Governor Doyle Taken to Task Again

With a little editing, this Capital Times Editorial is actually quite good.

Editorial: Doyle should clean house
December 27, 2005

Gov. Jim Doyle needs to make a New Year's resolution to clean up his political act.

The governor's fast-and-loose approach to campaign fundraising and government ethics caught up with him in the last weeks of 2005.

Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, the state's longest-serving prosecutor, delivered a blistering personal indictment of Doyle in mid-December, when McCann told reporters that, under Doyle, "the government is for sale."

McCann condemned schemes that had directed money from Indian tribes with gambling interests in the state to pro-Doyle campaign groups and suggested that the governor is more interested in taking advantage of the current corrupt system than in fixing it.

In no uncertain terms, the veteran prosecutor urged Doyle to change course and embrace the current push to clean up state politics.

Doyle's response to McCann's call was embarrassing.

Where do we begin?

Instead of getting angry with McCann, Doyle should have recognized the district attorney's words as a friendly warning to act before it's too late. Doyle and his aides are now the subject of one of the broadest investigations of political wrongdoing ever seen in Wisconsin.

In addition to an extremely serious investigation of a state travel contract that was given to one of Doyle's major donors, authorities are now examining whether donations from utility executives to Doyle's campaign were linked to a decision by state regulators to approve the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant, sources say.

Published reports indicate that state and federal authorities are asking whether the controversial decision by the state Public Service Commission to allow the $191.5 million sale of the Kewaunee nuclear plant in July might have resulted from a political quid pro quo.

Whether Doyle can survive the political fallout from these investigations remains to be seen. But he will stand himself in better stead with the voters of Wisconsin if he returns all of the campaign contributions he has received from sources that are currently under scrutiny