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Just the facts: Darlene Wink
Under a plea deal, Ms. Wink has plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation by a public employee. During her time as Scott Walker’s constituent services coordinator she worked on campaign fundraisers, phone banks, Reagan Day dinners, Milwaukee County Republican Party matters, and posting numerous comments on political websites promoting Scott Walker for Governor.
Wink even went so far as to send an email regarding a campaign event to Reince Priebus’ personal work email account, receiving a near-immediate reply while working from a government office. It is simply not believable that a low-level staffer would have such access to the Chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin without the consent of someone higher up.
Like Rindfliesch, Wink used a "secret email network" to conduct illegal campaign activity. In one 2009 chat with Tim Russell, Wink asked how she could clear a document from her chat session. Russell told her it would disappear when she logged out. "I just am afraid of going to jail - ha! ha!" Wink wrote.
In May of 2010, Wink was confronted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for posting dozens of comments on JSOnline.com promoting Scott Walker's gubernatorial campaign, leading to her resignation from Scott Walker's office.
With Wink's activities exposed, Walker emailed Russell,“I talked to her at home last night. I feel bad. She feels worse. We cannot afford another story like this one. No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc."
Significantly, the email from Walker to Russell came from Walker's campaign email account – proof that Scott Walker was using his campaign email to conduct governmental business. This is a clear admission that Scott Walker knew what was going on – he knew that people in his office were using private laptops to conduct campaign activity.
If we are to believe Scott Walker, who claims he knew nothing of her illegal campaign activity on his behalf, Wink’s resignation was a government personnel matter. A matter which Scott Walker had no business discussing with an employee, Russell, who was not involved. Russell worked in the Housing department – it was inappropriate to involve him in a personnel matter in the Executive office.