Rindfleisch's alternate email out of her Milwaukee County offices.

After being a prominent part of the slideshow, I couldn't believe that Gilkes would show his face in public, but he did, along with his ass after the event. Wispolitics captured the following exchange, and I'll add a few notes as well.

Gilkes said Walker's successful defeat of a recall effort in June was likely decided by Wisconsin voters as early as January, when the guv explained his stances and his actions since taking office.

"My gut level feeling was that Walker established himself in January when he told his side of the story. I think essentially, at that point, people had made up their minds," Gilkes said. (That, and tens of millions of dollars of propaganda along with a media that was not willing to challenge what were clearly lies by Walker and his camapaign.)

Gilkes later told reporters voters were "understanding" of the situation and of what happens when there are "problems with personnel." (And who hired those guys, and decided to keep these crooks on board? I don't think people are so understanding now that they see the pattern.)

"He is the one who brought discrepancies to the attention of the DA, and has decisively taken action when anything's been brought to his attention," Gilkes said of Walker. (This is complete BS, because Tom Nardelli told Walker money was missing from the Veterans' Fund, and Walker had no choice but to call an investigation, because he couldn't keep the con up any longer. The only "decisive action" Walker has taken on John Doe from that point on is to stonewall the investigation and encourage talk show hosts to smear it.)

Gilkes also told reporters he "had no knowledge" of a private wireless router system that allegedly enabled a secret email system in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. (Which is why you emailed Rindfleisch using her Gmail address on the secret email system. Do you think we're fucking stupid, Keith?)

Asked if a similar router exists in the state Capitol, Gilkes became angry.

"That's just absurd, I'm done," he responded and walked away.

I agree Keith, I think you're done.

He can join ex-Walker appointee Kevin Kavanaugh in the joint, as Kavanaugh was sentenced to two years in prison today for stealing over $50,000 from a fund for the family of injured and killed veterans that raised some of its funds through an annual event known as Operation Freedom. As I pointed out 2 months ago, Walker's thinly veiled "support the troops" campaign event has a lot of interesting connections to Walkergate.

Walker gave control of Operation Freedom funds over to a local American Legion post in early 2009 [after Kavanaugh was suspected of stealing]. Interestingly, later in 2009 Walker took away the handling of funds for Operation Freedom from the American Legion, and gave it over to a non-profit headed by...Tim Russell. And Russell allegedly began to embezzle the funds for his own use, as well as a "Scott Walker for Governor" website.

The other part people forget about the Kavanaugh and Russell cases is that a lot of the donations for Operation Freedom came from some connected names and businesses, as mentioned on Page 17 of the Tim Russell criminal complaint. Kavanaugh is alleged to have used donations by then-State Rep. Mark Gundrum (who Walker would later appoint as a Court of Appeals judge), and Russell also got some of his Operation Freedom funds from GOP backers and politicians.

Of course, Russell pleaded guilty last week to felony theft for his part in misusing Operation Freedom funds, but prosecutors only recommended 2 1/2 years in jail for Russell, which tells me they got the info they needed on people up the food chain from ol' Timmy.

Capper at Cognitive Dissidence gives an indication who might be the next to fall in Walkergate, and it could be former Walker DOA Cindy Archer, who apparently is trying to sell her Madison home, and was in the room when Act 10 was being drafted with Michael, Best and Friedrich attorneys. Before she abruptly quit her 6-figure gig with Governor Walker's Administration and got her home raided with a computer seizen by the FBI in September 2011, Archer also worked on limiting Capitol access with....then-Walker Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes.

Funny how all these guys know each other, doesn't it? And you thought I was kidding when I called WisGOP an organized crime syndicate. I got a feeling Kavanuagh's sentencing today won't be the last time we'll be able to say this about a Walker hack.