FBI searches home of former aide to Wisconsin governor

[L. Coyote]

Source: Jeff Mayers Reuters 3:15 p.m. CDT, September 15, 2011

MADISON, Wis (Reuters) - A former top aide to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said on Thursday she has nothing to hide from law enforcement officials, one day after an FBI raid on her home in the state capital.

One neighbor, Dale Riechers, told reporters the Wednesday morning raid on the home of Cynthia A. Archer involved multiple law enforcement personnel wearing FBI jackets and that neighbors saw a "bank box" being removed from the house.

.............

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-wisconsin-fbi-searchtre78e6fo-20110915,0,7525192.story

---

[L. Coyote]

1. Gov. Walker says he knows nothing

Gov. Walker says he knows nothing of investigation
(AP) – 2 hours ago - http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSV9srfup4MDDiVxrja1LmDwwsOw?docId=90fbc88ee80e4b4ca6d7c73db7ea4b3d


MILWAUKEE (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he doesn't know anything about an FBI raid on the home of one of his top aides ....

Walker said Friday that "it's hard to tell" whether he should be concerned about the raid .... Archer was his aide when he was Milwaukee County executive ....

[malaise]

6. Then why did he lawyer up?n/t

[L. Coyote]

8. To the tune of $50,000.00 so far!

Milwaukee is where the great voting anomaly happened too, in the Supreme race.
One has to wonder how far the corruption and cronyism goes?

[malaise]

10. Please, please, please

:popcorn:

[Ikonoklast]

9. Oh, c'mon now! Republicans HATE lawyers!

Until it's their ass in the sling, then it's "Find me the best criminal defense attorney there is, and tell him money is no object!"

[malaise]

11. LOL

:evilgrin:

[Kalidurga]

2. First thoughts were that

it is voter fraud. But, then again it might just be campaign violations.

[Kennah]

7. Either way, I hear the click of handcuffs

[L. Coyote]

14. Wisconsin Anomaly 2011, a recount reflection.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x517835

Is this a case of "Milwaukee Anomaly"?
Walker = Milwaukee County Exec = Coincidence, right?

"....
The liberal Supreme Court candidate garnered
6.3% fewer votes than did the 2010 candidates,
The bluest wards in the bluest city swung the race red,
countering 4.6% more blue votes elsewhere state-wide. ...."

[L. Coyote]

3. AP: Wisconsin Gov. Walker stays silent about raid on agency official’s home, secret investigation

Associated Press, Published: September 15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/wisconsin-gov-walker-stays-silent-about-raid-on-agency-officials-home-secret-investigation/2011/09/15/gIQA0B9ZVK_story.html


MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker kept his distance Thursday from an investigation into one of his top agency officials, staying silent despite calls from his opponents to say what he knows about why FBI agents raided her home a day earlier.

Agents raided the home of Cynthia Archer, who held a top spot in Walker’s office when he served as Milwaukee County executive and followed Walker to work in state government after last November’s election.

The raid comes amid an ongoing secret Milwaukee County investigation that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing unnamed people familiar with the case, said focuses on whether county staffers in Walker’s office did political work on the taxpayer dime.

..............

[L. Coyote]

4. JS online: FBI seizes items at home of former top aide to Gov. Walker

I wonder why the FBI? What about this gives them jurisdiction or investigatory authority?

This is the long story in the Wisconsin press:

=========================
FBI seizes items at home of former top aide to Gov. Walker
By Jason Stein, Patrick Marley, Steve Schultze and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel
Sept. 14, 2011 | http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/129801878.html


Madison - About a dozen law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, raided the home of a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday as part of a growing John Doe investigation.

......

a John Doe investigation in Milwaukee County ... was started last year ... another Walker staffer who was being paid by Milwaukee County taxpayers to help citizens with county services was instead using her work time to post anonymous comments supporting candidate Walker on websites and blogs. As part of the investigation, authorities earlier seized the work computers of two former Walker staffers and executed a search warrant of one of their homes. .... John Doe investigations are secret proceedings in which witnesses can be subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath about potential criminal matters and are forbidden from talking publicly about the case.

....

Around 9 a.m., a reporter saw four FBI agents - two of them wearing latex gloves - talking in Archer's backyard before going into her house. Later, one removed a large box and put it in the trunk of an FBI car. They left about 10 a.m.

The FBI also seized the hard drive from a computer that a neighbor had bought from Archer six to eight weeks ago at a garage sale.

Next-door neighbor Dale Riechers said he had never turned on the computer ..........

[Ikonoklast]

12. Look to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and see what went down there.

In that case, it was almost all corrupt Democrats in all kinds of "Pay To Play" schemes.

The FBI only goes in after there is an overwhelming amount of evidence...and a few lower-level crooked employees of crooked politicians turn snitch in order to avoid hard time.

[Matariki]

13. "Next-door neighbor Dale Riechers said he had never turned on the computer"

ie - "that porn's not mine"! LOL

[L. Coyote]

5. TPM: 'John Doe': How Blog Comments Have Launched Probe Of Walker

'John Doe': How Blog Comments Have Launched Probe Of Walker
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/john_doe_how_blog_comments_have_launched_probe_of.php


The ongoing ethics probe of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) time as Milwuakee County Executive all stems from a uniquely modern-day source -- blog commenting.... in 2010, when Walker was a candidate for governor. Darlene Wink, his constituent services coordinator in the county, resigned ... she had been using state time to post comments on the paper's articles, promoting Walker and criticizing his opponents in the gubernatorial race.

For example, one comment criticized Walker's opponent in the Republican primary, ............

.....

......... the investigation is what is known in Wisconsin as a "John Doe" investigation --Â a secret proceeding in which witnesses can be subpoenaed to testify under oath, but are forbidden from talking publicly about the case.

That layer of secrecy has led to much speculation and denials in the press. For example, Walker aide Tom Nardelli, who back in Milwaukee County had been Walker's chief of staff for three years, suddenly quit his job in late August .............

[L. Coyote]

15. VIDEO: Majority Report: FBI Investigating Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x617047

[L. Coyote]

16. dKos: Scott Walker retains lawyers, stays silent in FBI corruption

Fri Sep 16, 2011 at 08:20 AM PDT
Scott Walker retains lawyers, stays silent in FBI corruption probe
by Chris Bowers | http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/16/1017452/-Scott-Walker-retains-lawyers,-stays-silent-in-FBI-corruption-probe


Amidst the ongoing federal investigation that seems to be targeting one or more of his former top aides during his time as Milwaukee County Executive, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is staying silent ...

.... Walker has retained legal consul in regards to corruption charges for nearly a year now:

The governor's campaign retained former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic after it received a subpoena for campaign emails shortly before last year's November election. His campaign has paid nearly $60,000 to Biskupic's firm, Michael Best & Friedrich, in the first half of the year. ....

... this investigation has the potential for explosive revelations, and as such bears continued watching. ....

[midnight]

17. I just love that trucks signage..

[L. Coyote]

18. Pure genius!

And, it just keeps getting more and more appropo

[L. Coyote]

19. FBI Raid Involving Walker Campaign Records May Foretell Bigger Threat

Friday Sep 16, 2011 9:00 am
FBI Raid Involving Walker Campaign Records May Foretell Bigger Threat
By Roger Bybee - http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11974/fbi_raid_involving_walker_campaign_records_may_foretell_bigger_threat1/


.... an FBI raid on the Madison home of a former top Walker aide—who served him both during his term as Milwaukee County executive and as governor—may signal big trouble for the governor and might also diminish his "I'm-on-a-mission-from-God" zealotry.

The raid was the most dramatic step thus far in a “John Doe” investigation into whether Walker used his county staffers to campaign for governor on the taxpayers’ dime. The fact that Walker is a Tea Partier supposedly favoring the restricted use of tax dollars (except for corporate subsidies and contracts to cronies) makes the matter all the more interesting.

The Walker aide whose home was raided, Cynthia A. Archer, abruptly resigned a $124,000 post in August and went on leave. Another top aide, Thomas Nardelli, who had also followed Walker from county government as Walker’s chief of staff to a job at the State Capitol, quit his latest post in the administration just three days after accepting it.

These curious actions tend to suggest that they are coming under severe pressure from legal authorities to testify about the practices of Walker’s campaign for governor. ............