With less than two months until the November 2006 elections, much controversy still surrounds the Democrat and Republican parties. The Daily Cardinal will examine a few of the most current issues pertaining to each respective party.
Adelman Travel
In late January, Gov. Jim Doyle was accused of misusing state funds when he awarded Adelman Travel of Glendale, Wis. with a state travel contract. The contract became controversial when it was known that Craig Adelman donated $10,000 to the Doyle campaign a few days before the contract was awarded to the company.
Further scrutiny into the conduct surrounding the contract led to a federal grand jury indictment of Georgia Thompson, a Department of Administration employee on felony charges of fraud and misapplication of state funds for her efforts to have the contract awarded to Adelman. Thompson was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
On Jan. 30, Doyle terminated the contract with Adelman and said he wanted to review the Department of Administration's contracting procedure. ""I have zero tolerance for ethical lapses, and I will continue to demand the highest standards from everyone in my administration,"" Doyle said in a statement.
Bob Delaporte, communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said Doyle's refusal to return Adelman's campaign donations shows the true character of the current administration.
""There were definitely unethical connections between Adelman and Marc Marotta, Doyle's top aide. Georgia Thompson wrote language specifically that Marotta wanted [to obtain the Adelman contract], yet Doyle refuses to return the money he made off the deal,"" Delaporte said.
Green's campaign cash
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group, accused Republican candidate Mark Green of using almost $468,000 in illegal political action committee contributions.
According to the WDC, Green received $511,405 in PAC contributions spanning from 2002 to Jan. 2005 as a congressman. When Green decided to run for governor of Wisconsin, he transferred the funds to his state campaign, which violated a Wisconsin state election law. State law requires PACs to be registered with the State Elections Board in order to make campaign contributions to Wisconsin candidates.
Of the contributions Green received as a congressman, the WDC says $467,844.60 was contributed by PACs not registered with the State Elections Board or registered after the transfer of funds was made. The complaint by the WDC was reviewed at an Aug. 30 meeting of the Board, which voted 5-2 for Green to return money from the committees not registered with Wisconsin at the time of donation.
Doyle's State Elections Board bias
Of the five board members who voted against Green, three were Democrats lobbied by one of Doyle's lawyers, Michael Maistelman.
Anson Kaye, communications director for the Doyle campaign said in a statement, ""What this ruling shows is that Congressman Green will do just about anything to further his personal ambition, even violating the letter and the spirit of our campaign finance laws.""
The Green campaign then filed a motion with the Dane County Circuit Court requesting an injunction against the SEB order demanding the return of the contributions. On Sep. 25, Judge Richard Niess upheld the SEB's decision and said in his written opinion, ""The bottom line is that the Elections Board reached the correct result.""
Green plans to appeal this decision to the state Supreme Court.
Doyle campaign e-mail
More ethical questions about Doyle have arisen when e-mails from Maistelman showed he lobbied three Democrats on the State Elections Board to declare Green's PAC money illegal one day before the vote took place.
""Even if this ends up in court, it is a PR victory for us since it makes Green spend money and have to defend the use of his Washington D.C. dirty money,"" Maistelman said in his e-mail.
Delaporte said Doyle does not have the strongest moral and ethical compass. He particularly noted the lack of Democrats speaking out to support Doyle during these accusations and said, ""The silence is deafening in the Democratic party.""
However, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Joe Wineke countered, saying Rick Wiley, executive director of the RPW, called John Savage the night before the Board ruled on the Green finance case. Savage is the Republican Party's appointee on the Elections Board.
""These people are not paid to sit on the Elections Board, it is a good thing if the public talks to them prior to making decisions,"" Wineke said.
New trouble for Green
In a separate complaint filed Wednesday by the WDC with the Federal Election Commission, the group argues that evidence in the trial at the circuit level has shown Green further violated federal campaign finance laws when he transferred $1,285,974 from his federal campaign to a state campaign account in January 2005.
The WDC requests the FEC investigate if Green violated the McCain-Feingold act, which limits federal to state campaign account transfers to $43,128 per committee to a candidate for governor in a four-year election cycle.
Wineke said the WDC was right to file an additional complaint against Green.
""Mark Green threw the dice in a crap shoot and did not even know the federal law that he violated, even though he voted against it three times,"" he said.
