Free Republic

It's the biggest question hanging over Gov. Scott Walker's recall election: Will Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm file additional criminal charges as part of his John Doe probe before the June 5 election? For nearly two years, Chisholm's office has been looking into various activities in Milwaukee County during Walker's time as county executive. So far, prosecutors have brought charges against three ex-Walker aides, one appointee and a major campaign contributor. Chisholm has sent strong signals that additional charges are in the offing. Walker - who has set up a legal defense fund to pay his two lawyers -...

Former Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two felony charges involving thousands of dollars in bribes he solicited as part of a “pay-to-play” culture federal authorities say he fostered throughout his two terms in office. Johnson, who led Prince George’s from 2002 to December and was the county’s top prosecutor for eight years before that, entered his guilty plea in federal court in Greenbelt on charges of extortion and witness and evidence tampering. As part of the plea, he admitted accepting a $100,000 check from a county developer in exchange for securing federal funding...

With the election just three weeks away, a new KING 5 poll shows that the race for King County Executive's is neck-and-neck. A full 46 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for Republican David Irons now, compared to 43 percent for incumbent Ron Sims. That is within the poll's four-percent margin of error. Another factor in this race could be Green Party candidate Gentry Lange, who polled at 7 percent. Four percent of those surveyed told SurveyUSA that they're still undecided. Irons may be ahead, but strangely enough, many voters know very little about David Irons. The Republican...

In his first meeting with administrative holdovers from the Ament era, County Executive-elect Scott Walker on Wednesday reassured county department heads that his anti-cronyism pledge was no "Inquisition." Walker, who revealed that a $50 million projected deficit hangs over next year's county budget, outlined the details of his campaign pledge to make all department leaders reapply for their jobs. He will not do so, he said, until he completed personal interviews with each. "I'll talk to you first regarding the future of your departments," he said. The process could last three weeks, but Walker said he would not wait that...