Known Scott Walker Associate: Bill Gardner - Criminal Complaint

8/3/2019 Known Scott Walker Associate: Bill Gardner - Criminal Complaint

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CIRCUIT COURTSTATE OF WISCONSIN CRIMINAL DIVISION WASHINGTON COUNTYSTATE OF WISCONSIN CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

Plaintiff,vs. DA Case No.:Gardner, William E.218 Third Street, Apt. 323Hartford, WI 53027-1574DOB: 1111811947

Complaining Witness:Dean NickelCo ur t Case No.:Defendant,

THE ABOVE NAMED COMPLAINING WITNESS BEING DULY SWORN, ON INFORMATION ANDBELIEF STATES THAT:COUNT 1: EXCESSIVE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS- PARTY TO AC RlM EThe above-named defendant, between about Novem ber I,009 and April 30,2010, at 5300 North33rd Street, Milwaukee, did, as party to a crime, make contributions to a candidate for election to theOffice of Govern or, to wit: Scott Walker, exceeding $10,000 during the campaign period, by an amountgreater than $100, contra ry to Wis. Stats. 11.26(1). 1 1.61 (l)(b) and 939.05.COUNT 2: UNLAWFUL POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS- PARTY TO A CRIMEThe a bove-nam ed defendant. between about Novem ber I. 009 and Ao ril30,2 010 , at 5300 North33rd Street, Milwaukee, did, as party to a crime, furnish funds to other persons for the purpose ofmaking contributions in other pe rsons' names, contrary to Wis. Stats. I1.24(1), 11.61(l)(a) and939.05.AS TO COUNTS 1& 2:Upon conviction of these offenses, Class I felonies, as to each Count, the defendant m ay be fined notmore than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 3.5 years or both.


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William E. Gardner, DOE: 11/18/1947 Page 2 of 12This investigation was forma lly initiated on May 10, 2010 by the Government Accoun tability Board. itwas based upon a comp iaint by a former woman friend of Wiiiiam G ardner. Described in greater detailbelow, on Apr il 19, 2010, the former friend contacted Attorney Michae l Haas of the GovernmentAccountability Board. She said an un named individual was supporting a candidate who was "for" theindividual's business, and that he (the u nnam ed man) had asked her (the friend) to m ake a contributionto the candidate using the unnam ed man's funds. She is not identified by name i n his compiaint at herrequest.Although the friend did not identify William Gardner by name, based upon information that sh e didshare, Attorney Haas wa s able to identify the person as W iiiiam Gardner and the business as theWisconsin & Southern Raiiroad.Jur isd ic t ion &Venu eWilliam G ardner is a resident of Hartford, Wisconsin having an ad dress of 218 Third Street, Apt. 323.By operation of law , notwithstanding the fact that ail transactiona l events took place in the C ity andCounty of Milwaukee , the Co unty of Washington is the proper jurisdiction and venue for the pro secutionof these crimes. See Wis. S tats. $51 1.61(2) and 971.19(12).On May 18, 2010, William Gardner, through his attorneys, contacted the Government AccountabiiityBoard. Gardner therea fter provided information in the for m of Exhibit A. His disclosure reflects acontinuing pattern of railroad err~pioyees and his daughter Stephanie Schiadweiler) who werereimbursed - with either Gardner's pe rsonal funds or the funds of the Wisconsin and Southern Raiiroad-f o r contributions made to political candidates.in May 2010, th e' ~ o ve rn m e n t ccountability Board consulted with Miiwaukee County Assistant DistrictAttorney Bruce J. La ndgraf, whose office had the responsi biiity to investigate the corporation inasmuchas Railroad is headquartered in Milwaukee County. Subsequently, Assistant District Attorney Landgraf,as the designee of M ilwaukee County District Attorney John Chlshoim, was app ointed to serve as aSpecial Prosecu tor for Washing ton Coun ty, thereby a llowing him to handle issues involving bothjurisdictions.'This investigation was thereafter conducted under the auspices of an ongoing Miiwaukee County John


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 11118/1947 Page 3 of 12friendly legislation," and "Lobby our state and federal lawmakers for increased funding for track &structure upgrades."On or about November 15,2005, GAB records reflect that M r. Gardner paid a $1,000 forfeiture to theState of Wisconsin Ethics Board for a violation of campaign finance laws. He mad e a $5,000contribution in July of 2005 during a period while he was acting as a lobbyist. At the time of thecontribution, Gardner, as a reg istered lobbyist, was pro hibited from making such a contribution.Gardner was reimbursed by the Friends of Scott Walker for this contribution on November 17, 2005.See Ex hibit A. As reflected on Exhibit A (provided to the investigation by William Gardner), Gardner"donated back" the same amount to the Friends of Scott Walker through his daughter, StephanieSchladw eiier, on the same day, November 17, 2005.On November 19,2009, during the recent election cycle, Ga rdner made a $5,000 contribution to theFriends of Scott Wa lker. A Subpoena for Documents was issued for the Welis Fargo Bank account ofWilliam Gardner and bank records indicate that Check No. 4007 was iss ued to, and nego tiated by, theFriends of Scott Wa lker (also referred to hereinafter as "F OS W). See Figure I.

Figure 1On November 19,2009, e-ma ils exchanged by FOSW staffers Luke Fuller and Joe Fadness reflect


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 11/18/1947 Page 4 of 12

Campaign Finance Rules

For anyone giving money to candidate:Gubernator ial Race $10,000 aggregate lim it Per Election Cycle

$500.00 aggregate lim it pe r election cycle$1,000 aggregate lim it per election cycle

Figure 2in the form o f e-mails and network files. 'The "meta-data" for the Microso ft WORD file sho wn in Figure2 lists Lucht as the "Author" of the docum ent. The docum ent specifically Identifies $10,000 as themaximum su m which could be contributed to a gubernatorial candidate in an election cycle.Concerning this document, Lucht testified as follows:

Q. My first question would be, what were the circumstancesas best you recall that led to the research that'srepresented by this document?

A. Bill Gardner had asked some questions. He asked mequestions about how much he could contribute towards acandidate or candidates. I did not have the answersthat he was looking for, so I did some research.


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William E. Gardner. DOE: 11/18/1947 Page 5 of 12Q. O k a y . And t e l l me w h a t y o u r e c a l l a b o u t t h a t

c o n v e r s a t i o n t h a t y o u ha d w i t h M r . G a r d n e r .A . I t was v e r y b r i e f . J u s t c o u l d y o u w r i t e o u t a

c h e c k f o r $ 5 , 0 0 0 t o t h e S c o t t W a l k e r c a m pa ig n.I'll e t y o u t h e e x a c t name t o p u t o n t h e c he c k a n d1'11 g e t y o u a n a d d r e s s o f w h e re t o s e n d i t . And

t h e n fill u t a n ex p en s e f o r m f o r r e i m b u rs e m e n t a n dg i v e t h a t t o G i b b y . A n d t h e n don ' t s e n d i n y o u rc h e c k u n t i l y o u g e t t h e c h e c k f r o m WSOR, s o y o u ra c c o u n t i s n ' t o v e r d r a w n o r y o u ' r e h a v i n g p r o b l e m so f t h a t n a t u r e .

"Gibby" is Identifled as Gilbert Loberg. He works in the Accounting Division of the Railroad and heprocesses expense reimbursement requests. Beske testified that he wrote out a contribution checkpayable to the Frie nds of Scott Walker dated December 14,2009. Th e John Doe Judge issue d aSubpoena Duce s Tecum for the bank records of Mr. Beske at Chase Bank. Those records confirm thedeposit of a Railroad check in the amoun t of $5,000, posted on December 17,2 009 . Further thesebank records indicate that on D ecember 18,2009, Chase Ba nk p rocessed a check payable to, andendorse d by, the F riend s of Scott Walker In the amount of $5,000.On D ecember 14, 2009, the same day that Mr. Beske wrote out his contribution check, Ga rdne r'sformer friend mad e out a check payable to the Frie nds of Scott Walker in the amount of $10,000. She


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William E..Gardner. DOE: 11/18/1947 Page 6 of 12corporation. See ~ xh lb it . The check was cashed by the campaign com mittee. Wells Fargo Bankrecords confirm these facts.On De cember 1 5,2010, Jam es Lombard wrote a checko ut to the Friends of Scott Waiker in theamou nt of $5,000. In his John Doe testimony, Mr. Lombard testified that he is the Vice-President ofMarketing and Sales for the R ailroad. Lombard testified that he contributed $5,000 to the F riend s ofScott Waiker at the request of William Gardner. He further testified that he submitted an expensereimbursement request for $5;000 and thereafter he received and cashed a check in that amountissued by the corporation. Mr. Lomba rd's bank records confirm his testimony.On December 21,200 9, FO SW staffer Joe Fadness wrote in an e-mail (produced by the camp aign tothe G AB investigators) the following concerning William Gardner:

Bill Gardner pledged to raise $30K by 12/31/09. To that end, please be on the lookoutfor the money listed below. i t should be categorized as f ollows - Category type: Misc;Category: Finance Committee (2010). Please put "Bill Gardner Commitmen t" in theinternal memo.The FOSW campaign provided records indicating that William Gardner met with the candidate Sco ttWaiker on D ecember 21, 20 09 at the Crowne Plaza and Suites in Milwaukee.On January 5,2010, based upon my examination of e-mails exchanged betwe en Gardner and his ex-friend, Gardner learned from the FOSW campaign committee that a "Stop Payment" on the friend's$10,000 contribution check had been issued. Except as otherwise noted in this paragraph, there is noindication in e-mail evidence or o therwise that the iliegai character of the reimb ursed contributions wasdiscussed with Ga rdner until April. Likewise, it appears that the friend did not explain the reason for theStop Payment to the campaign. However, Idid conduct an interview of Gregoly Edminster, the personwho told the friend that the practice of reimbursing political campaign con tributions was likely illegal.-He stated that he contacted the campaign and he w a s assured by a campaign committee managem entstaff memb er that the campaign "had m ethods to detect illegal con tributions and that they wereconfident that there were no illegal contributions coming into the Walker campaign.''


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 11/18/1947 Page 7 of 12On M arch 16,201 0, based upon a rev iew of e-mails provided by the campa ign committee, Gardnerwrote to W aiker fundraiser Dan Mo rse telling him that he (Gardner) had "rounded up " two othe rs for$5.000 each, referring to Lucht and Meighan.Bas ed upon e-mails developed through the execution of the S ea rch Warrant a t the Railroad for digitalevidence from the WSOR network and'e-mail system, the e-m ail represented by Figure 3 wasdiscovered. On Ma rch 2,2010 , Gardner wrote to FOSW fundraiser Dan Morse, "Do I need to buy aticket for the dinner on Monday??? ????????????,"a reference to a fundraiser dinner featuring JebBush. Morse wrote back to Gardner (as shown in Figure 3) that he was "m axxed out," mea ning hecould not legally contribute more to the Friends of Scott Walker.

ent: Tuesday, March 02,2010 4 3 6 PMubject: RE: Dlnner wlth Jeb Busht me put you In touchwith Mary Stitt, theperson inoharge of the event Since you are maxxedoui, thatI notb e a problem.

lease let me know If you do not hear form her in the next 24 hours.

Figure 3Morse then immediately contacted Ma ry Stitt, another campaign fundraiser, indicating that Gardnerwas raising $100,000 for Scott Waiker and needed a seat at the Jeb Bus h dinner.From: Dan MorseSent: Tuesday, March 02,2010 :36PMTo: 'Mary Stltt'Subject:FW Dinner wlth Jeb Bush


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 11/18/1947 Page 8 of 12Moreover, Thomas testified to the following series of e-mails (Figure 5 to Figure 8 below).From:Blll GardnerSent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 14:43To: Dale ThomasSubject: Scott WalkerDale,In the next weektu rn in an expense report showing that you paid to Scott Walker (Friends of ScottWalker) a check for $4,900.00.Once Gibby give you the o hwk deposit it in your checking account. Once that is done then write a checkto Scott Walker from your own personally account for the sum of$4,900.00 and send the Check toFriends of Scott WalkerPost Office Box 100828Wauwatosa, Wl53210Keep me posted on this and when the check is sent............bg-. -From: Dale ThomasSent: Tuesday, March 02,2010 5:07 PMTo: Bill GardnerSubject: RE: Scott WalkerWi l Do.


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William E. Gardner, DOE: 11/18/1947 Page 9 of 12From: Dale ThomasSent: Tuesday, March 02,2010 5 54 P MTo: Bill GardnerSubject: RE: ScottWalker

I kinda figure that, my lips are sealedDaleIFigure 8When asked to e xplain his "my lips are sealed" response, Thomas stated that he "wondered " if it wasillegal and that he "foun d it all to be quite odd:"

h i m , I k i n d o f f i g u r e d t h a t , my lips a r e s e a l e d ;c o r r e c t ?

A. Yes.

Q . Whirl: d i d yo u mean by t h a t ?A . I w a s n ' t g o in g t o t a k e t h i s o u t s i d e o f t h e company

or t o s om eb od y t h a t w a s n o t a t a m a n a g e m e n t l e v e l .Okay. D i d y ou b e l i e v e w hen you r e a d i t : -- when you


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 1111811947 Page 10 of 12

From: m@scot twalker.orgSent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 7:19 PMTo: Bill GardnerSubject: Re: thanks for meeting me at N oodles this week .......

I Sent fro m m y Verizon Wireless B lackBerry IFrom: "BillGardner" 3Date: Thu, 15 Apr 20scottwalker.org>for meet ing me at Noodles this w eek........

I DearScott. II Aga in thanks for taking the time to meet with me this week at Noodles. I know you have a busy scheduleaga in of your successful run for W isconsin Governorship. IAs I said, I hope you pick a Secretary of Transportation that understands that the State of Wisconsinowns about 700 miles of RR in the sta te of WI, that I currently operate for the state . I have take off the'WI.roadways 250,000 trucks each year and will continue to do thes arn e as long as i get support in upgradingthis old warn out m il system that i currently operate on for the State of WI..I W ~ th ll the necessary tools provided by State Government, including adequate funding for cap italupgrades to the state-owned reight railroad system, the W~ scon sin So uthe rn R alro ad Co. will continue II 1

to sp.lr econom c oeveioprnenr ti o ~ g n o u the state and do what vve do oest - brim aood hrah-Dann ~obs to W~sconsin v DrOVld~na n alternative mode of transportatkm for W~sco nsln ommun~tres nd I


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William E. Gardner, DOB: 11/18/1947 Page 11 of 12

I Kmok yoursell OM. dld mtMn g wrong and heve brokenla law ............

, ~.Subject: Re: I think you should knowIu11miiIng this e-nmil lettinguknow that 1hme bm ti sp&uig \vith the tlltorney (M icl~nelHnus), for the Stale o f Wisconsin De i):~m ~entEle clic ns Accounldbility Board, l oc ittd inMadison,WI. ttorneyMike Irtns s fmy eceptive to tlie inf on ~a tio n ave given to bin1SOIhr, tlie on ly part I hnve left out i s the n ulie o f the iildividual and the busi~iessoncerned.Which I w il l do, and t+ehabr: a l l he ncwsssary documents to go W h e r with this, 1 fl do notrcccivc all of ily belongings, and I rncnti eve rythin g hclonging o mc, b y the 30th o f Ak).ril,2010. Il la t gives you 10 bussitless days to have than1 de li'~~c~'t!do ma. I th ink1 have been yuileatient co~~cerninglds iiinttcr, and it is illega l to h o ld t1e111 'my longer per iod. (ie: legaldocuments includerl)I do not tliiiik 13il1, l l i e WSOR, or any other pnilies or individuwls concerned in any o f hisI)usincss dealings would lik c any I cg f~ l roblems, or the pub lic ernhannse~nenthat lhis willCIIUSc.


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William E. Gardner, DOE: 11/18/1947 Paae 12 of 12On May 18, 2010, attorneys representing William G ardner contacted the Government AccountabilityBoard and disclosed the violations recounted in this complaint and other violations as well. See E xhibitA. Further, at about that same time, Gardner released a public statement accepting responsibility forthese violations.In ail instances, except as reflected on Exhibit A, the Friends of Scott Walker confirmed the receipt ofthe contributions described in this complaint. These contributions were returned by the camp aign tothe nominal contributors In May 201 0.Mr. Gardner's attorneys state that all returned contributions have b een dona ted to charityIn add ition to the employees identified on Exhibit A, the John Doe investigation identified an additionalillegal transaction in early 2006, at about the same time as the Lom bard, M eighan and Schladweiiertransactions set forth in Exhibit A. Based upon a review of the Wells Fargo Bank records of WilliamGardner, the Fon d du lac Credit Union records of Suzanne and Craig Immel, and the Joh n Doetestimony of Suzanne Immel, I know that Suzanne lrnrnei was reimbursed for a $500 co ntribution thather husband Craig made to the Friends of Scott Walker in Februa ry 2006.Both Mr. Gardner and the FOSW cam paign committee haven been cooperative with the GAB in itsinvestigation of this matter.

/s/ B u c eT-KdTL.CNotary Public, Milwaukee Coun


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Supplement to Will iam Gardner's Self-Reporting Information to GAB 5/28/2010CDNi'RlBUTlONSREIMBURSED BY WSOR

CMtributionContributor Reimb. Date Recipient Date Amount Notes Returned by CampaignLucht Ken 5/30/2OOS Friendsof Alberra Dartng 5/9/2003 . $500 NoGardner, William 6/4/2005 Ted Kanavasfa r Senate 3/7/2005 S5W NoLucht Ken 6/22/2005 Friends of Scott Walker 6/11/2005 $1,000 S5W retu rned by Walker n 2W5, $ 5 ~0a.2035Gardner, William 7/14/2005 ~riend 5 f Scott Walker 6/10/M05 $SWO ReturnedbyWalker in2005 Yes- 0 6 2005Gardner, Wil liam 8/31/2005 Doyle or Wisconsin S/30/2005 $5,000 NOGardner. Wblliam 11/23/2009 ADCC 11/19/2009 $2,000 Ocig. contribution rewr itten for $3.500 Donated by MCCGardner, Willi am 11/23/2003 Friendsof Mike Sheridan 11/19/2009 $2,000 Orig. con trb uti on rewr itten for $500 ?Gardner, William 11/23/2003 Friendsof Y o u Walker 11/19/2009 $5.000 Yes -May 2010Gardner, Wslliam 12/16/2009 Friendsof SCOXWalker 12/14/2009 $5.000 Yes -May 2010

WKlR reimb o Gardner: Longsmpped12/16/2009 Friendso f Scott Walker 12/14/2003 $10,000 paymemon check and returned unds to d a

GardnerBeske. Steve 12/16/2009 Friendsof Scott Walker 1~14/200s SSPOO Ye5 -May 2010Lombard, James 12/16/2Ml9 FriendsofS cmWalker 12/lS/2W9 $5.000 Yes- May2010Meighan, Bernard 2/1/2010 Friends of Scott Walker U3/2O lO $S.WO Yes - May 2010Thomas, Dale 3/15/10 (est.] Friendsof Smt t Walker 3/8/2010 $4,900 Yes- May 2010Hackbaith. David 4/22/2010 Friendsof Scott Walker 3/22/2010 54.900 Yes- May 2010SWS00

CONTR18UTIONS RELMBURSED BY WILUAM GARDNERContributionCDntributor Reimb. Date Recipient Date Avaunt Notes Returnedby campaignZchladweiler, Stephanie 11/17/2005 Fciendr of ScotrWalker 55.000 retu rned May 2010;11/17/2005 s5,000 Stephanie s Bill Gardnefs daughter which camfib.Schladweiler, Stephanie #3/2006 Friendsof ScoX Walker 1/23/2006 $5,000Lombard, Jim 2/28 DW6 Friends of Sm tt Walker 2/28/2006 $1,000 NOMeighan. Bernard 2/28/2C06 Friendsof ScottWa ike r 2 / 2 8 / 2 0 0 6 S lp w No

SlZooO

I WSOR REIMBURSEMENTSFOR WHICH NO CONTRIBUllON ULTIMATELYMADEContributia . 1Contributor Reimb. Date Intended Recipient Date Amount Notes Returned by CampaignLucht Ken 8/7/20O6 Unknown n/a S1WO Unclear what thir relates to d aLucht Ken 2/3/2010 FriendsofScottWalker n/a $5,000 Contr ibuti onneve rrent n/a-6.0WCDN TRIBUTIO~ YWILLIAM GARDNER FOR WHI M NO REIM8URSEMENTMADECMtributionContributor Reimb. Date Recipient Date Amount Notes Returned by CampaignGardner, William n/a FriendsofNberta Darling 5/15/2003 $500 nla

n/a Friends of libem Darliog 4/23/2007 $!a3 . . "/a

Known Scott Walker Associate: Bill Gardner - Criminal Complaint

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