Pretty Strong Allegations

The Republican Party of Wisconsin just issued this press release.

MORE DOYLE PAY-TO-PLAY UNCOVERED
Software Firm Seals Huge No-bid Contract With Donations

(Madison, WI)…An out of state software firm appears to have secured a no-bid $29-million contract from the Doyle administration by donating to the governor’s re-election campaign.

Oracle Software officials made a donation to Jim Doyle the day after it secured the no-bid deal. Shortly after, thousands of campaign dollars flowed to the governor’s war chest.

The Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Rick Wiley says this is more evidence that Jim Doyle is for sale.

"If this company is so good at what they do and deserve to have the normal bidding process waived, why do they feel the need to pad the governor’s war chest. It’s obvious that the word is out, if you want to do business with Jim Doyle’s administration, it comes at a price,” Wiley said. “Unfortunately, it’s the taxpayers of Wisconsin that end up paying the price for Jim Doyle’s ethical lapses.”

According to state records obtained from the Doyle Administration by an open records request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Oracle Software of Redwood City, California was given a six-year, $28.9-million deal without any competitive bidding. Jim Doyle signed the deal on May 11, 2005. One day later, Oracle officials sent a $250 check to Doyle’s campaign. Forty days later, Oracle officials again reward Governor Doyle with another $3,000 in donations. Two of those Oracle officials had never donated to Governor Doyle prior to these checks.

Wiley called on Doyle to return the donations.

“I’m not optimistic that Jim Doyle can be trusted to do the right thing. He still refuses to return $20,000 in Travel-gate donations even though that deal is under federal investigation,” Wiley said, “For the sake of the integrity of our state, Jim Doyle must return all of his questionable donations.”

...

Wiley said this November, the people of Wisconsin can end the practice of pay-to-play by Jim Doyle.“There are two people ready and willing to clean up the ethical mess that Jim Doyle has created in Wisconsin,” Wiley said, “Mark Green and Scott Walker offer hope for taxpayers. This fall, the voters of the state will get a chance to evict Jim Doyle from the governor’s mansion.”

Pretty strong allegations.

The next questions are :

***Will the MSM pick up on this?
How will the Doyle team respond?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

***Update. DaSpiceBoyz point out that indeed, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did report on this last week. Duly noted. Thanks for readin'.

So I guess a better question is. Will this episode merit more than a one-day story in one newspaper, albeit the state's most read daily?