Ignoring 25 years of state precedent, Doyle’s minions ordered Green to return donations to his political fund that were transferred from his congressional campaign fund to his gubernatorial fund. Showing hubris so brazen as to require a new word for hubris, Doyle’s hacks changed the rules AFTER Green had already transferred the money.

Never mind that Democrat Tom Barrett four years ago made an identical transfer with the unanimous approval of BOTH Republicans and Democrats. Never mind that the Elections Board’s own legal counsel opposed the retroactive change in policy. To Doyle, all that mattered is keeping a few hundred thousand dollars out of the hands of his opponent.

This is the same Doyle who reversed a decade’s worth of opposition to gambling expansion after receiving nearly a million dollars from Indian tribes. It’s the Doyle whose administration awarded a state travel contract to a firm whose principals contributed $20,000 around the time of the award. We’re talking about the same Doyle whose administration is being investigated by the federal government. It’s the Jim Doyle who has repeatedly vetoed attempts to restore integrity to the Wisconsin voting process.

None of Doyle’s attacks on ethical government are occurring in a vacuum. They are part of a pattern of Wisconsin Democrats willing to do anything to win. They’ve laughed at the outrage of Republicans over voter registration drives that signed up nonexistent voters, the bribing of street people with cigarettes to cast Democrat votes, the 8,000-vote gap between voters and votes cast in Milwaukee in the 2004 presidential election and the hundreds of voter registration cards returned by the post office because of nonexistent names and addresses. They’ve mocked evidence of double voting and illegal voting right up to the point that one of their own candidates for the state Senate was criminally charged with voting in two states.

To the Democrats, and especially Doyle, all that matters is winning. The common thread in all of these cases has been winning elections. The public policy sellouts and contract awards were in exchange for campaign contributions. The vote fraud is to pad electoral totals. And the denial of Green’s right to his own campaign funds is to try to outspend his opponent.

The basis for the legitimacy of American government is free and fair elections. The behavior of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, and Jim Doyle in particular, treats that notion as a quaint inconvenience. Sell public policy ... vote illegally ... change the rules after the fact ... load up the voter rolls with fake people ... do whatever it takes. They ought to change the name of their party because it has nothing to do with democracy.

As for Doyle, it is apparent that no tactic is too low if the end result advances his chances of victory.

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Despite the conviction of former Alderman Anthony Balistreri and the recall of former Mayor Jeff Nowak, there’s still a stench coming from City of Pewaukee.

The city consists of the largely rural and wooded areas around Pewaukee Lake. It is separate from the suburban village of Pewaukee that is a developed community abutting the east end of the lake. Despite the fact that the "city" is affluent and educated, its politics are straight out of a "Dukes of Hazzard" script.

With Balistreri scheduled to be sentenced for 19 felonies dealing with sexual abuse of children, Alderman David Mokros is urging the sentencing judge to go lenient on his perverted pal, citing his "service to the community." This is the same Mokros who released records of police calls to the home of one of the leaders of the effort to recall the mayor. (The ex-mayor was a crony of Balistreri and publicly defended him after his arrest.)

It is beyond bizarre for an elected public official to publicly go to bat for a convicted pedophile. But the word bizarre is as overused in City of Pewaukee as is the word "hubris" in the Doyle administration (see above). I guess Mokros still likes Balistreri. So what that Balistreri was convicted of raping a teenage boy? Or that he carried on a four-year sexual relationship with a teenage girl? One wonders what Balistreri would have to do to actually bother Mokros.

By the way, in his letter Mokros says he has known Balistreri for 10 years. If true, that means he knew him when he was using the name "Anthony Gumphrey" and kept quiet about it when Balistreri/Gumphrey first ran for office.

If I were the village of Pewaukee, I’d demand that the city change its name. Folks might be confused about which community has all the buffoons.

Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show and a Sunday television show. His column runs Wednesdays in The Freeman.