One Big John Doe Question Left Hanging At Tim Russell's Sentencing

Q. Exactly why did Scott Walker assign to former Deputy Chief of Staff Tim Russell the management of a Veteran's Fund  - - a fund that Russell then looted, and hence heads off to prison.

Reporter Steve Schultze nicely frames the issue:

In response to questions from [Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David] Hansher, Russell said Walker in 2009 had ordered the management of the event switched from the Alonzo Cudworth American Legion Post to the Heritage Guard Preservation Society to continue Operation Freedom after Walker left the county executive's office. 

Hansher pressed Russell to say who besides him had persuaded Walker to make the change, which put Russell in control of the funds raised for Operation Freedom. But Russell said only that he had participated in the decision, without naming anyone else.

The point is that the fund was being properly and privately managed before being moved back to County management - - under Russell - - through Walker.

A management change made even though the Milwaukee County ethics panel had urged that the fund be separated from County government - - which Walker was leading at the time as County Exec.

And this is a basic John Doe question, and has been raised before

From this blog posting a year ago:

But it still is not clear why Walker chose to give Russell control over the veterans' charitable money, A) after the county's ethics board recommended that the charity's finances be separated from Walker and county government, and, B) after, in fact, those financial responsibilities had been moved to an American Legion post which District Attorney John Chisholm said in the Russell charging document had performed exemplary management, according to WisPolitics.com.