Doyle's Circus continues to roll

The Jim Doyle circus continues to roll around Wisconsin. Clearly, the governor is now staging events.

See Charlie Sykes...

This email went out this afternoon. The author, Michelle Curtis told me that she was 'instructed" to send it out. Information on the list being used is protected under federal privacy laws, but the university is using its access to put together this political dog and pony show. Reaction should be interesting.

If this is not the use of state resources -- and federally protected data -- for political purposes, I don't know what would fit the definition.

Here is the letter posted by Charlie Sykes about the event being staged by the Governor-

I am the associate director in the UW-Madison financial aid office. I am contacting you because we have identified you as a student who received a Wisconsin Higher Education Grant ( WHEG) last year but did not receive one this year due to the cutoff for the grant coming much earlier than last year. This early cutoff is due to the current state budget impasse. You currently have sufficient financial need to receive the grant, you meet all other eligibility criteria but the funds are not available for you (and others in similar circumstances) to use for school expenses.

continued...

This time, the governor and his people may have overstepped their boundaries. Using taxpayer resources to do you political dirty work is definitely out of bounds.

See Jessica McBride for more...

Jessica Writes:
First, it is a violation of state law for a UW employee to engage inpolitical activities while at work. This has been interpreted to include workingon or assisting with a political campaign; displaying signs and similarmaterials in the work area supporting a partisan political candidate; and usingcampus mail, e-mail, telephones and equipment for political activities.