Oh, great. Yesterday a federal grand jury
indicted a low-level official in the administration of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, a Democrat.
You can bet the right will seize on this as an example proving the point that whatever they did while tucked into bed with Abramhoff is ok, now that Democrats are tainted with corruption too!
And to be honest, yesterday I was concerned. In fact, I've been concerned since the potential "scandal" came to light last fall. But I just found out a few minutes ago she's no partisan hack...in fact, she was appointed by former Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican. And you know how they always say the prosecutors in corruption cases are nothing but instruments for the radical left? Turns out, the guy prosecuting this case is Steven Biskupic, a Bush apointee whose brother, Vince, is a DA who ran for Attorney General as a Republican before going down in flames for allegedly letting criminals buy their way out of charges.
More on the flip ...
Now, I don't mean to say Steven is his brother's keeper. But come on.
Let's back up a bit. The indictment deals with a travel contract. Adelman Travel gave $20,000 to help Doyle get elected, and then they got the state travel contract. (Or, rather, the CEO and a board member each gave $10,000.) Doyle has always maintained that's a coincidence; they were the lowest bid, he says.
Georgia Thompson, a procurement officer in the Department of Administration, is the only person named in the indictment. Here's a good summary of the allegations:
Among other things, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said Thompson intentionally inflated the score she gave Adelman as part of the seven- member committee evaluating proposals by companies to provide travel services for state employees, student-athletes and study-abroad programs.
Six of the seven members of that committee opted to award the largest contract, covering about 40 percent of state travel, to Omega World Travel of Fairfax, Va. But Thompson's high score for Adelman created a virtual tie, prompting the department to call for a "best and final" offer from the two companies.
With its revised bid, Adelman came in about $27,000 cheaper than Omega.
To sweeten the pot, Biskupic said, Thompson told members of the committee she inflated her scores for another travel agency - favored by some members of the group - when they were voting on a separate contract for athletic travel. The indictment says Thompson hoped to use that as a "negotiating tool" to get the group to back Adelman's bid for the larger state employee contract.
Nobody can figure out, though, why she would do that. Neither the current nor the former Secretary of Administration can figure out who would benefit from giving Adelman the contract. If there was any wrongdoing, it was probably because of a personal connection Thompson has with Adelman, not because of the campaign contributions.
But the Freepers and GOPers in general are always so, so anxious to point at Dems and say "See! They do it too!"
For example. Remember how Bush only let people in to campaign events if they signed a loyalty oath? Every place they went, everybody had to sign an oath. Thousands upon thousands of people. There was no dispute about it. Well, one guy wrote a LTE saying he wore a Bush t-shirt to a Kerry rally in Madison and he was not allowed in. One guy, who may have been lying. And my dad says, "See, they're all the same. Both sides do it."
Which makes it ok, apparently.
So, they have an indictment against a Democratic governor's administration. Never mind that the prosecutor is a Republican, never mind that the subject of the indictment is a low-level, non-political official. No, that won't matter.
They have Tom Delay, Jack Abramhoff, Lewis Libby, and Buck Cunningham under indictment, and tons more under investigation, related to millions of dollars laundered and distributed to dozens of Congress people, almost all Republicans. We have Georgia Thompson indicted, related to $20,000, not laundered, simply donated.
But just wait until Rush and O'Reilly get ahold of this. Just you watch. It'll become proof that Democrats are just as corrupt as Republicans, if not more so. Which makes it ok. Or something.
Isn't logic fun?