Gov. Jim Doyle currently holds campaign money from two men charged with violating state fundraising laws and one man facing felony charges in California.
United States Attorney Steven Biskupic recently charged Kenosha businessman John Erickson with using a fund of corporate money to reimburse individuals who made campaign contributions to various politicians, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.
Such an act violates laws on using corporate money for political campaigns.
Erickson made illegal contributions exceeding $250,000 and also tried to conceal his actions from the public, the DOJ release stated. Erickson made close to $4,000 in illegal contributions to U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., more than $18,000 to President Bush and more than $100,000 to Doyle.
It was a political slush fund, it's illegal,"" said Mike McCabe, director of the non-partisan ethics watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
To avoid campaign finance laws, the large amounts of corporate money were given to individuals who then made contributions, essentially ""laundering it clean,"" McCabe said.
The charges also say Erickson collaborated with Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha, who has already pled guilty to making illegal campaign contributions. It was obvious prosecutors forced Troha to provide information on Erickson, according to McCabe.
Troha gave over $200,000 to Doyle's campaign according to a release by the ethics reform group Common Cause Wisconsin.
Doyle also received $2,000 from Norman Hsu, a disgraced former Democratic fundraiser who fled felony charges in California. Hsu gave thousands to Senators Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Both Presidential candidates have returned the money given by Hsu. The Doyle campaign has yet to return the contributions received from him.
""Our campaign will watch as [these cases] unfold,"" Doyle spokesperson Mike Tate said.
Tate said investigations found Troha made no illegal contributions to the Doyle campaign. If any accepted donations were made illegally from anyone of the men in the separate cases, the money will be donated to charity, according to Tate.
Erickson and Troha were involved in an operation that tried to give contributions to politicians in exchange for the clearance to create a multi-million dollar casino in Kenosha, according to McCabe. The two men also sought deregulation for the trucking company they helped to operate.
