The Ghost of Politics Past?

Is it only obvious to me, or have others also noticed the similarities between Governor Doyle’s antics and attitudes and those of former State Senator Chuck Chvala? You remember Chvala – He’s the former Senate Majority Leader, recently back in the news regarding his plea bargain. Chvala was indicted on 19 felony corruption charges involving strong-arm tactics, pay-to-play schemes and general chicanery. As leader of the state senate, he would often prevent a bill from reaching the floor for a vote until a contribution was made to his campaign or some other cause he favored. He even held up one bill, waiting for a guarantee from the (then Republican) governor that he wouldn’t use his constitutional line-item-veto power to alter the bill.

Although Governor Doyle is in the executive rather than legislative branch, he also seems to favor arm-twisting and political trickery over diplomacy. His governorship got off on the wrong foot right from the start. The usual “honeymoon,” that elected executives are accorded at the beginning of their first terms, quickly dissipated as his intent to run roughshod over the legislature became clear. It became obvious that when Doyle spoke of cooperation and bipartisan legislating, he meant, “Do what I want, my way, and I’ll agree with you.”

Doyle, known as Governor Veto in some circles, tends to veto any bill coming out of the legislature that isn’t of Democrat origin or at least a left-leaning bipartisan effort. It appears that in order for a bill to avoid a Doyle veto, it must be authored by a Democrat, directly benefit him or his administration, or be custom tailored to Doyle’s extreme left ideology. The “Concealed Carry” and “Voter ID” bills are prime examples of this. Both bills have wide bipartisan support, both in the legislature and in the constituency, but both were authored by Republican legislators. Both bills were vetoed – more than once – by the governor, who wields enough political clout in his party to keep democratic legislators from voting in favor of an override. Incidentally, why are the Democrats the only party so adamantly opposed to any realistic and effective election reforms?

Although the line-item-veto has long been a valuable tool, particularly in the budget process, Doyle abused that power so severely that the legislature has initiated a constitutional amendment attempt to limit its use to common sense application. If the amendment makes it through the rigorous process required for it to pass, Doyle and future power mongering governors like him, will no longer be able to delete portions of words and combine the remaining letters to create new sentences and paragraphs with completely different meanings and purposes than the bill’s original intent.

What Doyle can’t dictate with the veto pen, he ties up with administrative bureaucracy. He seems to particularly enjoy interfering with projects that would benefit predominantly Republican districts. The Highway 23 Corridor project, which will be beneficial to the entire state, will have the most direct benefit to areas represented by Republican legislators. After assurances earlier this year from the DOT that the project was on schedule, it has suddenly and without any real explanation been put on the back burner by Doyle’s administration to be completed much later than required by the legislation that originally authorized the project.

Similarly, the Town of Sheboygan Wal-Mart project currently stands to benefit the town’s tax base. The project has been controversial for a number of reasons, but will likely occur one way or another. Once again, the Doyle administration’s DOT has muddied the waters. After assuring the town board, Wal-Mart and Republican Senator Liebham that the Highway J access requirement could be waived, the DOT has reversed itself without explanation and reinstated the requirement.

Because of safety and traffic congestion concerns in a residential neighborhood, terms of the agreement between the town and Wal-Mart stipulated that Highway J would not be accessed from the Wal-Mart property. It is unlikely that the town can accept a change that requires it. Wal-Mart’s only recourse then is to seek annexation by the City of Sheboygan, which would have no issue with the access since the town voters do not decide city elections. The city, represented by Democrat Terry Van Akkeren, will then be the tax base beneficiary, leaving the town to reap only the negative effects.

Doyle isn’t against using other questionable and unethical tactics either. He appears to embrace “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” and “pay-to-play” influence peddling. While the governor cannot sell votes, he has managed to implement campaign contribution paybacks by negotiating favorable terms for donors to his campaign fund. The Indian Gaming Contracts and the state’s travel contract are prime examples of political payback.

Doyle originally negotiated a contract with the tribes that extended into perpetuity, effectively stripping future governors of their right to negotiate contracts more favorable to the state and rewarding the tribes for their very generous donations to his campaign. Fortunately for the state, those contracts were negated in court.

More recently, questionable bidding evaluations led to the state’s lucrative travel contract being awarded to a company that donated heavily to the Doyle campaign fund in spite of the fact that another company rated more favorably in the initial process.

A long line of manipulative behavior including bullying, favoritism and bureaucratic obstructionism has from the start characterized the Doyle governorship. The governor has illustrated that he is more concerned with building a Doyle Dynasty than governing in a manner that best benefits the State of Wisconsin. From all appearances, Governor Doyle is headed full-tilt toward burying the State of Wisconsin in the darkest traditions of politics established by such infamous entities as New York’s Tammany Hall and Chicago’s original Daley administration. How many dead people’s votes do you suppose it will take to get Doyle reelected?