| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
25 Feb 2006 08:51:20 PM |
| Object: |
New Revelations Surface in Wisconsin Republican Caucus Corruption Trial |
Even one of Green’s former Assembly colleagues has questioned how
Green, one of the top Republican leaders at the time, can claim no
knowledge of the illegal activities of the GOP caucus employees.
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=55828
Explosive Revelations About Green's Illegal Activity Surface in Caucus
Corruption Trial
2/24/2006
Even Republican Colleague Mocks Mark Green’s Denials:
‘To Say You Didn’t Know What Was Going On -- That’s a Big Stretch’
MADISON --
In light of revelations today about the illegal activity of Mark Green
and members of his staff in the caucus scandal, Democratic Party of
Wisconsin Chair Joe Wineke today called on Green to come clean about
his participation in and knowledge of illegal campaigning on state
time that took place while he was member of the Legislature.
Even though he served as Caucus Chair of the Assembly Republicans --
one of the highest ranking Republicans in the Assembly -- Green claims
he had nothing to do with running the Assembly Republican Caucus and
had no knowledge of state caucus employees doing campaign work on
state time during his six years in the State Assembly.
Yet testimony and documents introduced in the trial of former GOP
Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen show that Green and two of his top aides
-- current campaign manager Mark Graul and current congressional chief
of staff Chris Tuttle -- were involved in campaign work on state time
while they worked in the Legislature.
Republican leaders and more than two dozen GOP Assembly staffers are
testifying during the trial that campaigning was virtually 100 percent
of some staffers’ jobs at the Assembly Republican Caucus under Green’s
leadership.
Jensen is facing felony charges for using state resources to campaign.
"It’s absolutely amazing that Mark Green would continue to deny
knowledge of his involvement in the caucus scandal when records and
testimony by former caucus staffers show Green and his staff were deep
in the thick of it," Wineke said.
"It just defies all credibility. Mark Green and his staff were
members of Scott Jensen’s leadership inner circle. They are in the
emails, they are in the records, and they are part of the court
testimony. It is time for Mark Green to come clean about his
involvement and the involvement of his top aides in the illegal
activities of the caucus scandal."
Even one of Green’s former Assembly colleagues has questioned how
Green, one of the top Republican leaders at the time, can claim no
knowledge of the illegal activities of the GOP caucus employees.
"There are no angels in the Capitol on this issue," said former
Republican State Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud, who served with Green in the
Assembly.
"To say you didn’t know what was going on -- that’s a big stretch."
According to media reports and testimony from the trial:
-----A graphic artist for the Assembly Republican Caucus testified
that he designed on state time with state resources campaign-related
Packers and Badgers schedules for Mark Green while Green was in the
Assembly in 1997.
-----The graphic artist also testified that Green’s current
congressional chief of staff, Chris Tuttle, was responsible for
approving campaign literature as the media director for the Assembly
Republican Caucus.
-----Green had a fax line installed in his Capitol office in 1996 that
was paid for by his campaign committee.
-----A former Republican colleague of Green said legislators often
installed private phone lines in their Capitol office to conduct
campaign business.
-----In violation of state law prohibiting the solicitation of
political donations or services on state property, a Republican group
solicited lit-drop volunteers for Green’s 1998 congressional bid at
their State Capitol offices.
-----As Caucus Chair, Green signed on to a memo thanking legislative
staffers for their campaign work in 1998 and asking them to RSVP to a
party by contacting the legislative office of a GOP leader. The memo
was hand-delivered to offices at the Capitol.
-----A confidential caucus memo lists Green’s current campaign manager
Mark Graul as a central player in the 1996 campaigns during a
four-month time period when Graul was working full-time as a state
aide to Green in the Assembly.
_________________________________________________________________
"I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it."
Ashleigh Brilliant
Harry
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