“Rindfleisch replies within four minutes to Villa …. ‘Already broken down and put away. Laptop is packed. I already saw this e-mail,’ ” Budde testified.

“The significance of this e-mail,” he added, “is that it shows that the county executive would appear to be aware that laptops were used in the County Executive’s Office for accessing things on non-County networks.

“And it also is very significant because it shows that the various members of the County Executive staff worked in concert to conceal laptops and/or networks — wireless networks that were in existence in that office suite, and these items were not present when we did our search warrant later in the day on May 14, 2010.”

In another email, Rindfleisch told Russell, “I took down the wireless, it’s in my bag for now.”

Four days later, Archer, head of the Milwaukee County Department of Administrative Services, wrote to Walker and members of his county executive and campaign staff via private email: “In light of recent events I will no longer be checking this e-mail account during the workday. We discussed this among CEX (county executive) staff this morning and we are unable to find alternatives.”