Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, joined Keith on the January 12, 2012 edition of "Countdown."
KEITH OLBERMANN: With less than two weeks to go before the signature deadline in the recall of Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s top fascist finds his gaze split between two crises.
In our third story — two men with close ties to Walker during his time as a Milwaukee county executive have been charged with using their positions to steal money intended for military families.
This afternoon, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced felony charges for three men, stemming from the investigation into missing funds from the Milwaukee veterans’ event known as Operation Freedom.
Kevin Kavanaugh was appointed to the Milwaukee Service Commission by then-County Executive Walker, a position Kavanaugh allegedly exploited in order to embezzle over forty thousand dollars from several sources, including this Operation Freedom.
Tim Russell worked as a top aide for Governor Walker during his time as Milwaukee county executive. He is accused of using more than twenty thousand from the veterans’ activities boards for his own personal use, as well as embezzling funds from the campaigns of two county board candidates.
The third man charged — Tim Russell’s domestic partner, Brian Pierick. He is charged with two counts of child enticement, evidence of which was discovered on computers confiscated in 2010 from the home that he and Mr. Russell share.
Probably not the headlines Governor Walker wanted with less than two weeks to go until recall signatures are due. The last reported numbers put the signature total at five hundred and seven thousand. That was on December 15, not even halfway into the process.
Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute today, Walker conceded, “There will probably be enough signatures to force the recall.” But insisted that his recall is not the will of the people, but of “union thugs.”
(Excerpt from video clip) SCOTT WALKER: People ask me who my opponent is going to be. I said, “The person doesn’t matter, it will be the big-government union bosses here in Washington, who will pour probably limitless amounts of money into our state, and will try and influence our vote and we’re going to have to be ready to get the truth out to counter that.”
OLBERMANN: Wow, what a whore the governor is. Honestly.
Joining me now — Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Thank you for your time tonight, sir.
GRAEME ZIELINSKI: Thanks for the Christmas card, Keith.
OLBERMANN: People that Scott Walker appointed — arrested, accused of stealing from veterans. This reflects well on the governor’s judgment, doesn’t it?
ZIELINSKI: It’s not just — they weren’t just accused of stealing from veterans, they were accused of enticing young boys for stuff. But these are folks that he put into high office, these are folks who had previously been accused of bad acts, these are folks he surrounds himself with.
We don’t know what Scott Walker did or didn’t do that’s criminal, but we know he is walking a pretty crooked path where he runs into a lot of folks who have committed crimes.
OLBERMANN: Relate these two stories — or tell us that there is none to be, no relation to be made — would these, this story, impact the recall effort in any way?
ZIELINSKI: Hey, there is a long list of reasons to recall Scott Walker. Corruption by his aides, maybe corruption by him, may be one of them.
But the recall that you mentioned — in which he attributes to some out-of-state forces, while he is out of state — is pretty — which is — did he do it with a monocle and with a caviar spoon or something?
But the recall is strong. It’s people-based. Every corner of this state, people are standing out in the cold. People are taking times, in between commercial breaks of Packers’ games to collect these recalls, Christmas suppers — all that. It’s being done and it’s on a very wide level. And on January 17th, when we turn in our signatures, it’s going to probably shut up some of the remaining Scott Walker supporters claiming this out-of-state influence.
OLBERMANN: Speaking of the out-of-state influence and the union thugs and all of that, how much contact have you had with your big-government union bosses in Washington lately?
ZIELINSKI: Well, I can’t speak about that. If you looked at my car payments, you’d see that we are not really run by money here. Scott Walker is. If I may quote the philosopher Michael Jackson, he needs to look at the man in the mirror when he talks about getting orders from out of state.
He is in D.C. right now, shaking down the likes of the Koch brothers. I don’t know who is there at these things. He is at Grover Norquist’s tax-pledge place, even though he raised taxes on working families here. He raised taxes on seniors in Wisconsin to pay for a two billion dollar tax giveaway to corporations that don’t create jobs here. They just, I guess, create nice bar tabs at Le Cirque.
ZIELINSKI: Yes, the psychologist’s term for what we heard in that sound bite is “projection.”
To the other end of the stick, I mean — I know you guys are holding back the signature numbers until the deadline, but can we play “hot and cold” in terms of how close you are to reaching the number?
ZIELINSKI: Getting closer. Getting closer.
OLBERMANN: Are you 10,000 away or 50,000 away or what?
ZIELINSKI: I think this number is going to be beyond any challenge.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
ZIELINSKI: That Scott Walker is going to mount, and — look, we got ridiculed when — it wasn’t just us. It was this grassroots effort, you know — grandmas in Elkhorn, folks with disabilities, seniors and people from all spectrums. We got laughed at by his little right-wing cadres for starting this thing.
And I think for a moment — Scott Walker is a pretty cool cucumber. I heard him on a press call about these corruption allegations. He’s a cool cucumber — but I think, for a second, we could knock the smug look off his face. Just for a second.
OLBERMANN: Graeme Zielinski, communications director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. As always, great thanks for some your time tonight.
ZIELINSKI: Thank you. Go Pack.
OLBERMANN: And anything on Ryan Braun before we go? Okay, forget it.
