RPW on Doyle's Regents

Graber & Co. play connect the dots.

GOVERNOR CONTRIBUTES TO “BRAIN DRAIN”
Politically Stacked Board of Regent Out of Touch with Wisconsin’s needs

(Madison, WI)…Jim Doyle’s pay raises for embattled university chancellors and cutting tuition for out-of-state students is pricing working families out of Wisconsin’s higher education system according to the Chairman of the Republican Party, Rick Graber. Governor Doyle’s political stacking of the Board of Regents is making it more difficult for Wisconsin students to be accepted at state schools. Graber says Jim Doyle has turned the Board of Regents into a political machine that ignores the needs of Wisconsin.

“Maybe all of Governor Doyle’s out of state donors want to send their kids to the University of Wisconsin,” Graber said, “Jim Doyle is putting the state further and further into debt and putting a college degree further and further out of reach for working families in Wisconsin..”

The same day that Governor Doyle blamed President Bush for the high cost of tuition, his politically stacked Board of Regents voted to raise the salary of an embattled UW chancellor by 22% and lower tuition for out-of-state students. Since Governor Doyle took office, tuition has gone up 51% for college students. Graber says Jim Doyle is making it harder for Wisconsin students to live the American Dream.

“The University of Wisconsin is called that for a reason. It’s to provide educational opportunities for people here in Wisconsin,” Graber said, “Jim Doyle’s Board of Regents is more worried about pay raises for chancellors and lower tuition for out-of-state students than they are about making sure Wisconsin students succeed.”

Since taking office, Governor Doyle has stacked the UW Board of Regents with political allies. State Legislators called for hearings in August of 2004 to find out what role Governor Doyle had in the ouster of Regent Nino Amato from the board. Doyle’s office pushed for a long-time Democrat activist to replace Amato. Amato came under fire for blowing the whistle on a Board of Regents meeting that ran afoul of the state’s open meetings law and ultimately resulted in pay raises for university officials. Soon after, Amato found himself being challenged for re-election by a Doyle ally. Regents have donated $67,967 to Jim Doyle. Graber says the politically charged atmosphere of the board isn’t serving students.

“If Wisconsin’s students are forced to go out of state for college, we all lose,” Graber said, “If they stay in state, they are more likely to stay here, work and raise a family. When that happens, we all win. Unfortunately, Jim Doyle is contributing the ‘brain drain’ problem our state is facing.”