Leistikow Lies

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel kind of whiffed on this story regarding Governor Doyle's use of state planes for campaign purposes. At least they had the decency to burry it in the bowels of the paper yesterday. Here's what the Journal Sentinel should have told us:

On November 17, 2003, Doyle attended a Presidential Candidate forum in Milwaukee with Senator John Edwards. The event was sponsored by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Following a complaint by the Republican Party of Wisconsin that Doyle was using his state office for campaign purposes in conjunction with the event, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the following:

Leistikow said Doyle has two offices - his public taxpayer-supported Capitol office and a separate campaign office."Governor Doyle has a campaign office with three full-time staff, and all the work of these forums is being done by the Democratic Party and the campaign staff," he said.No taxpayer-funded resources are being used in connection with the events, Leistikow said.

The article was published on December 16, 2003.

On Monday the Appleton Post Crescent reported that Governor Doyle's campaign never reimbursed the State of Wisconsin for his use of the state plane to travel to the Edwards event and Leistikow said the Governor's campaign did not pay for the flight because he was there in an official capacity.

Leistikow said the forum was a public event. "The governor wasn't there to endorse any candidate. He was simply there to create a format where Wisconsin residents could see and hear their candidates directly instead of through endless 30-second commercials."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel questioned Leistikow about his inconsistent statements:

Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said Monday that those comments were consistent with the state covering the cost of transporting Doyle, because he wasn't there to campaign."The fact that taxpayers didn't organize the event doesn't automatically make it a campaign event," Leistikow said.

In other words, the state paid for the Governor's plane trip to the political event which his campaign helped schedule, but "no taxpayer funded resources" were used because it was a public event that was sponsored by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin which required people to reserve a seat for the event by calling or emailing Party headquarters.

Thanks for clearing that up Dan.