Gov. Jim Doyle donated an additional $500,000 from his campaign war chest to a Democratic Political Action Committee earlier this month to aid Wisconsin’s Democratic candidates, according to Government Accountability Board campaign finance reports.

This latest contribution brings Doyle’s total contributions to the committee, which funds attack ads for candidates such as Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Barrett, to $1.5 million, according to the finance reports.

Doyle’s decision to not run for a third term as Wisconsin’s governor left him with $1.8 million dollars of campaign money at his disposal, according to the GAB.

According to the campaign finance report, Doyle made three donations of $500,000 to the Greater Wisconsin Committee on Aug. 2, Aug. 18 and again on Oct. 5.

“It doesn’t adversely affect [Doyle], but it certainly can help Tom Barrett because of the extra money flowing to his campaign or it can hurt him by closely tying him to the outgoing governor,” said Mike McCabe, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

As a result of Doyle’s financial support of the Barrett campaign, attack ads against Barrett have been run with the slogan “voting for Tom Barrett is voting for a third Doyle term,” McCabe said.

According to Wisconsin Campaign Financing Laws, Doyle’s campaign fund now functions as a PAC, so there is no limit to the amount of money Doyle can donate to another political action group.

Doyle’s move is seen by some as a controversial use of his previous campaign funds.

“We take the position that war chests should be banned. Once a campaign is concluded, [a candidate] shouldn’t’ be able to sit on a bunch of money, but it is standard practice that the left over funds are given to other candidates or groups,” McCabe said.

Rather than being used to fund other campaigns, McCabe said the money raised for Doyle should be given back to the donors.

State Republicans see Doyle’s contributions as another example of his close ties to Barrett.

“Jim Doyle is using his chest to keep status quo in place, which is hurting a lot of people in Wisconsin, and that is why we need Scott Walker to come in and clean up the mess,” said Andrew Welhouse, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.