Plans for new legislation would prohibit the governor’s use of the state’s aircraft and cars. The bill comes after heavy criticism from state Democrats, who said Gov. Scott McCallum used the state’s jets for personal and campaign trips.
The governor’s office and the governor said the state has been repaid for use of the state’s jet.
Under a new bill by Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, the use of state-owned aircraft and vehicles for campaign purposes would be prohibited.
Current law requires that if a plane is used for political purposes, or for any services provided by the state to operate the aircraft, the fee charged to the campaign must be comparable to the commercial market rate. It also requires the secretary of administration to set the fee.
Pocan said it is unethical for the secretary of administration to set the fees for flight repayments.
“It appears to be in direct conflict with state statute that the McCallum campaign is charged much less than the actual cost of chartering a flight and, therefore, is benefiting from taxpayer-subsidized plane flights,” Pocan said.
According to information received by the DOA, during his first year in office, the McCallum campaign paid $25,527.32, or $5.55 per mile, to reimburse the state for 75 political flights.
These records also indicate the flights that were charged as “partially political” cost the state $58,368.19. In July of this year, the reimbursement rate was raised to $8.09 per mile; however, DOA has refused to grant open-records requests by Pocan’s office to show information collected from charter companies, which reflect the actual costs of the flights.
Carpenter said using the state’s jet for campaigning gives the incumbent governor an unfair advantage.
“A sitting governor has an unfair advantage by hopscotching across the state on flights subsidized by the taxpayer,” he said. “At a time in which the state is in the midst of a fiscal crisis, it is unconceivable that the taxpayers are paying for the gubernatorial campaign of the person who helped put us in this situation.”
Pocan acknowledged the bill is aimed at McCallum.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is also calling for Gov. Scott McCallum to produce copies of checks he wrote to reimburse the state for his use of a jet.
In a March 8 interview with The Capitol Times, McCallum said he had used a state jet for a family trip to the National Governors Association in Rhode Island. On the flight were McCallum, his wife, his two kids and his son’s girlfriend. McCallum said he repaid the state, but state Democrats want to see records of the check.
“Meanwhile, taxpayers are still waiting for Gov. McCallum to show them a copy of the personal check he says he wrote to pay the cost of taking his family on a Rhode Island vacation on a state airplane,” Doyle campaign director Bill Christofferson said. “Seven months later, we’re still waiting to see the check.”
The governor’s office has said in statements that the bills for the flight were paid but did not return phone calls.
The Democratic Party said the Rhode Island flight was one of 15 out-of-state flights McCallum took on state planes. But Doyle’s campaign claims it is his in-state flights, including short hops like the Madison to Janesville trip, that should be questioned because of the state’s budget deficit.
