Doyle's Special Interests Oil Slick

The Greater Wisconsin Committee, Jim Doyle's ruthless hit squad, is sticking with its oily attacks on Mark Green.

The group is obviously extremely well-funded, by shadowy sources. That's quite ironic, given the fact that its anti-Green ads typically claim that Mark Green is in the pocket of "special interests."

What "special interests" are paying for these Doyle ads? That's the question!

The Green campaign notes:

"When Wisconsin voters see these ads, they need to ask themselves who is paying for them. Is it the Adelman Travel contribution that was used as evidence in the felony conviction of a Doyle Administration employee? Or is it the dollars Doyle raised from Indian casino interests, who Doyle gave sweetheart perpetual compacts to? Or is it the donations from trial lawyers for whom Doyle vetoed every attempt to rein in frivolous lawsuits.

Yes, Wisconsin voters should keep that in mind.

It's Doyle who's raking in truckloads of bucks from special interests. Add up the felonious Adelman Travel contribution tactics with Doyle's shameless casino money connections plus his indebtedness to his trial lawyer chums and you get a special interest jackpot.

The GWC players are not too bright. They put a giant target on Doyle's back every time they moan about Mark Green and special interests.

Read about the mountain of out-of-state contributions that Doyle has collected in comparison with what Green has amassed.

Democratic Governor Jim Doyle raised a record $415,113 from outside Wisconsin in 2005 and surpassed the $1 million mark in total out-of-state campaign contributions since 2002 when he was elected governor, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

The WDC review found Doyle has raised $1.15 million from out-of-state individuals in four years, from 2002 through 2005, and is only about $42,000 shy of raising more out-of-state contributions than former GOP Governor Tommy Thompson accepted during his last eight years in office – $1.19 million from 1993 through 2000 (see chart).

His Republican challenger, Mark Green, raised $117,000 in out-of-state funds since 2002, including $72,163 he accepted from 2002 through 2004 as a congressman and later transferred from his congressional campaign account to his state account to run for governor. Green’s largest annual out-of-state contributions since 2002 came last year – $44,837 – when he formally entered the race for governor.

Green’s largest batch of out-of-state special interest contributions came from lawyers, lobbyists and consultants who gave him $31,034 from 2002 through 2005. As with most Wisconsin candidates for statewide office, Green accepted the most out-of-state contributions from Illinois at, $49,966, followed by Minnesota contributors who gave him $15,666 and Virginia donors who gave him $11,000.

Illinois led in out-of-state contributions to Doyle – at $300,138 from 2002 through 2005. But Doyle also drew substantial out-of-state contributions from states other than Wisconsin’s neighbors, most notably California which ranked second in out-of-state contributions to Doyle at $176,002 during the four-year period. Much of Doyle’s California contributions came from investment companies, the health care and insurance industries and developers. After Illinois and California, Florida ranked third at $79,528, Texas fourth at $63,080 and Michigan fifth at $60,925.

In an unusual twist, members of one family represent Doyle’s largest Wisconsin, as well as out-of-state contributors from 2002 through 2005. The family is leading an effort to build a controversial $800 million off-reservation gambling casino in Kenosha, a project that will eventually need a final okay from Doyle if it is approved by federal authorities.

Topping the list of out-of-state contributors was Nathan and Tina Cambio of Highland Park, Illinois, who gave Doyle $20,000 each from 2002 through 2005. Tina Cambio is the daughter of Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha, who has partnered with two Indian tribes to build the mega casino. Nathan Cambio works for one of Troha’s companies, ATC Leasing. Meanwhile, Troha, his wife Natalie and eight other family members who live in Wisconsin and work for his companies contributed $152,500 to Doyle from 2002 through 2005, making them Doyle’s leading Wisconsin benefactors.

All told, the Troha family members and company employees have given $236,842 in direct contributions to Doyle since 2002. In addition, Dennis Troha has contributed $50,000 to the Democratic Governors Association which plans to help Doyle’s reelection campaign in November, and three members of the family have contributed a total of $25,000 to the state Democratic Party.

Casino money? Doyle?

I'm shocked!


Back to the new TV ad from the GWC--

It touts the GWC's same old lines about Mark Green and Big Oil.

Here's the transcript.

Here's the video.

For all its oiliness, the new ad is not slickly produced. It looks cheap, like a parody of a bad attack ad. The voiceover sounds like it was done by a sleazy used car salesman and the accompanying background "music" has a weird calypso vibe.

Let's put that sliminess aside and look at the substance of the ad.

It focuses on high gas prices and attempts to convince Wisconsin voters to place the blame for having to pay $3+ a gallon on Mark Green.

It's amazing that Mark Green wields that sort of power with OPEC and international markets, isn't it?

Doyle and gas is not a good mix.

Remember, Doyle didn't lead the fight to end Wisconsin's automatic yearly increase in the gas tax. We have to thank Republican Tom Reynolds for that.

According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wisconsin already has one of the highest gas taxes in the country at 29.9 cents a gallon."

An interesting point, "in general, if gasoline is selling at about $3 a gallon, major companies make a profit of about 10 cents a gallon on their U.S. refining and marketing operations based on data gathered by the Energy Information Administration (EIA)."

Actually, the government makes more off of a gallon of gas in taxes than the oil companies make in profit.

In other words, Doyle is not crusading to lower gas prices for Wisconsin families.

What was his plan to help out Wisconsin families? He launched that goofy petition drive.

What effective, dynamic leadership!

Not only was the petition a meaningless venture, it arrived in Washington late.

Read more about the petition screwball comedy.

Besides the GWC's focus on the cost of gas, its ad also pushes the image of Green as a special interest puppet.

Surprise, surprise.

The creepy-voiced man says, "[T]he oil and gas companies have given Green more than $40,0004. Tell Mark Green to stop helping the special interests and start helping Wisconsin families."

Let's juxtapose that with this:

Democratic Governor Jim Doyle raised a record $415,113 from outside Wisconsin in 2005 and surpassed the $1 million mark in total out-of-state campaign contributions since 2002 when he was elected governor, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

There's no question that Doyle is slipping and sliding and up to his neck in a special interests oil slick.

I have a suggestion:

Tell JIM DOYLE to stop helping the special interests and start helping Wisconsin families.