I AM THE FORCE

Associated Press International
Seattle
January 27, 2005

Former Governor Scott McCallum Admits Lead Role In Travel Scandal

Fomer Governor Scott McCallum admitted today that the Jim Doyle's Travelgate scandal was all his fault. "When I hired Georgia Thompson in my Administration, I ordered her to do everything in her power to reward political contributors with state contracts," admitted a remorseful McCallum. "But as with many things in my Administration, we really weren't able to get things implemented in time."

McCallum went on to say that there were many people in his Administration that did not give him their wholehearted support, but Georgia Thompson was not one of them. "I'm proud to have a friend like Georgia, who went above and beyond the call of duty to carry out my wishes. Had I been fortunate enough to have a chief of staff or campaign manager with similar dedication, I might still be in office managing this crisis myself from the east wing."

Former McCallum adviser and ethics specialist Brian Christianson was quick to bail out on the former Governor. "I knew this kind of thing could happen, and that's why I had to quit just prior to McCallum's loss. Had he been willing to listen to me, he could have rewarded contributors to the Governor while he was still Governor."

The Doyle Administration breathed a sigh of relief at the news, with DOA Secretary Stephen Bablitch saying "See, I told you we were not really in charge of the day to day operations of the Doyle Administration. Have the evil Republicans no shame?" Governor Doyle himself could not be reached for comment as he was still pretending to support our troops on an extended stay in Northern Iraq.

McCallum promised to cooperate fully with investigators, while -- he hoped -- continuing his Senior Fellowship on cooperation within government at the Discovery Institute, a national think tank headquartered in Seattle, Washington.