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