Posted on Wednesday, 16th June 2010 by Patrick Dorwin
Christopher Liebenthal, (a.k.a. Capper) the Milwaukee County employee and liberal blogger known for his vicious attacks on anything conservative, and especially anything regarding County Executive Scott Walker, is under investigation by the Milwaukee District Attorney, for blogging on the taxpayer dime. The District Attorney has sized Liebenthal’s computer and records show he has been blogging during work hours. Liebenthal blogs on at least three blogs and edits the Wisconsin section of the BlogNetNews, a service that collects information from blogs.
This stems from a complaint filed by government watch dog Citizens for Responsible Government’s Orville Seymer. CRG’s Chris Kliesmet also adds, “Wisconsin law prohibits public employees from using taxpayer resources for political purposes, a government employee running political blogs at work is clearly taxpayer-funded political activity.“
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County District Attorney is investigating a Milwaukee County health department employee suspected of operating three political internet blogs during work hours.
“Wisconsin law prohibits public employees from using taxpayer resources for political purposes,” said Chris Kliesmet, executive administrator of the Citizens for Responsible Government Network. “A government employee running political blogs at work is clearly taxpayer-funded political activity. “
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has taken possession of the government computer used by Christopher Liebenthal, a Milwaukee County employee who operates the three political blogs. Computer records show he was posting to his blog during work hours and possibly from taxpayer-funded computers. Orville Seymer, a CRG Network leader, filed the complaint.
“If he is guilty of bilking the taxpayers, Liebenthal should man up and quit,” said Kliesmet. “The taxpayers should not be subsidizing his campaign blathering on work time.”
“Liebenthal regularly whines about overworked, underappreciated government workers,” said Kliesmet, “but, he has time to write political columns at all hours of the day and night. This is may be one reason why people don’t think government workers have it so bad.”
Liebenthal has been active in Milwaukee County First and AFSCME Local 48. He has blogged or maintained web pages for those groups as well as his own. Blogging under the name “Capper,” Liebenthal writes for two political blogs called Cognitive Dissidence and Whallah! Numerous political columns by “Capper” [Liebenthal] were posted during working hours.
“There is a place for political activity and it’s not on the taxpayers’ dime,” Kliesmet said. “At a time when citizens are taxed to the max, Liebenthal thinks he’s above the law when it comes to spending public dollars. The District Attorney needs to prosecute and Liebenthal should show the courage of his convictions and step down.”
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65 Responses to “Liberal attack-dog blogger/ county employee Christopher “Capper” Liebenthal under DA investigation”
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June 16th, 2010 at 9:38 am
I’ll bet there are a couple other lefties who are sweating this one out too.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Belling vowed to go after the lefties after what they did to Darlene Wink when she was just making a few comments on the J/S.
He was going to work to see that anyone on the left caught commenting on tax payer time lost their job too. If this ends up being accurate and charges are brought, this is far worse than just making comments.
Should be a fun show.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Update, Citizens for Responsible Government has set up a blog with more documentation.
DA Investigates Taxpayer-Funded Political Blogger
June 16th, 2010 at 10:09 am
I only have one comment.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,
I can see Bruce laughing 70 miles away.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Oh and WALLAH.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:13 am
We’re not going to hold you to “one comment” gus.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Interesting…. Capper wrote his first post about Darlene Wink, a Scott Walker staffer that was caught leaving comments on the JSOnline website during work hours, at 2:28 in the afternoon on Friday May 14th. Wonder what time he clocked out that day. Oh, I checked, it wasn’t a furlough day.
Pot… Kettle…
June 16th, 2010 at 10:54 am
[...] via Badger Blogger » county employee Christopher “Capper” Liebenthal under DA investigation. [...]
June 16th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
If you go to Boots and Sabers, under the “Touchdown Jesus Torched” post, you will see capper is not happy. http://tinyurl.com/29gx34z
June 16th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
How much you wanna bet he’ll claim he was only doing this on his “lunch break”?
June 16th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
This can only get better before it’s all over:-)
June 16th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
That was not a work day for him.
Also, the B&S post was not likely capper, either, though Owen will have to confirm that with IP addresses.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Capper also commented on Charlie Sykes’ blog. Apparently in my efforts to curb spam, I blocked his IP sometime in the past, so I guess we will be spared.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Also, April 15 (the other date in CRG’s “evidence”) was a county furlough day.
In short, then, CRG has identified four posts that all happened on days when Chris was not working as evidence of his posting “at work.”
Great job, CRG!
June 16th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
My guess is the D.A.’s Office will NOT elect to prosecute and will refer this back to capper’s employer for the appropriate disciplinary action. He, and several others I’m sure, will be popping Tums until then - and maybe even after since the disciplinary action could be severe, and the fallout from comments made to his blog by others who were at their workplaces may lead to further disciplinary actions for them. They may even get “kicked to the curb” if they’ve been warned before.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Jay, CRG posted just a few examples. The one I posted above was not a furlough day. I’ll be interested in seeing what the District Attorney finds when they do their forensic search of his computer. That is where the real evidence will matter.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Psssssssssssst. Patrick. The union boyz stick together. Folktune’s is just another union dim bulb. And the guitar playing and yodeling is attrocious too!! When Crapper is proven to be the hypocrite we know he is. Folktunes’ will be ear deap at the publc trough. GREAZIN AWAY.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Patrick, the one you posted (about Wink) was one of CRG’s examples and was posted by capper on a vacation day. That was what prompted my first comment!
June 16th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Well, then he has nothing to worry about…
June 16th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
No, he doesn’t. But the people libeling and slandering him do.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
No Folktunes, your liberal ideology prompted your dumb comment. Either Crapper DID or DID NOT blog on County time. Either Crapper DID or DID NOT use County computers to do so. Kleismet is not the District Attorney. The D.A’s office will forensically examine Crappers computers if Crapper hasn’t spilled too much food on them.
Then we will know. The D.A. does not usually seize computers unless he has reason to believe something untoward is occurring. But let me be blunt Folktune’s, you aren’t that quick on the up take. Crapper is not a nice person.
June 16th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Up until today I never even heard of Christopher Liebenthal. Judging by the number of comments made by readers at his blog, I’d say I’m not alone. From what I can gather he is little more than a low level government employee with left-leaning opinions.
Why is everyone getting aroused over an apparent nobody?
Much ado about nothing?
June 16th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
If there wasn’t merit to the accusation, then the computer wouldn’t have been seized.
With that, let’s see how the investigation pans out. About a year ago, another hateblogger by the name of Michael Mathias was under investigation. Nothing came out from that.
Maybe CRG ought to investigate if another hateblogger ever repaid a $35,000 loan to a certain village.
June 16th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Let’s presume for the moment that that the accused was in fact not working on the dates and times noted above.
There still is the matter of using public computers and other resources to further a poltical cause.
But the people libeling and slandering him do.
Doubtful.
June 16th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Folktune’s you continually amaze me with your stupidity.
To libel someone is to publically tell an untruth about them to do harm to their reputation via broadcast or print generally.
E.G. and specifically for humorous purposes only.
“I saw Crapper swallow 40 cream puffs on Thursday”
Slander is usually the verbal form of the aforementioned.
Which statements about Crapper have been untruthful and intended to harm him or his reputation. C’mon Folktune’s lets hear it.
Crapper is being investigated. Crapper is a fat slob.
Neither libelous, neither slander.
You are simply an imbecile. And I own you.
June 16th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I’m no fan of Chris “Capper” Liebenthal, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he did stuff on the job…but isn’t it premature to jump on the bandwagon before anything has been proven, or at least officially alleged via criminal complaint or disciplinary action from the DA or administrators from his department?
Granted…having the DA’s office take your work computer is not an everyday occurrence. Did the DA take Darlene Wink’s computer?
June 16th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Jay’s cultlike defense is weak. There may not be posts per se, but an investigation may yield that there are drafts, responses, or other communications related to the three hate sites. The law is clear - taxpayer resources may not be used for political purposes. Writing up Hate Scott propaganda on a county computer, even if not posted then and there, is still misusing county resources.
It’s high time public servants remember who they work for. I know of at least one other local government employee maintaining a blog on taxpayer time. CRG ought to look into that.
June 16th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
isn’t it premature to jump on the bandwagon before anything has been proven, or at least officially alleged via criminal complaint or disciplinary action from the DA or administrators from his department?
Yes, you are correct.
June 16th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
I suspect Kevin Fischer is blogging on state time. Either that or he never sleeps. Isn’t a legislative aid a government employee?
June 17th, 2010 at 9:26 am
While I know Capper would NEVER do this for any of us, I will reserve judgment until facts come out. While I have a hard time believing that he never used county property/time, unless and until its documented that he did, Ill not jump on the Yay hes guilty bandwagon.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Roland you are wise. It is certainly far too early to judge Crapper guilty of anything.
And I for one have not made any allegation that Crapper has used his computer at work while on County time to post his ridiculous mentally disturbed tripe. He may post that nonsensical pap on his own time. I just feel it’s proper to treat Crapper with the same type of respect that he treats others with. It’s not as if I’m having t shirts and signs made up to picket Crapper at his West Allis home.
June 17th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
For those that question the few examples of posting times & dates, CRG has provided a few dozen more.
June 17th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I forgot something!!
Please don’t judge Crapper as guilty simply because his belly is as big as Foust’s forehead.
Let the chips fall where they may. If Crapper didn’t blog on County time, we’ll all be happy for him. And yes, I do own Folktunes. But he is for sale.
Gotta run, Pamelyn Ferdin is in town.
June 17th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Including, you’ll note, Memorial Day! And MLK Day! Also, phantom posts (find me a March 5 MCF post, please) and more furlough days (like 2/26)!
CRG is taking a real spaghetti approach to this-they’re throwing a whole mess of stuff against the wall in the hopes that something sticks.
June 17th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
It is interesting to note that capper’s post (Um, Yeah. About That) at his home blog contains no proclamation of innocence…not even a general, non-specific, Tom Foley approved statement. If he has truly nothing to worry about, I would expect a guy like him to be shouting it from the rooftops…or at least his many blogs.
“Reticent” is a word I would never use to describe Chris “Capper” Liebenthal.
That said, there are several holes in CRG’s allegations of internetus timewasteus.
June 17th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
That said, there are several holes in CRG’s allegations of internetus timewasteus.
Indeed, Roland. In fact, “several” seems a bit kind to CRG.
June 17th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Roland, Crapper knows. He knows whether he did or did not do what the accusations would appear to be. Roland. CRAPPER KNOWS. If he didn’t post or use County computers for that or a political purpose, he could say so.
He hasn’t. And I know why.
He’s trying to come up with a plausible defense.
June 17th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
He’s probably lawyered up.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:16 am
I want to know when the investigation starts on Jay, the Crumbum.
June 18th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
capper will respond today after 5pm
June 19th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Did the crap pile say anything?
June 19th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
icapper will respond today after 5pm/i
You know about as much as Inside Source. Wait, maybe you iare/i him! Capper announced Friday that he would be out-of-internet range all weekend.
Also, Monday is a MKECO furlough day, so when hes posting during work hours, hes not on County time, despite what Seymer claims. Speaking of whom …
iDid the crap pile say anything?/i
No, Seymer and CRG havent put out any new info since Thursday.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Crumbum, when does your investigation start?
June 20th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
PCD, I did my investigation. I included my results at my blog: CRG thought Memorial Day was a work day. Fools!
June 20th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Also, Monday is a MKECO furlough day, so when hes posting during work hours, hes not on County time, despite what Seymer claims.
Though he was not on county time, was he still using county resources?
June 20th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Lemme ask you this, Jaeson: On your days off, do you go into work to use the computers?
June 20th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
I don’t work for the county. The government sector lives in a reality all of its own.
So, would you like to actually answer my original question, rather than dodging it?
June 20th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
If I may paraphrase your question, Jaeson, you seem to be asking: “If Chris posted to his blog on a day that he, like most other County employees, was prohibited from working and when the office where he works was closed and locked, was he using County resources to do it?”
Is that a fair paraphrase? Because it seems to me that the answer ought to be obvious.
June 20th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
It is not a fair paraphrase.
While I give you extra points for working overtime to avoid answering the question in a direct manner, even a deeply uneducated person such as yourself should understand that without some kind of psychic legerdemain a person has no way of knowing what the policies of an employer might be without having worked there themselves or reading some report, hence the reason for asking the question in the first place.
Certainly it hasn’t been unknown for employers to give their employees keys, or in the modern era some kind of electronic pass card, to facilitate access to an employer’s premises.
Additionally, in regards to your earlier query, it also hasn’t been unheard of for employees to use their employer’s resources for a variety of reasons, even off company time. For instance in the particular case of clerical/administrative type of positions, employees have been known to use employer resources for faster upload/download times, higher quality printers, access to fax machines, free long distance, free paper and other office supplies, etc.
I do however find it interesting that such a simple question would cause you such consternation.
Now, did you want to try to answer the question the way it was actually written as opposed to the way you wish it had been written?
June 20th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Some people even have laptop computers issued by their employer. That’s a far more likely way to use county resources when off the clock. I have no idea if Capper has one.
June 20th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
All right, okay, fine, you win, I quit, whatever:
Yes, I suppose it is an ENTIRELY legitimate possibility that Chris Liebenthal, Milwaukee County’s most prominent blogging-critic of Scott Walker who might as well wear a giant target on his back from all that attention Sykes & Co. shower upon him, signed up for vacation time and still went into work to use County computers ANYEAY because they were a little faster than what he had at home.
In fact, now that you mention it, that is the only logical explanation for this whole mess.
June 20th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
*cough* ANYEAY = ANYWAY *cough*
June 21st, 2010 at 4:47 am
Nice try, crumbum, but when does the DA take your computer and match up time you were supposedly on the School District’s clock?
June 21st, 2010 at 5:51 am
As far as I know, my computer’s just sitting there at school right now. Go have at it. I don’t care. (You may have to dodge the asbestos-abatement guys working on the place, though.)
Although, I will be honest, the computer was updated in January to Windows XP from Windows 2000, so who knows if the “evidence” you seek was wiped out at that moment when my classroom was pushed suddenly into the 21st century.
June 21st, 2010 at 9:05 pm
In fact, now that you mention it, that is the only logical explanation for this whole mess.
It should be noted, that not everyone leaves town during paid vacation time.
If a monetary or some other form of material gain can be had by using employer resources, employees may very well come in during their allotted vacation to use them, and have been known to do so. Furthermore, many infractions such as those alleged are not necessarily perpetrated by those thinking logically, and there have been many examples of that.
These sorts of things are not unheard of, and therefore it is a reasonable albeit speculative query, particularly since there must be some reasonable cause involved for a DA to bother with an investigation.
Regardless, I never said that it was the only logical explanation.
I merely asked a very rudimentary yes or no question, which you had the opportunity to answer with your own explanation in an adult manner, potentially putting the issue to bed.
But rather than answering it directly and succinctly, you curiously chose to attract more attention to the issue by dodging the question with your preferred teenage brand of snark. I suspect requesting a simple answer to a simple question yet again will only reap more of the same.
I am interested though, when you capitalize every letter in a word, does that mean that you really, really mean that word?
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:16 am
I merely asked a very rudimentary yes or no question, which you had the opportunity to answer with your own explanation in an adult manner, potentially putting the issue to bed.
Here’s the thing: I do not have a video camera that watches Chris 24/7/365. But what I do know is that Chris is under intense scrutiny for criticizing his employer publicly (as I have occasionally been myself.) And I know that Chris’s own comments-like explaining that he’s posting during “work” hours because he’s on vacation or a furlough-suggest awareness of and attention to that scrutiny.
Combined that with the fact that Chris is not any kind of manager likely to have override access on his computer or the alarms at the building where he works, and the fact that the vast majority of Americans run away from work on holidays and vacation days (and the whole County was shut out on furlough days) it seems improbable that Chris would be blogging from work on the dates CRG posted.
And it also seems improbable to me that any reasonable observer would believe otherwise.
I am interested though, when you capitalize every letter in a word, does that mean that you really, really mean that word?
No, it means I really, REALLY mean it.
Actually, what it means is that sometimes the WP software here isn’t accepting my html tags (see, for example, comment 42 above-and note that I’m risking it with this comment), and I opted for caps rather than try to italicize.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:07 am
I believe what is being forgotten here is that someone is innocent until proven guilty. With that said, the fact that the DA is investigating shows that Chris’s actions are questionable. We just need to wait and see what the DA finds.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:49 am
Andy, you’re correct, and it would be really nice if the lefties took your advice when they rush to judgement on their blogs. The way I see it, this is nothing more than a little payback for all their B.S. Doesn’t necessarily mean every comment is appropriate, but I’ve seen enough (and even been the recipient) of their crap to not really care what they think.
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Andy, Crapper is innocent until proven guilt….IN A COURT OF LAW.
I hope the FAT PIG is charged and convicted.
He is a piece of crap. He like Folktunes is a government dependent loser. Crapper shits on anyone who doesn’t agree with him getting FATTER at taxpayer expense. I hope he loses his job.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Now see, that was a fairly well reasoned response. B+
Actually, what it means is that sometimes the WP software here isn’t accepting my html tags (see, for example, comment 42 above–and note that I’m risking it with this comment), and I opted for caps rather than try to italicize.
Really?
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:56 am
Glenn & Gus, Thanks. I too don’t like the guy and hope that the DA does find something. Chris is very thin skinned and has banned me from commenting on his many blogs. Someone who hates as much as Chris does should be knocked down a few pegs and more.
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Blog war embroils County employees
http://onmilwaukee.com/politics/articles/liebenthalbloginvestigation.html
July 12th, 2010 at 6:00 am
[...] Our past coverage: Liberal attack-dog blogger/ county employee Christopher “Capper” Liebenthal under DA investigati… [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am
The mayor said using police officers to snuff out smokers will not take them away from their crime-fighting duties.
http://www.wisn.com/health/24075779/detail.html?treets=mil&tid=2654056049813&tml=mil_health&tmi=mil_health_1_08000107122010&ts=H
So let me get this straight. Barrett has discoverd some new physics whereby an object, such as a police officer, can be in two places at the same time?
Fascinating.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Oops wrong thread. Sorry.