Doyle Lives Large On Taxpayers’ Dime

I must commend and applaud the reporters for this story.  We’re going to dig into it a bit, because the responses from the administration are just laugh out loud funny, but there is a larger point.  This is how reckless Wisconsin’s highest state official is with our money.  This is the example he is setting for everyone under him.  He is - figuratively - the tip of the iceberg.  But on to the story…

Gov. Jim Doyle and his staff failed to properly account for 145 travel expenses over two years, including a $5,200 business-class flight to Ireland and a $654-a-night stay in a London hotel.

Nearly three-fourths of the time in 2007 and 2008, Doyle and his staff didn’t supply receipts as required under state travel policy. By comparison, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and her staff didn’t provide receipts one-third of the time during the same period.

[...]

State policy requires employees to provide receipts for purchases made with their state-issued credit cards for flights, hotels and other expenses. That documentation was often missing from hundreds of pages of Doyle’s travel records obtained under the state’s open records law.

Some details:

Among expenses that weren’t properly documented was a business-class ticket to Ireland for Doyle in April 2008 that cost $5,226 round trip. An accompanying coach-class ticket for Goodwin cost $830. They made the trip to Ireland and England to meet with the head of SABMiller about the merger of Miller Brewing and Coors and to discuss policy issues with government officials.

The travel policy requires state employees to purchase the lowest appropriate airfare, which is described as coach fare. More expensive charges require written justification, but that wasn’t provided for Doyle’s trip to Ireland.

And:

One April 2008 statement for Doyle showed a $2,614 charge at a Marriott in London. But without the required receipt, there was no way to tell who stayed there, how many rooms were used and how long the stay was.

Weeks after reporters raised questions about Doyle’s expenses, the governor’s staff contacted hotels where Doyle stayed to retrieve some of the missing receipts. The London receipt showed he stayed there for four nights, at $654 a night, including taxes.

Goodwin stayed there for $2,015, or $504 a night on average.

In Toronto, Doyle and his staff paid Carey International Limo $1,526 for a chauffeured minivan and chauffeured sport utility vehicle the first day and $395 on the second. Doyle made the trip to discuss trade, agriculture, green energy and protecting the Great Lakes.

Doyle and his aides would have spent less than half that amount if they had rented two vehicles, a review of area rental rates and gas prices showed. State policy says employees should use rental cars if they are the most economical option.

There are more, but we get the point.  Doyle is staying at more expensive hotels, taking more expensive flights, renting more expensive cars, and generally living large.  He is doing so in direct violation of the state’s travel policy from which he is not exempt.  He is also failing to turn in all receipts like everyone else is required to do. 

Why is Doyle spending so much for his personal luxuries?  Because he can. 

Why is he not turning in receipts?  That’s in the realm of speculation.  I think it’s particularly telling that most of the missing receipts are for hotels.  These are extremely easy to get.  They are usually a full size page (or more) and many hotels even slip them under your door on checkout day.  I can understand losing that little receipt they give you at Subway every now and then, but to fail to retain and submit so many hotel receipts is extremely troubling.  It is even more troubling because most high-end hotels - which is where Doyle stays - allow you to charge meals, booze, gift shop items, spa treatments, etc. to your hotel bill.  Without a receipt, nobody knows on what the money was actually spent.  It could be a case of just incompetence in managing expenses, but it could also be Doyle trying to cover up a few perks of the office. 

As I said at the beginning, however, the administration’s response is just hilarious:

But Susan Goodwin, Doyle’s chief of staff, said the governor’s office acted appropriately in all cases.

“We are careful,” she said. “We are frugal. We minimize costs. If you stepped back and looked at the bigger picture instead of the tiny details of following some (Department of Administration) policies, you would look at that list and say, ‘Wow, how many times did he actually have dinner somewhere? . . . How little did he travel?’

Huh?  So we should ignore the travel policy because he could be traveling even more and being more wasteful?  I’d like to see any in his administration try that excuse.  “Hey, boss, I could have taken a few more trips, so let’s just forget about the receipts for that trip to Vegas, OK?”  Uh huh…

Asked if the governor would change how he tracks travel expenses, Goodwin said, “Absolutely not, absolutely not. . . . We will not limit his role or chain him down and not allow him to fulfill his duties as governor.”

So… flying coach would prevent him from doing his duties?  Here’s the thing… Doyle can stay at the fancy hotels, rent the limos, and have a grand time on the taxpayers’ dime.  All he has to do is turn in the receipts and fill out a justification for anything that doesn’t comply with the travel policy.  Since he’s the governor, he can even approve his own justification.  How would merely filling out the paperwork impair his duties?  Or does Goodwin mean the duties for his next term because the Republicans would have a field day with his lame justifications?

This was the one that really got me chuckling.  It’s about that business-class ticket to Ireland for $5,226 when coach-class was $830.

Goodwin and Chandra Miller Fienen, Doyle’s chief legal counsel, said the more expensive ticket was warranted because Doyle needed to be well-rested.

“We can’t afford to have the governor sick,” Miller Fienen said. “We have to make sure that the governor arrives able to do his job, able to participate fully . . . and we have to protect the governor’s health.”

Are you serious?  A direct flight from Chicago to Ireland takes about 8 hours (and is cheaper than indirect flights out of Milwaukee or Madison).  The governor is going to be so debilitated by fatigue that he can’t function?  How unhealthy is he?  Should we be worried?  How about this… he flies in a day early, saves $4,000 on the plane ticket, and we’ll spring for a $200 hotel night?  That way he can get a true full night’s rest before meeting with people.  How would that work? 

The message is clear.  Doyle has led Wisconsin into the worst financial situation in living memory, but he’s not going to let it crimp his travel style. 

This is leadership?

Posted by Owen at 1628 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin