Walker Involved? Some informed speculation…
So far, Walker doesn’t seem to have been caught in the widening probe into members of his administration. But I detect a funny smell in the room. Here’s why:
First, a necessary bit of background:
Mark Gundrum, a Republican state legislator, was elected Circuit Court judge in Waukesha County in 2010, in the same election that swept his buddy Scott Walker into the Wisconsin Governor’s mansion. Gundrum had outspent his opponent, incumbent judge Richard Congdon, by about $110,000 to 17,000, or about 6 to 1.
Then a vacancy occurred on the Waukesha-based District II Appeals Court. Here is what happened:
Gov. Scott Walker had plenty of choices to fill the open position on the District II Court of Appeals bench. But he chose his former legislative seat mate, Mark Gundrum.
Gundrum’s an able political player, to be sure. He and Walker were close political and ideological allies in the Legislature and in the broader work of the Republican Party.
But Walker is moving Gundrum up the nonpartisan judicial ladder awfully quickly. Gundrum, 41, served in the Assembly from 1999 until he was elected as a trial court judge in Waukesha County Circuit Court in 2010. He has served only a year on the bench, and there are still legitimate concerns about whether he has put his partisan days behind him,
When he announced that he was running for that judgeship in 2009, Gundrum made it clear that he wanted to be an ideologically driven jurist. “I think it would be good to have a person with a solid conservative view of the law,” the Republican stalwart said.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_b57dbd12-3099-5149-b3f6-e24d290b0b50.html#ixzz1imng0PIT
OK—That’s Mark Gundrum.
This week, the headline news in Wisconsin is about three more Walker cronies: Tim Russell, Kevin Kavanaugh, and Brian Pierick.
Pierick, Russell’s long-time partner, doesn’t figure much in this story. He was charged with child enticement (luring a 17 year-old boy into his van for sex), but so far hasn’t been implicated in any of the embezzlement charges.
Russell, a former Walker aide, is charged with embezzling “at least $42,232” from the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and Russell stole at least $21,000 from an organization he controlled, called the Heritage Guard Preservation Society (HGPS).
Walker was asked twice {by reporters} to explain why he chose in 2009 to transfer control over the funds raised for Operation Freedom from the Alonzo Cudworth American Legion Post 23 to the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, an organization controlled by Tim Russell. In response to those question, Walker indicated control of the funds was transferred to the group controlled by Russell because of allegations of financial improprieties with the previous group that had control of the funds, however according to the criminal complaint filed against Russell, there were no allegations of financial impropriety leveled against American Legion Post 23.
http://bloggingblue.com/2012/01/05/longtime-aide-to-scott-walker-charged-with-2-felony-counts-of-embezzlement/
Now, here is where it gets interesting.
Mark Gundrum—remember him?—served in Iraq while a Wisconsin legislator and donated his legislative salary to—Operation Freedom. The amount he donated was about $28,000. This was a big part of the funds that ended up being transferred from the American Legion group to Russell’s HGPS, from where Russell embezzled it.
So—Gundrum contributes $28,000 to a Walkerite slush fund disguised as a charity. The money gets embezzled by Walker cronies. Then, coincidentally, when the opportunity arises, Walker appoints him to a seat on the state Appeals Court. Was this whole operation a poorly-constructed money laundering operation?
See what I mean about that funny smell in the room? Like maybe a dead rat?
= new reply since forum marked as read
NGU.
Interesting speculation, nonetheless, nad.
NGU.
