Pubdate: Tue, 03 Oct 2000
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2000, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Contact:  414-224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi
Author: Richard P. Jones, Journal Sentinel staff

DOYLE DEFENDS HIS BUDGET REQUESTS

Attorney General Says Plans Won't Cost State More

Madison - Attorney General James Doyle said Tuesday that he sent Gov.
Tommy G. Thompson a budget request that includes major crime-fighting
initiatives at no additional cost to state taxpayers during the next
two years.

Doyle said the Department of Justice is seeking $80.6 million in state
tax dollars for the 2001-'03 budget period. He said he is seeking no
additional money from state taxpayers other than inflationary
adjustments allowed by Thompson.

Doyle said his department was able to tighten its belt in anticipation
of a difficult budget period, yet help local law enforcement fight
crime because of federal funding and savings through increased use of
technology.

Thompson will review all budget proposals from state agencies and
present his overall 2001-'03 state budget to the Legislature early
next year.

Doyle, a Democrat, said that for all the criticism the Republican
governor had leveled at him, his department apparently was the only
state agency to heed the governor's budget instructions.

With some exceptions, Administration Secretary George Lightbourn, the
governor's top aide, told all agencies to forgo any increase in state
spending the first year and limit any increase the second year to 1%.

When the University of Wisconsin System requested $179.9 million in
additional funding, Lightbourn asked the UW System to heed his budget
instructions. UW System President Katharine Lyall refused.

More recently, Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher, a Thompson cabinet
member, submitted a Department of Corrections budget request seeking
$235 million more in state tax dollars during the next two years.

"The irony is, for all of the shots the governor's been taking at this
department over time, when I started reading the departments that are
directly under his control weren't even following his mandates, I
realized we had not only followed it, but we had exceeded it," Doyle
said.

Doyle and Thompson have long been at odds, and when Doyle said he
would run for governor in 2002, Thompson said Doyle would be a
disaster as governor. Thompson said that if Doyle ran, he might seek
an unprecedented fifth term.

In a cover letter to Thompson, Doyle said he sincerely hoped the
governor would leave his budget request in tact, since he had more
than met the governor's budget directives.

"I think we can certainly more than justify everything that we've
asked for," Doyle said in an interview. "Where we really need to make
major investments, we have found alternate sources of funding other
than state taxpayers."

For example, Doyle said the department would be able to open offices
in Superior and southwestern Wisconsin, primarily to fight the spread
of methamphetamines, because of federal funds secured with the help of
U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).

Doyle also cited proposed improvements in the State Crime Laboratory,
which serves local law enforcement. For example, he said he wanted to
buy critically needed equipment and hire three forensic scientists to
respond to an increasing demand for DNA and toxicology analysis. Such
improvements would be funded with increased fines imposed on criminals.

Lightbourn was unavailable for comment, but another Thompson aide,
state Budget Director Rick Chandler, said the Justice Department
wasn't the only agency to meet the governor's budget guidelines.
Chandler said that he had yet to compile a complete list of all the
agencies' requests.

"But I know that a number of agencies have complied," Chandler said.
"Quite a few agencies have complied."

Even so, Chandler said that did not mean the governor would agree to
their requests.

"I think we made it clear in our instructions we wanted the requests
to come in at zero and 1 percent, but that's no guarantee that
everything will be funded," Chandler said. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager