Handling the Indictment

The facts:

Doyle Administration employee Indicted
27 News has reported that Georgia Thompson was the only one of a seven member contract evaulation, to favor Adelman, for the 750-thousand dollar contract to book
airfare for state employees.

Last October, 27 News asked Thompson why she was the only evaluator to rank Adelman, number one.

She responded, “I do not recall what I scored in any of the areas, to be honest…I’m sorry if you find that unusual.”

But, in the federal indictment against Thompson, it’s alleged she:
- intentionally inflated her scores for Adelman travel
- inflated another company's scores in a related travel contract to use as a negotiating tool with fellow committee members to push for Adelman
- prevented the committee's otherwise unanimous pick of rival firm, Omega World Travel, with her actions on behalf of Adelman.

The federal grand jury in this investigation states political considerations motivated Thompson.

Around the time of this contract, Adelman executives contributed 20-thousand dollars to Governor Doyle's campaign.

Last October, the governor told 27 News, those contributions played no role in Georgia Thompson's actions.

Doyle told 27 News, Thompsan was no pressured in any way.

The grand jury's indictment states Thompson wanted to help her job security.

Days after Adelman's contract took effect, Thompson’s supervisors gave her a one-thousand dollar bonus, citing merit.

As the investigation and judicial proceedings progress just as interesting to watch will be how this plays out politically. If I were advising the Governor, I would have released a statement, from him, yesterday. Something along the lines of:

"This surprised me as much as anyone. I've never applied pressure to any state employee to do anything other than their jobs. I will cooperate fully with any investigation to ensure that Wisconsin taxpayers are protected."

If I were advising GOP gubernatorial candidate Joe Schmoe, I'd have suggested they say something like:

"Jim Doyle's campaign fundraising practices and his Administration as a whole continue to be under an ethical cloud. While the investigation there may have a long way to go, at first blush it does seem to fit the same sorry pattern. Wisconsin deserves better."

I'll take a look at exactly how Doyle, Green and Walker handled things a bit later in the morning.