The Press Starts to Get It? Something Smelleth...

Yesterday's Sheboygan Press (Yesterday's News Tomorrow!!) had an interesting editorial concerning the Troha scandal still brewing in Madison. But it was still a tepid tiptoe through what looks like could be a major story:

There it is again. That smell of corruption coming from the Capitol building in Madison.

We recognize it because it was there for so long while four lawmakers and a legislative aide went through criminal prosecutions for illegally using state employees to run political campaigns.

This time the odor comes in the form of allegations of illegal contributions to Gov. Jim Doyle from Kenosha businessman and gambling casino backer Dennis Troha. He was recently indicted by federal authorities for funneling $100,000 to Doyle's campaign through family members. He's also accused of lying about the contributions to the FBI.

The federal indicment says Troha made the contributions in return for support for an Indian casino in Kenosha that he had invested in.

I'm surprised that the only previous examples of "odor" that they used were state employees working on campaigns. These were probably the only scandals that apparently cannot be linked to the governor.

What about Georgia Thompson?

What about the odor that wafted around the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear plant?

What about the contracts awarded for the UW-MKE buildings?

There are many examples where the odor appears to emanate directly from the governor's office. But the Press' ringing endorsement of Doyle last November seems to have put a clothespin on the editorialist's nose, or at least given him/her a very selective sense of smell.