On Thursday a 55-year old Department of Administration employee was indicted on two felony counts: "causing misapplication of funds and participating in a scheme to defraud the state of Wisconsin of the right to honest services." More detail is in the Journal-Sentinel. A copy of the indictment is here. All of this is in connection to allegations that Adelman Travel Services was awarded a $750,000 state contract as a result of making campaign contributions to Governor Doyle.
The indictment alleges that DOA employee Georgia Thompson
- Intentionally inflated the scores of Adelman Travel, which was in competition with other agencies to be named the state’s “travel partner”
- Suggested that committee members change scores when evaluating the agencies.
- Prevented the contract from being awarded to another agency despite the other committee members’ unanimous decision.
Ms. Thompson is of course innocent until proven guilty. But does anyone, with the exception of Doyle flacks and Democratic party hacks, honestly think a DOA bureaucrat would do these things without being ordered to do so by the DOA Secretary or Doyle himself?
Georgia Thompson could face 20 years in prison if convicted. My guess is that state and federal prosecutors have focused their attentions on mid and low level DOA bureaucrats in the hope that they will sing. Doyle may not like the tune.
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This press release just received at 1:40 p.m. today by Gov. Doyle's office...
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Contact: Anne Lupardus, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162
Statement of Governor Doyle
Regarding DOA Travel Contract
Governor Jim Doyle today released the following statement:
"I've made it very clear that I have zero tolerance for any ethical lapses in my Administration.
"But I also have a lot of confidence in the procedures that the Department of Administration has in place, including making sure that career civil servants and not political appointees make decisions about contracts, and that contracts should go to the lowest bidder.
"I've certainly never met Ms. Thompson, and from what I understand the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, a Wisconsin company, and actually saved taxpayers $30,000.
"I'm a former prosecutor, and I have a lot of respect for prosecutors and the job they do. We take this very seriously. But we also have to be very careful that election year politics and partisanship don't take the place of fairness - and that a longtime civil servant isn't used as a political football."
I suppose that's better than "I'm not a crook"
She was hired by McCallum, so you can't sayshe is a Doyle flack.
Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin makes a common _sense_ suggestion:
"The Governor and the Legislature need to convene in Special Session in the next two week to consider bipartisan comprehensive reform campaign finance reform legislation (Assembly Bill 226) and Ethics & Elections Board Reform Legislation (Senate Bill 1). If the Governor or Assembly Republicans or Senate Democrats or whoever do not like this reform legislation as it is now--then a special session is the time for everyone to lay their cards on the table and sit down and craft bipartisan reform that can be passed and signed into law."
Unfortunately common sense goes by the wayside when the establishment parties are gearing up for what stands to be the most expensive governor's race in the history of the state. I wouldn't expect a special session any time soon, or if we get one any resulting legislation will not apply to this year's elections.
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