Though Gov. Jim Doyle claimed he has never met Georgia Thompson, a top administrative aide who was indicted Tuesday, gubernatorial candidates cite corruption within the Doyle administration.
'I've certainly never met Ms. Thompson, and from what I understand, the contract was rewarded to the lowest bidder, a Wisconsin company, and actually saved taxpayers $30,000,' Doyle said in a statement Wednesday.
Mark Graul, spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, said he questioned Doyle's motives and believes the governor is out of touch with Wisconsin's citizens.
'It means whether or not you can trust your government. I think the dark cloud that the Doyle administration's ethical collapse has cast on state government is going to be a question on voters' minds when they go to the polls next November,' Graul said.
Graul cited past instances when the governor accepted contributions in which the donations may have been deemed unethical.
'If Mark Green were governor, Craig Adelman would not have been able to give those contributions while his company was bidding on that contract,' he said.
Bruce Pfaff, spokesperson for gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, said the actions of the administration are disheartening, and the scandals have a negative effect on the people of Wisconsin.
'I think the governor needs to come clean with the people of Wisconsin,' Pfaff said. 'I think he needs to institute internal reforms in his own administration, primarily taking a page out of Scott Walker's own personal book as county executive where he prohibits any employee from contributing to or hosting a fundraiser for him.'
Joe Wineke, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, defended the governor and said the indictment had nothing to do with the current administration.
'I've known [Jim Doyle] for 25 years; he's a man of incredible integrity and honesty,' said Wineke. 'He is being accused of having a civil servant, who got her job while Scott McCallum was governor, of doing his bidding when he has never met her. This whole thing is just ludicrous.'
Wineke also said Green is linked to both the Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay scandals, claiming he took $31,000 from Delay.
'We also have to be very careful that election-year politics and partisanship don't take the place of fairness,' Doyle said, 'and that a long-time civil servant isn't used for political football.'
