We reported that Reuters on Tuesday could not find a Democrat label for several politicians who were in car accidents after reckless driving. On Thursday, notice how long it took Reuters to find the R on a corruption charge in Wisconsin: about six words.
"A former aide to Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker was charged with fraud on Thursday, accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from a fund for families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan," the story began. The aide served Walker not as governor, but as Milwaukee County Executive. Reuters at least noted the timing of the complaint has real political resonance:
The complaint accuses Tim Russell, who worked closely with Walker when he was Milwaukee County Executive, of diverting more than $21,000 to his personal bank account and using some of the money to go on Hawaiian and Caribbean vacations.
Another man, Kevin Kavanaugh, also faces fraud charges linked to the case. Russell's domestic partner, Brian Pierick, faces charges of child enticement that prosecutors said came to light in the investigation.
Russell and Kavanaugh are accused of misappropriating funds from 2006 to 2009 from Operation Freedom, a military appreciation event held each year at the Milwaukee County Zoo.
The charges were announced days before a deadline in an effort to recall Walker, a first-term Republican who pushed strict limits on the power of public sector unions through the Wisconsin legislature last year, setting off a national debate.
Walker's critics need to collect 540,208 signatures by January 17 to force the recall vote.
Russell, who was Walker's deputy chief of staff and then housing director of the Milwaukee County's Department of Health and Human Services, faces two felony counts and a misdemeanor count of embezzlement.
This story found its way into The Washington Post. Reuters did not see fit to mention in this story that the indictment came from Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, or that he is a... Democrat.
