Wisconsin Dems' Culture of Corruption

Things aren't getting any better for Wisconsin Democrats.

The Donovan Riley "double your voting pleasure" scandal remains the elephant in the room.

Riley hasn't dropped out of the race, and nearly all of his fellow Dems are taking the Hogan's Heroes Sgt. Schultz approach -- "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"



The longer the Dems avoid the Riley problem the worse they look. The "stench of corruption," to coin Terry Moran's phrase, is getting stronger and impossible to ignore.

Of course, Riley isn't their only concern.

The real nightmare for the Dems is Doyle's dirty dealings.

Madison -- A Republican legislative leader Thursday accused Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's former top aide of violating the law when he met with the head of a company that was bidding on a $68.7 million building project.

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said then-Administration Secretary Marc Marotta violated the state's procurement law in April 2004 when he met with Weas Development Co. founder Doug Weas because Weas was trying to land a contract to refurbish the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Kenilworth Building. State law says all bidders must be treated equally.

Weas' firm was part of a team that ultimately got the project.

...When the project first went out to bid in 2003, UWM favored Prism, a three-member partnership that once included state Rep. Curt Gielow (R-Mequon). But competitor J.P. Cullen & Sons of Janesville alleged Prism was improperly allowed to change its proposal and threatened a lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, the state Building Commission - which is led by Doyle and includes several Republican legislators - unanimously voted to restart the bidding process, Journal Sentinel columnists Cary Spivak and Dan Bice reported this June.

The work then went to a team made up of Weas, KBS Construction and Hammel, Green & Abrahamson. Employees of those firms have given Doyle $51,000 since late 2003, records show.

Prism is now suing the state in Ozaukee County Circuit Court alleging Marotta improperly intervened in the contract. The state Department of Justice said last month that it was reviewing how the contract was handled.

Marotta stepped down as administration secretary last year. He now is chairman of Doyle's re-election campaign.

Fitzgerald said the meeting with Weas violated a state statute that requires all bidders to be treated equally. He said investigators should look into that meeting.

"I think there is one piece of overwhelming evidence, circumstantial as it might be, but it's still an appointment calendar that verifies there was an illegal meeting between the secretary and a person involved in the bidding process," Fitzgerald said. "It happened. That's a fact. It's been confirmed. It's clear to me that is a violation of the (bidding) process."

Fitzgerald leveled the charge a day after Madison's WKOW-TV reported on the meeting.

...Fitzgerald said the disclosure of the meeting raised questions about Marotta's June testimony before the Joint Finance Committee about how he handled the procurement process. Marotta said then that once the bidding process started, he referred calls from people vying for business to procurement staff.

Thick clouds of corruption are hanging over Jim Doyle. They are of his own making.

It's reality, not cheap smears or partisan election season attacks.

More and more instances of lucrative contracts being awarded to big money campaign donors keep bubbling to the surface.

And now Marc Marotta's facade seems to be crumbling.

When Marotta testified in June that he stayed out of dealings once the bidding process was underway, it's possible that the meeting with Doug Weas really did slip his mind -- an honest mistake.

It's also possible that Donovan Riley cast his votes for the 2000 election in Wisconsin, drove to Illinois, and then voted there -- Oops! Another honest mistake.
Sure.