June 13, 2006
Bad news for Doyle
The headline in MJS: "Official convicted in travel deal" was not the news Jim Doyle needed to launch his campaign for reelection. While the U.S. Attorney said the trial was about "Georgia Thompson and Georgia Thompson alone" no one believes that for a New York minute. The fact is that two very sophisticated and knowledgeable people, Mitch Fromstein and Craig Adelman, made large contributions to the Doyle campaign.
The Republican Chair, Rick Graber predictably jumped on the story--"shows har far this administration is willing to go to reward political cronies and campaign donors." (Apparently Graber lived in Dick Cheney's bunker while Tommy Thompson and "Scooter" Jensen ruled Wisconsin. The king of fund raising and his prince.)
Mark Green called for a reform we have advocated for years--ban campaign contributions from officials seeking state contracts. Simple enough. How about it Governor? Makes so much sense you will not be able to articulate a reason to oppose this reform.
The really bad news is that few people I talk with think that this is all about Georgia Thompson. While Doyle probably kept his distance his fund raisers have missed very few opportunities to raise money from vendors or utilities seeking favors.
Marc Marotta talked with Adelman executives as did Doyle prior to the awarding of the travel contract. Marotta told MJS he would be "out of the country and unavailable for comment." Didn't say if he is raising money abroad.
Take it to the bank. This issue will define the gubernatorial race this year. Too bad. What happened to Wisconsin?
post a letter about this blog »
|