From the Capitol Times (Madison, WI):

Rick Berg: Troha case stresses necessity of reform
By Rick Berg
What do you get when you mix an insatiable desire for campaign cash with an $808 million casino project in Kenosha?

Federal indictments.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic announced two indictments of Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha alleging illegal campaign contributions to the Jim Doyle campaign and lying to the FBI about the nature of those donations.

For those who don't track these things, Dennis Troha is quite possibly the most giving contributor in state political history. Since 2002, Troha and members of his family have given about $500,000 to Doyle's campaign, the Doyle coronation galas and the state Democratic Party.

In addition, Troha and his business partners have invested about $7 million of their own money in an effort to open a Menominee casino in the Kenosha area a project that would have put $88 million into Troha's pocket over seven years.

Troha and Doyle have both denied the $500,000 had anything to do with the Kenosha casino project. Sure, just like voting has nothing to do with election results.

Cue the laughter.

Paraphrasing David Letterman's ongoing Michael Jackson line, if these guys keep this up, people are gonna start thinking corruption has infected the body politic in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin just ran up a $32 million gubernatorial election tab while, at the same time, Minnesota (a state that limits campaign spending) elected a governor with about $8 million in spending, and U.S. attorneys in Minnesota aren't handing down indictments.

We have allowed a system to develop in Wisconsin whereby whoring after campaign cash is not only allowed, it has become necessary to be "competitive." The corrosive effect of that fact cannot be overstated.

That fact was behind the financial arms race between Doyle and Mark Green last year, the sleazy play the Doyle camp ran on Green's federal money with the state Elections Board, and the 2006 conviction of Department of Administration employee Georgia Thompson for throwing a state travel contract to another Doyle contributor.

The new federal indictments allege it was an unnamed Doyle campaign staff member who, in June 2005, asked Dennis Troha to raise a large amount of money for the Doyle re-election drive. The indictment says Troha wrote a $50,000 check to his business that same month, Troha family members gave $47,500 to Doyle and then the business gave "loan" checks to each of those family members that reflected the exact amount they gave to Jim Doyle.

Remember, none of this had anything to do with the Kenosha casino project.

"Nothing to see here, move along, if the guy gets convicted, we give the cash back. No harm, no foul. We're running the most ethical administration in state history, and we need to get back to work on that."

For some, this may just seem like business as usual in Madison. Lots of people assume all politicians are corrupt and think it's always been that way. So what's new?

Well, what's new is that it hasn't always been this way in Wisconsin. As a state with a rich progressive tradition, Wisconsin was, for a long time, admired for innovative and clean government, and we left the sleaze to Illinois. Now Wisconsin is going pedal-to-the-metal on expensive political campaigns, indictments of elected officials and those who work for them or contribute to them, and Illinois is eating corruption dust in our rearview mirror.

For those who want to know what they can do to get Wisconsin back on track, a good place to start would be Senate Bill 12, a bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. This campaign finance reform legislation may not be perfect, may not cure all the ills, but it provides an opportunity to start talking about how we get Wisconsin headed in the right direction when it comes to money and political campaigns.

Fortunately, we have prosecutors who are willing to help clean this up on the back end, but what we most need is more political leaders who are interested in cleaning it up on the front end and, in so doing, demonstrating a commitment to restoring Wisconsin's reputation for clean, honest and open government.

Rick Berg is a former appointee in the Thompson administration and a member of the governing board for Common Cause in Wisconsin.
Published: March 10, 2007