The Republican Party of Wisconsin announced Monday there was another state-issued contract followed by subsequent campaign contributions, an issue it said proves Gov. Jim Doyle is 'for sale.'
In a statement released Monday, the RPW said Doyle secured a no-bid contract with Oracle Software worth $29 million. The RPW said shortly thereafter donations came pouring into the governor's re-election war chest.
Bob Delaporte, spokesperson for RPW, said this is yet another instance in which the governor's actions and lapses in ethical judgment are finally catching up to him.
'He's been saying one thing and doing another since he ran for office, and I think it's catching up to him,' Delaporte said. 'Polling shows that he's in trouble, and I think people understand that Jim Doyle has ethical problems.'
Delaporte also said the timing of contributions and the issuing of contracts is too coordinating to be purely coincidental.
'We keep finding, time after time, contributions strangely timed to the awarding of contracts,' he said. 'I hope the contracts are all on the up and up, but it just seems the timing of it is suspicious and makes people wonder whether or not there's a Jim Doyle tax that they have to pay to get business.'
Sean Dilweg, executive assistant at the Department of Administration, said the Oracle Software bid waiver was done in part to save Wisconsin taxpayers millions of dollars.
'We were able to negotiate a 45- percent discount on the overall price in the first year, so we saved approximately $2 million in the first year,' Dilweg said.
Dilweg added bid waivers are common with any information technology program and said suspending vital databases to go with another vendor could be a risky move.
UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the fact that this is an important election year makes it an opportune time for challengers to try and undercut Doyle's ability to govern the state.
'This is subject to enough scrutiny and has enough of a smell to it, that it makes it a very useful opening for Republicans to try and undermine him,' Franklin said.
