Sunday, July 30, 2006

Governor Doyle's Firewall is broken

Let’s start with the basics. A simple definition for a “firewall” is a “Software/hardware used to prevent unauthorized access from a computer system or network of computer systems.”

Now that we know what a firewall is, how many times have we heard the following statement from the Jim Doyle campaign?

"There is a firewall between the campaign and state government."

We heard this statement on March 27th 2006, when it was discovered that Doyle had accepted almost $45,000 from two out of state consulting companies who had recently received a $6.7 million Wisconsin state contract.

We heard this statement on July 7th, 2006, when it was discovered that Doyle’s assistant Marc Marotta held a meeting at his state office with a Philadelphia attorney that was arranged by the Doyle’s fundraiser, Katie Boyce. The Philadelphia attorney donated $10,000 on the same day.

We heard this statement on March 30th, 2006. On this day, Doyle vetoed a piece of legislation that would have set new standards and restrictions for the rent-to-own industry. Mysteriously, Governor Doyle had received $22,500 from the rent-to-own industry before he had vetoed this bill.

Again, we heard this statement only a couple of days ago, July 29th, 2006. This time Jim Doyle had returned a questionable donation of $10,000 because of the timing the donations were given. Burger Boat and friends had donated before the state contract, they were up for, had been awarded. Shortly after Burger Boat received the state contract worth $1.6 million , the money was again donated to Doyle’s campaign.

I could go on and on with these. In fact, if you type “Governor Doyle firewall” into Google, you will receive over 23,000 hits.

How much longer does Governor Doyle believe the people of Wisconsin will continue to buy this line of his?

Even in the face of this overwhelming evidence, there are still some that believe that there is a firewall. All these folks have to do is take a look at the comments made by those that are donating to the Doyle campaign. One such donor, Dick Day, a contractor from the Kenosha area states in Sunday's Kenosha News-

Day said large political donations have simply become a part of doing business.

“You can cook a good steak for the guy, but that’s not going to get you the new engine plant and the pharmaceutical laboratory,” he said.

Clearly, many folks like Mr. Day, are not even trying to hide the fact that they are doing whatever they can to purchase favors from our governor.

So far, our governor has proven that these types of ploys do work and that governor's office can indeed be purchased by the high dollar donors.

Clearly, the firewall that Jim Doyle says is in place is completely broken. If there is a firewall, certainly, most level headed Wisconsinites cannot see it.

We see hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations go into Doyle’s campaign account, state contracts are then being sent out to those who donated.

We see state contracts go out and Doyle campaign contributions start rolling in.

We even see campaign donations roll in, and important legislation that protects consumers is mysteriously vetoed.

I question whether or not there ever was a firewall. This type of stuff has been going on since Jim Doyle ran for governor in 2002. Wisconsin Indian tribes were pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into Doyle’s campaign. After Doyle was elected, the Indian tribes received very lucrative gaming contracts.

Governor Doyle’s campaign needs to stop stating that there is a “firewall between the campaign and state government”. They have said it so often, that it is no longer believable. Even the most ardent democrat has got to be tired of this statement from the Doyle campaign.

If the Doyle campaign continues to insist on saying this unbelievable statement, perhaps Doyle campaign spokesman Anson Kaye should just make a recording. Every time a reporter calls and questions campaign contributions, Mr. Kaye can just push the “play” button. It sure would save him some time.

In the meantime, Wisconsinites can continue to build a firewall between Doyle and the state capitol building in Madison. This firewall continues to grow.

4 comments:

Russ said...

The jury is in.
Governor Doyle takes bribes. If anyone out there takes issue with that statement please describe what a person is called that takes money from special interest groups in exchange for giving them what they want.
The real questions is what will the Wisconsin voters do come November.
Of course, as usual the 25% or so that benefit from Doyle's politcal payoffs will vote for him, but what about the 75% getting their pockets picked to pay for his handouts.

Anonymous said...

"describe what a person is called that takes money from special interest groups in exchange for giving them what they want." -

Mark Green. vote after vote, contibution after contribution. Big oil, big pharma, big tobacco, big special interests = big dollars for Green.

Please - twist, lie and distort all of these issues. My god, look at the rent-to-own issue you site. Anybody who paid attention to the legislation knows that it was a rent-to-own shill bill. So he took contributions and didn't sign their bill. Your point is?

Burger boat - can they not give to the governor? If they support him, do they lose their ability to do state business? According to Repubs, they can't give before, during or after the process. All is inappropriate. Do the same rules apply to Mark Green? If he voted for a bill that benefits a company, individual, etc, can he take money from them? Will he be prohibited from giving state grants/loans/assistance to anyone who has donated to him should he win office? Can he take any money now from people who currently have state contracts or have received state assistance.

It would sure be nice to see the media apply the same rules to Green that they have decided apply to Doyle.

Russ said...

Max
I agree with you. The media should apply exactly the same rules to Green as they apply to Doyle.
In fact this legalized bribary campaign funding system we have in this country is wrong.
The whole system is one big conflict of interest.
In the media's defense however, Doyle does project an image of taking money for favors to new level.
For example providing a gambling monopoly for Indian tribes that write the fattest checks certainly doesn't pass the smell test.
In fact legislating monopolies for any service to the public is wrong.

Anonymous said...

As a state employee I can be fired just for accepting a t-shirt fom Microsoft, but the governor can take all that money for his campaign? What about the ethics training I just had last week that says those who are elected are subject to even stricter rules? This is a bunch of garbage. I did hear that one of the guys that used to work with me is running for governor though. Nelson Eisman is at least honest and understands what being ethical is all about. Whatever happened to Ed Thompson - he would have been great and actually had a change to win, too.