I AM THE FORCE

Things are getting more an more interesting on the Jim Doyle investigation front. His press secretary is quoted in today's Journal Sentinel with the kind of qualification that should remind us all of the Clinton Administration.

"The governor has not spoken to any investigators," he said. "We have no idea whether there's a grand jury or not. As the governor has said many times, he's more than happy to talk to anyone who's reviewing this because everything he's aware of, this (Adelman Travel) contract was awarded to a Wisconsin company that was the lowest bidder. That's all he knows about it."

Please note the "everything he's aware of" qualification that has crept into the Doyle team's comments on the pay to play investigation. Earlier in the week we learn that DOA figure and Doyle crony Georgia Thompson has hired prominent criminal defense attorney Stephen Hurley, then we learn that a grand jury is hearing testimony about Adelman, utilities, and who knows what other transgressions. Things seem to be getting more serious, and the Doyle team seems to be running scared.

My guess is that Doyle insiders understand that there is indeed some fire mixed in with the smoke on this issue. Who knows how they do their deals or work to reward their friends. It's probably as simple as a coven of Doyle apparatchiks who discuss hypotheticals in coffee shops or GEF corridors. Or one Klauser type could be pulling strings for Doyle in many directions. Regardless of the method, Doyle has learned from his old rival and built an even more malodorous donor-rewards system than TGT.

Could Leistikow be laying the groundwork for the ever popular "my staff did it" defense? How did they do it in the Godfather? Deliver orders through a few levels of bureaucracy in order to protect the top guy from incrimination. Good luck with that. If any real pay-to-play activity has gone on in the Doyle Administration, than Doyle himself will be the one who goes down. He has a rather Nixonian creepiness when you think about it. And both Nixon and Doyle were certain of their righteousness and contemptuous of others.

If things continue in this direction, Doyle ought to consider moving the Capitol and Administration headquarters to Milwaukee County. There's no way the state's top Democrat could ever be convicted of anything there.