Did Hopper Vote for a Job for His Alleged Mistress?
In today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dan Bice revealed that the alleged mistress of State Sen. Randy Hopper, was given a taxpayer-financed job in the state Department of Regulation and Licensing at the urging of the Walker administration.
One must wonder if she is in line for one of the more than three-dozen new political positions Gov. Walker fit into his disastrous so-called budget repair bill that Hopper voted for during the illegal actions of the Senate Republicans Specifically, these jobs are legal positions and public relations positions that would oversee open records requests.
The cost of these positions, the latest in Walker’s unprecedented power grabs since taking office, could well exceed $3 million. This comes at a time when Walker’s “shared sacrifice” scam is cutting $834 million from education, raising health care costs for as many as one million Wisconsinites, hiking prescription drug costs for seniors and raising taxes on the working poor by $51 million. And all the while as he hands out $200 million in tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy.
The Bice story showed Walker’s top aide intervened to get Hopper’s alleged mistress the job. It bends all credibility that Gov. Walker’s chief of staff threw his weight around to get someone a part-time, temp slot. Under the scenario, we are to believe Hopper’s alleged mistress left a job at a well-connected political firm to take a part-time gig — albeit one in which she is paid more than her predecessor at the state agency. (One Wisconsin Now will assuredly keep an eye on how this plays out to see who else is getting all of these plum political patronage jobs.)
There is still question about how much Hopper had to with getting his alleged mistress the job – such as how did they decide the Department of Reg & Licensing was the place to put her?
Consider this: Hopper’s former Chief of Staff is from Superior, as is Walker’s appointed Regulation & License honcho Dave Ross. This same chief of staff then served as Walker’s campaign policy director, served in Walker’s transition and now serves as his state office policy director.
Actually, his title is “director of policy and legislative affairs.” (No joke.)
Seems like a Superior set of coincidences.
UPDATE: Incidentally, Hopper spent over $40,000 during his 2008 campaign on Persuasion Partners, Inc. (the former employer of his alleged mistress) for expenses, including consulting, television ads and administrative fees.