A CEO who gave more than $50,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Gov. Scott Walker has gotten off with no jail time.
Contrast that with Kevin Clancy, 27, who pleaded guilty to one count of falsely procuring a voter registration while trying to meet a quota while working for the dreaded ACORN, registering voters. He allegedly filed multiple registrations for the same people or filled out some phony registration forms. No one voted illegally; Clancy was trying to scam his employer, not commit voter fraud. Clancy got a 10-month jail sentence. Gardner, well, he said he was worry so why put him in jail? Besides, he has a railroad to run. The story:
William Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. and a major donor to Gov. Scott Walker, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation for violating state campaign finance laws.
Washington County Circuit Judge James Pouros also sentenced Gardner to 100 hours of community service...
Gardner was convicted May 5 of two felony violations of state campaign finance laws after he pleaded guilty to the crimes. Gardner admitted that he exceeded campaign contribution limits in support of Walker and laundered additional campaign contributions through employees and associates, essentially giving company or personal funds to others so they could make political donations at his direction.
As part of a plea deal, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf asked Pouros to sentence Gardner to two years of probation with no incarceration. Landgraf served as a special prosecutor in the case...
Probation is an appropriate sentence in this criminal case because Gardner cooperated fully with investigators and accepted responsibility for his wrongful actions, Landgraf said.... Before his sentencing, Gardner apologized for his actions.
"I repeatedly did the wrong thing," he said. "There is no excuse for what I did."
...Each of the two felony counts carries a maximum penalty of a total of 31/2 years of imprisonment and extended supervision and a $10,000 fine.