Last Call For Scott Perp Walker

The long-rumored campaign finance corruption case against Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker has finally been unsealed, and it's a doozy.

Prosecutors allege that Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising among conservative groups to help his campaign and those of Republican senators fend off recall elections during 2011 and '12, according to documents unsealed Thursday. 

In the documents, prosecutors lay out what they call a "criminal scheme" to bypass state election laws by Walker, his campaign and two top deputies — R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl. 

The governor and his close confidants helped raise money and control spending through 12 conservative groups during the recall elections, according to the prosecutors' filings. 

The documents include an email in which Walker tells Karl Rove, former top adviser to President George W. Bush, that Johnson would lead the coordination campaign. Johnson is also chief adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a conservative group active in the recall elections. 

"Bottom-line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin. We are running 9 recall elections and it will be like 9 congressional markets in every market in the state (and Twin Cities)," Walker wrote to Rove on May 4, 2011.

Yep, not only is Walker at the center of this case, but so is Karl Effin' Rove.  Get out the popcorn kids, things just got real in Cheeseland.  Chris Christie in NJ, Bob McDonnell in Vorginia, and now Scott Walker in Wisconsin.  Seems like the flood of GOP governors in purple states has been more like orange...as in prison jumpsuits.

Got Him Squirrely Where Hillary Wants Him

OK, Hillary Clinton gets serious political jujitsu points for this maneuver against the GOP operative stalking her book tour.  You know, the guy in the squirrel costume (Because voting for Hillary is nuts, get it? Republican humor, folks.)

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday gave a signed copy of her new memoir "Hard Choices" to a Republican National Committee intern in a squirrel costume who's been following her book tour. 

Clinton approached the squirrel, clad in a t-shirt reading "Another Clinton in the White House is Nuts," just before her CNN town hall event outside the Newseum in Washington, DC. 

"Hello Mr. Squirrel, how are you?" Clinton said with a smile. "I know you've been following me around and while you're in between your gigs. I wanted you to get a copy of my book." 

"I hope that you will make the hard choice and read my book," she added. "But you bring a smile to a lot of people's faces."

Nice.  For his part, Stalky The Squirrel (who has his own twitter account) was a good sport.

Thank you, @HillaryClinton! I love fiction! MT @timkrepp Hillary gave a giant squirrel a copy of her book. http://t.co/hBHs83DP1D
— HRC Squirrel (@HRCSquirrel) June 17, 2014

Still kind of creepy to have an RNC intern in a squirrel outfit following you, but if this is the great Republican plan to beat Hillary in 2016, I don't think she has too much to worry about.

The GOP Pollution Trap, Part 2

Tuesday I talked about how House Republicans were considering defunding President Obama's EPA power plant carbon rules and risking a government shutdown ahead of the midterm elections by doing it. Apparently Senate Republicans now think this is going to be a winning idea for them as well.

"I think there's going to be a lot of support on our side for trying to block that. And I hope with some Democrats too," Senate Republican Conference Chair John Thune (R-SD) told TPM. 

"The power of the purse is one power Congress has, and if you want to send a clear message to the administration about a series of regulations that you think are very detrimental, one way to do that would be through the appropriations process." 

Thune, the No. 3 GOP senator, said his party will support "anything we can do to prevent the administration from going forward with what are really poorly timed, very burdensome, very expensive ... regulations." 

Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said Republicans ought to consider reversing what he described as presidential overreach by Obama on environmental regulations. 

"I think Congress needs to give serious thought to utilizing its constitutional power -- the power to fund or not fund," he told TPM. Asked about using the appropriations bill to undo the EPA rules, he said, "That's one of the powers that Congress clearly has."

Oh please, please PLEASE shut down the government five weeks ahead of midterms.  Do it and then go on TV telling everyone how you shut down the government to save us from something that 70% of Americans support, including the majority of Republican voters.

Fully 70 percent say the federal government should require limits to greenhouse gases from existing power plants, the focus of a new rule announced Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency. An identical 70 percent supports requiring states to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions within their borders. 

Democrats and Republicans are in rare agreement on the issue. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans, 76 percent among independents and 79 percent of Democrats support state-level limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Strong tea party supporters are most resistant to limits on emissions by states and power plants; 50 percent say the federal government should impose caps, while 45 percent say they should not.

Do it, guys.  Pull the trigger after aiming the shutdown gun at your own foot again.  Please.

StupidiNews!

• Spain's Prince Felipe is now officially King Felipe VI as the country's parliament formally recognized the transition after his father Juan Carlos stepped down earlier this month.
• Deaths from Africa's worst Ebola outbreak ever have topped 337 as the World Health Organization confirms cases in Guinea have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
• Reigning FIFA World Cup champion Spain was mathematically eliminated from advancing out of Group B play after losing 0-2 to Chile on Wednesday.
• The US Department of Justice is again looking into foreign currency exchange practices, looking for possible fraud in the banking industry.
• Amazon is now officially in the smartphone business with the new Fire Phone, with front-based cameras that help create a 3-D screen effect.