Lincoln Hills scandal blowing up? Ex-DOC Secretary blowing whistle on Walker Admin?

The scandalous treatment of youth at Wisconsin Department of Corrections' Lincoln Hills facility in Irma has been awful enough. But now it looks like the fallout from Lincoln Hills might be getting to the upper reaches of the Walker Administration.

In a classic Friday news dump, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel announced the firing of already-demoted ex-DOC Secretary Ed Wall. And Matt DeFour of the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Wall is responding by suing Schimel and the Wisconsin DOJ, claiming he was improperly fired, and that he is being thrown under the bus for what went on in Irma.

In a Feb. 10 letter to Schimel asking for his old job, Wall said he only accepted the job at Corrections, the state’s largest cabinet agency, “because the law and civil service rules guaranteed my ability to return to my classified civil service position.” Wall noted he sought the DOJ investigation into Lincoln Hills, that he was not a target, witness or in any way involved and that the investigation involved staff nine levels below his office.

Wall was to start the new job at a $108,076 annual salary on Feb. 28, but the next day he was reassigned to a deputy division administrator position at the same pay rate effective March 20. He was instructed not to communicate with any DOJ employees except a department lawyer and Deputy Attorney General Andrew Cook.

Wall’s lawyer Dan Bach said Wall plans to file a whistleblower retaliation complaint because his termination commenced after Wall gave a draft copy of his WERC appeal to DOJ. That appeal alleges DOJ violated state law in not letting him keep his former job.

“Although DOJ was very specific that this disciplinary action was focused solely on the letter and not the draft appeal document, certain allegations against Mr. Wall were derived from the positions expressed in his draft appeal,” Bach wrote in a letter to DOJ last week.

Doesn't sound like former Sec. Wall is going quietly. Now would be a great time to let everyone know what really went on at Lincoln Hills, and who made the call to cover up the bad things that were happening behind the walls. These include the bad things that a Racine County judge was informing the Walker Administration about 4 years ago- claims the judge said the Walker Administration "swept under the rug."

Keep an eye on this one folks. Feels like it might be ready to blow up, and it could be verrrrrry interesting to see whose inaction (or action ordering inaction) allowed the evil to continue to flourish.