Georgia Thompson, a Department of Administration official, has been charged with 2 federal felonies in connection with a contract awarded to Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) contributor Adelman Travel: causing misapplication of funds, and participating in a scheme to defraud the state of Wisconsin of the right to honest services. As part of the indictment (starts on page 3 of the link to WisPolitics.com; H/T – Fred), there’s an interesting section titled “Misuse of Position”:
13. During the time period described herein, Thompson misused her position by using “political considerations” to:
(a) intentionally inflate her scores for Adelman during the oral presentation portion of the Partner contract selection;
(b) state to other evaluators that she had intentionally inflated her scores for another travel agency during the oral presentation portion of the Athletics contract and to do so in order to use that score as a negotiating tool in favor of Adelman in dealings with other members of the committee on the Partner contract;
(c) prevent the otherwise unanimous determination of the other committee members that the Partner contract be awarded to a recipient other than Adelman; and
(d) suggest committee members change the scores evaluating the Partner contract.
Also, the following are listed as part of the second charge (the deprivation of honest services):
3. Thompson intended her actions to cause political advantage for her supervisors.
4. The actions of Thompson also helped and were intended to help her job security.
I don’t think that Doyle’s out of the woods. He’s the only person above Thompson that could have a “political advantage” from her actions; and her belief that the actions were necessary for job security shows just how corrupt his entire administration is.
One side note from Mark Belling; this case is headed to the Western District of Wisconsin because Adelman Travel president and CEO Craig Adelman is the brother of Eastern District of Wisconsin Judge Lynn Adelman.
Homer nod – I erred in asserting the point when Georgia Thompson joined the Department of Administration. My apologies.
Revisions/extensions (6:32 pm 1/24) – reaction (as opposed to simple notation) from others in the Cheddarsphere: Fred (previously linked above), Patrick, and Kevin so far (guess everybody else got caught at dinner :-)
Part 2 (6:37 pm 1/24) – Add Elliot to the react list.
Continuing the reacts (6:45 pm 1/24), the Capo di tutti capi wonders, among other things, how Xoff’s going to spin this. My money’s on the ‘Rat playbook (delay, deny, and obfuscate).
Revenge of the reacts (8:32 pm 1/24) – the RPW, Mark Green and Scott Walker all take candy-jarring whacks at the Adelgate pinata (H/Ts – Charlie, Kevin and Patrick). Also, Ragnar diagnoses the Craps Cancer. Meanwhile, Doylie (nice name for them, Charlie) hack Xoff still is silent; guess his fax machine ran out of paper :-).
And the reacts keep rolling in (9:20 pm 1/24) – Owen weighs in on the indictment.
I lost track on which revision/extension this one is (10:06 pm 1/24) – Xoff finally got his fax, and I forgot the “attack” chapters in the ‘Rat playbook. Meanwhile, the consigliere checks in with the media react (or lack thereof), and points out that people only flip up (paging Xoff, there isn’t a lot of “up” between Thompson and Craps)
