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?

1. Diamond Jim and his blood sucking leeches who want to destroy our freedoms have got to go!

   This is a prime example of why they need to go and any Republican worth his salt needs to tell Ma and Pa Oostburg to get off their duffs and support the Republican nominee, Neumann or Walker.

   None of this third party crap, which got us Doyle in the first place.

   Mr. and Mrs. Kohler, are you listening???

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 1842 hrs




2. I have to disagree only slightly here. I really don’t want the governor of Wisconsin riding coach to Europe. Having made the trip a few times myself - there is a huge difference in how well you adjust to the time shift when you have a seat you can actually rest in.

   Now - that being said - the lack of documentation here is dreadful - and I don’t understand why he needs to spend $600+ a night for hotel! It is farily obvious that he doesn’t care one iota how much he spends on himself through the taxpayer’s dime - until it comes time to turn in the receipts.

   This is shameful.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 1944 hrs




3. Speaking of reckless spending of public money, the July 1 edition of the daily reporter has a solicitation in search of contractors interested in the Badger school project. VJS the construction manager for the project has decided the steel, pre-cast concrete,elevator, fire protection, HVAC, and temperature control contracts will be awarded according to how they fill out a questionnaire not by public bidding.It is also known the school will violate there own bidding polices posted on the school web site as all the demolition,carpentry, and concrete work will be given to VJS to self perform no local firms will even have a chance to bid the work.They signed this contract in Feb of 2007 funny how they did not mention this when looking for votes.
   Mandatory state wage for a construction laborer is a little over 45 a hour, but the school has agreed to pay VJS 64 an hour and let them also have a 8 % mark-up this is of course over and above the other fees they will collect to manage the project. If you combine all the trades above about half of the 29 million will be spent without no system of checks and balances and we are just starting.Every contract needs to be public bid, why would we let a Waukesha based construction company award contracts behind closed doors. Is the school board blind dont they know this is public money.

   Crusher

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 1948 hrs




4. It is what it is. Live with it, or fix it. You cannot have politicians on the payroll of special interests and expect them to work on behalf of the public.

   Jack Lohman
   http://MoneyedPoliticians.net

   Posted by Jack Lohman on July 06, 2009 at 0700 hrs




5. Out with the S.O.B.!!!!

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 0753 hrs




6. What is lovely is the hope that wells up in rad right breasts over every time the JS thinks they have nailed Doyle, and like Bugs sticking his finger in Elmer Fudd’s gun, the thing blows up every time.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1131 hrs




7. So I assume you’re cool with an elected official failing to turn in travel receipts or adhere to policy while taking $5,000 flights and staying in $650/night hotels?  Or is it just cool when the guy has a D after his name?

   Never mind.  I know the answer.

   Posted by Owen on July 06, 2009 at 1142 hrs




8. Keith - by radical right… do you mean the taxpayers?  This is clearly another example of Jim believing that he is above everyone else and doesn’t have to follow any rules… even his own

   Posted by Clint on July 06, 2009 at 1229 hrs




9. If Tommy T had done this - Keith would be screaming from the roof tops about wasteful government spending. And he’d be right - for a change.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1312 hrs




10. Cubic Zirconia Jim…hypocrite extraordinaire!

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1526 hrs




11. For Doyle it’s easy living large off the backs of the taxpayers.

    If it were Big Oil or Big Banks or Wall Street the libs would be all over this.  Now it’s just Big-headed Diamond Jim Doyle (aka Squidward Tenticles)

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1553 hrs




12. What a slime ball this guy is.  Barry-please take him!  He would fit in nicely with the rest of the liberty hating tyrants on your staff.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 2058 hrs




13. Doyle wants to let criminals out of jail because there is “no money” and yet he can spend it like a drunken sailor on leave.

    Let’s write letters to the Peace Corp. begging them to take Doyle.

    http://www.peacecorps.gov/

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 0750 hrs




14. Or:

    Doyle spent just over $58,000 a year from 2003-2008, compared to just over $103,000 a year for Republican Gov. Scott McCallum in 2001 and 2002 and just under $179,000 annually for Thompson from 1994 through 2000.

    Posted by folkbum on July 07, 2009 at 1626 hrs




15. Alright… close up shop.  Nothing to see here.  Folkbum has declared that because Tommy and McCallum were more profligate than Doyle, then there is no story. 

    Doyle isn’t tone deaf…  He broke policy and procedure, but that doesn’t matter…  Doyle continues to fiddle, but Tommy and McCallum were bigger abusers, so move along…

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 1636 hrs




16. Folkbum should definitely vote against McCallum when he runs for Governor again because of his spending habits.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 1638 hrs




17. It is absolutely amazing the venom between the right wing and the left wing, when instead of fighting each other they should be fighting the common enemy, our corrupt politicians. I suppose ideology will always trump pragmatism.

    Posted by Jack Lohman on July 07, 2009 at 1713 hrs




18. Folk- What’s your point.  Walker is not McCallum, but Doyle is Governor and is spending money we don’t have, raising taxes and driving businesses and home owners away.

    Jack -Doyle is corrupt…that’s the point.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 1801 hrs




19. Kelly, they are ALL corrupt—both parties—and Walker helped block reform when he was in the legislature. THAT is the point, in addition to Doyle being corrupt. Until the right wingers embrace public funding of campaigns, get used to it. It will be with us for a long time, and through whatever governor you elect.

    Posted by Jack Lohman on July 07, 2009 at 1808 hrs




20. Look, if Owen and you whingers had simply stuck to criticizing Doyle for not following procedure—something I agree with you about—then I’d have nothing to say to you.

    But the fact is that here is hard evidence that Doyle kept one of his key promises—to travel less and less opulently—than his predecessors.  But the fact that he travels at all seems to bedevil the hell out of you.  The fact that Doyle kept his promise and sold the private plane doesn’t matter to you, only the fact that sometimes he flies business class so he can do, you know, business on the plane.  And so on.

    Sometimes I am astounded at how petty you can be.

    Posted by folkbum on July 07, 2009 at 2026 hrs




21. Petty that we ask him to follow the policies he’s supposed to?  Why is it wrong to expect our governor to adhere to policy?  Don’t your bosses expect the same of you?

    Posted by Owen on July 07, 2009 at 2029 hrs




22. Folkbum’s boss: “Um, Folkbum, you haven’t turned in 75% of your expense receipts for the last year.  What do you have to say for yourself?”

    Folkbum: “What about the guy who had my job seven years ago!?!?  You’re just being petty.”

    Folkbum’s boss: “Um, yeah… you’re fired.”

    Posted by Owen on July 07, 2009 at 2032 hrs




23. So Doyle kept ONE promise.  We should call the election over, then!  Indeed, that does seem to be a significant feat for him.

    “that he travels at all seems to bedevil the hell out of you”

    Well, yeah.  I don’t know why he’s traveling.  He hasn’t provided any justification.  And without that justification, yes, I have a problem with him traveling - especially when it appears to be opulently.

    He wasn’t traveling business class to conduct business, Jay.  He was traveling business class, according to his legal counsel, because they had concerns that his health would suffer if he traveled with the hoi polloi in coach.

    Don’t get frustrated with the unwashed because we question the manner and style in which the CURRENT governor travels and lodges.  Get frustrated with your CURRENT governor for putting you in the position to defend his poor judgment.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 2034 hrs




24. Yes.  Bloggers for J-Dizzle!

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 2255 hrs




25. Can you imagine what this group would say if Tommy were a Dem and took trips to Australia and South Africa? Oh, those were paid for by Philip Morris, sorry. That’s a different form of corruption.

    Posted by Jack Lohman on July 07, 2009 at 2319 hrs




26. Or:
    Doyle spent just over $58,000 a year from 2003-2008, compared to just over $103,000 a year for Republican Gov. Scott McCallum in 2001 and 2002 and just under $179,000 annually for Thompson from 1994 through 2000.
    Posted by folkbum on July 07, 2009 at 1626 hrs

    Is it safe to assume that the conclusion about Doyle’s expenditures is a guess? If not, excatly how do you know how much was spent if there is no paperwork filed?

    I don’t expect an answer because I have seen many of your previous posts on this blog. Keep up the good fight, should Doyle choose to run for re-election, you are probably 1 of maybe 3 people that will vote for him. Your accusation of partisan blinders rings hollow…..

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2009 at 2157 hrs




27. That’s right Jack….there is NO corruption with Doyle [insert laugh here]...I guess those lucky dice he received from the Indian gaming folks are lucky.

    How long ago was Tommy in office?

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 09, 2009 at 2311 hrs




28. Okay, Kelly, that was then and this is now. And when the R’s are back in power we’ll keep on Doyle.

    Look, the political system is corrupt and it is driving spending and taxes out of sight. Rather than complaining about one of the players, why don’t conservatives get behind fixing the system? Is this just a game you all are enjoying?

    Posted by Jack Lohman on July 10, 2009 at 0530 hrs