Doyle's Refund

"What? I don't know. Huh?"
There's no end in sight to the felonious behavior, the wrongdoing, and the appearance of impropriety when it comes to Jim Doyle and his people.

At least that's the way it seems. There are so many instances of sleazy, questionable exchanges of money for various favors from Doyle that it's hard to keep track of them all.

Another weird one has surfaced.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Two months after Gov. Jim Doyle handed a yacht-building company a $1.16 million state grant, the company president hosted a fundraiser that netted more than $16,000 in donations to his campaign, records show.

Doyle accepted the donations even though he had returned $10,000 in contributions from the same Burger Boat Co. executives months earlier, citing the company's pending application for the state aid.

The donations Doyle returned were made in November, three days after a Department of Transportation panel recommended Burger Boat for the grant. Doyle, a Democrat running for re-election against U.S. Rep. Mark Green, has said he became aware of the close timing and returned them to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

But Doyle's latest disclosure report shows he turned around six months later and accepted $16,300 from company executives in May, two months after he formally announced the awarding of the grant at the company's Manitowoc headquarters.

A pattern is emerging here.

Time and time again, recipients of contracts and beneficiaries of different state deals have a Doyle campaign fund connection.

This one is particularly odd since Doyle returned cash and then later took it back in.

Did he think that no one was looking?

Doyle had a $2 million fundraising advantage over Green as of June 30, with $5.17 million in the bank. But he has insisted there's a firewall between the campaign and state government.

I think that "firewall" is being shown to be extremely porous.

David Ross, president of Burger Boat, the 143-year-old maker of luxury yachts, said the latest donations came at a fundraiser he hosted at his home for the governor. He gave $1,300 while his wife Katherine, also a company owner, gave the maximum $10,000 allowed.

Company vice president James Ruffolo gave $5,000 - the amount that was returned to him by Doyle's campaign six months earlier. Other executives from Manitowoc firms gave a total of $3,000 on the same day.

The fundraiser was in no way tied to the grant, Ross said, describing himself as a huge Doyle supporter.

"We want to help him out in his campaign," Ross said. "That's the bottom line and it really doesn't get simpler than that."

I don't think it gets any simpler than "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine."

Very, very simple.

Doyle campaign spokesman Anson Kaye said the donations last year were returned "out of an abundance of caution" but that nothing inappropriate had occurred. He said Burger Boat executives approached the campaign after the grant process to again offer their support and the campaign accepted.

"The main thing here is that this is a good Wisconsin business that supports the governor for the work he's done for the state," Kaye said.

How many times recently has someone from Doyle's campaign had to say that "nothing inappropriate had occurred"?

It never seems to stop.

Doyle is hopelessly corrupt. He shouldn't get a free pass for abusing his position.

Bob Delaporte, spokesman for the state Republican Party, which has repeatedly accused Doyle of rewarding campaign contributors with state business, said Doyle was "tone deaf to the appearance of things."

"It looks like he got a refund," he said. "If the donations were inappropriate at one time, what made them suddenly appropriate?"

Exactly.

Doyle should have to answer for this. What exactly was it that changed to make it acceptable to receive those donations?

Why would Doyle decide to chuck the "out of an abundance of caution" strategy?

...Ross said state aid has been critical for an expansion of Burger Boat that has doubled the size of the firm to 400 employees. The company won $2.1 million in state grants and loans in 2003. Executives donated $10,000 to Doyle's campaign that year, too.

The Burger president said the governor has helped the economy in the Manitowoc area rebound from factory closures and mass layoffs.

"We need more people in politics that are like Jim Doyle," he said. "He's going up against a formidable opponent here and I happen to think he's doing a wonderful job and would like to see him re-elected."

Of course Ross wants to see Doyle re-elected.

Of course he thinks that Doyle's "doing a wonderful job."

HE GOT $2.1 MILLION IN STATE GRANTS AND LOANS OUT OF DOYLE.

What's not to love there?