There are three strong reasons Jim Doyle
should be replaced as governor of Wisconsin. He has sold off state
policy to special interest groups, obstructed attempts to clean up state
government and control taxes, and finally, has been a bad governor who
has not led or worked with others.
* * *
The charge: Under Doyle, Wisconsin has become a governmental eBay in
which Doyle's biggest contributors have been able to dictate state
policy and receive contracts.
The case: Throughout Doyle's tenure as attorney general and during
his 2002 campaign, he adamantly opposed expansion of gambling in
Wisconsin. That didn't stop state tribes from pumping at least $1
million into various efforts to elect Doyle. The governor was quick to
pay back the tribes by negotiating sweetheart gaming compacts that
radically expanded gambling and attempted to give tribes eternal
monopolies from competition. Since then, the tribes led by the Potawatomi (but including the potential developers of a casino in
Kenosha) have pumped more millions into coffers of groups that favor
Doyle and Doyle-supported candidates for other offices.
When Doyle was seeking the 2002 Democratic nomination and facing
stiff competition from Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk, the state teachers
union endorsed Doyle. His 3 percent win in the primary has been directly
linked to the teachers' money and votes. As governor, Doyle has carried
the union's water, exempting schools from spending controls, obstructing
private school vouchers and opposing attempts to wrest the teachers'
health insurance contract from a company owned by the union itself.
The other major group that pumped a fortune into Doyle's 2002
campaign was the state trial lawyers. As governor, Doyle has vetoed
several bills aimed at improving the state's business climate by
limiting damages in civil litigation. Doyle has consistently vetoed
these bills, to the glee of the trial lawyers guarding their huge
contingency fees won in civil judgments.
Adelman Travel's owner and board member give Doyle $10,000 each and
the state travel contract is awarded to the firm over the objection of
all members on the committee overseeing the process. A company seeks
state approval from a supposedly independent state agency to buy a
nuclear power plant. Several of its executives give money to Doyle,
meetings are held and the original rejection of the plant sale is
overturned. The Marquette Interchange Web site contract is awarded to a
firm whose executives donated to Doyle and no competing bids were ever
sought. All of this is the subject of a federal grand jury
investigation.
* * *
The charge: Doyle has consistently blocked public policy decisions
favored by overwhelming public majorities.
The case: Doyle three times vetoed property tax freeze legislation
while Wisconsin property taxes soared. He came up with his own version
of a 'freeze' only as the election approached and it expires shortly
after the election. He repeatedly vetoed bills to clean up Wisconsin's
corrupt elections by requiring photo identification to vote. He vetoed
legislation that would have barred Wisconsin welfare and social service
benefits from being given to illegal immigrants.
He repeatedly vetoed legislation to expand Milwaukee's school choice
program and agreed only to a modest expansion when it was clear his
stance was killing him with Milwaukee voters.
* * *
The charge: Doyle has failed to lead and will not work with anyone
else to improve Wisconsin.
The case: Doyle's way of dealing with Legislature is to just say no.
He has never attempted to negotiate a middle ground on property taxes or
the state budget. Instead, he has vetoed virtually every Republican bill
of substance and leaned on Democratic lawmakers to uphold the vetoes.
Doyle has shown utter disdain toward corporations and hasn't lifted a
finger to encourage the creation of new jobs. Doyle did nothing while
his DNR nit-picked Menards to death and led the company to build a
distribution center elsewhere. He made no credible attempt to lure a new
Honda plant to Wisconsin. Neither he nor his aides attempted to mediate
the dispute between Harley-Davidson and its union that will cost
Milwaukee any future Harley expansion. So invisible has Doyle been that
his first call to Harley came AFTER the union rejected the company's
proposal.
There's more. The Doyle-appointed University of Wisconsin Board of
Regents chose the remarkably weak Kevin Reilly as UW president.
UW-Madison continues to allow a lecturer to "teach" that it
was the U.S. government that committed the 9-11 atrocities. Doyle
objects but does nothing to fix the situation.
* * *
The bottom line: He's sold policy, obstructed progress and been
invisible when needed. Jim Doyle has been a terrible governor.
(Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show and a
Sunday television show. His column runs Wednesdays in The Freeman.)