Columbus Woman Charged In Walker Probe

1/27/12 – Two more of Governor Scott Walker’s former Milwaukee County aides were charged Thursday as part of an ongoing John Doe investigation. 43-year-old Kelly Rindfleisch of Columbus has four felony charges of misconduct in public office. And 61-year-old Darlene Wink is charged with two misdemeanor counts of internal political solicitation by public employees. Rindfleisch is due in court February 22nd. Prosecutors said she was Walker’s deputy chief-of-staff in the Milwaukee County Executive’s office when she did extensive campaign work on county time for Brett Davis through a private e-mail network. Davis is a former Assembly Republican who ran and lost for lieutenant governor in 2010. He’s now the state’s Medicaid director. Wink resigned in May of 2010 as Walker’s constituent services director. She was accused of spending part of her workdays doing campaign work for Walker’s G-O-P bid for governor. Ciara Matthews of the Walker campaign said his office made it clear that county employees were not allowed to use tax-funded time and resources to conduct any political activity – and Walker expected everyone to follow that law. There are now four ex-Walker aides charged as a result of the John Doe probe. Former county aides Tim Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh are both accused of embezzling over 63-thousand-dollars from an annual event that benefits veterans and their families.