Breaking News!

This is big news for the investigation into Georgia Thompson. I was just passed this email sent to members of the Wisconsin Professional Employees Council:

Indicted DOA Section Chief Georgia Thompson received a $1,000 a year base-building Discretionary Compensation Adjustment (DCA) just three months after she allegedly "did knowingly devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Wisconsin of the right of honest services."

According to the federal indictment, Thompson manipulated the bidding process to ensure that Adelman Travel got a lucrative contract with the state and she "intended her actions to cause political advantage for her supervisors."

DCAs are awarded at the "sole discretion" of the department secretary, who is appointed by the Governor and serves on his cabinet. And the indictment charges that Thompson was acting to "cause political advantage" for higher-ups. Thus, the fraudulent contract action and subsequent awarding of the $1,000 DCA to the person allegedly responsible suggests a new angle on the "pay-to-play" allegation.

The suspicious DCA award apparently was not part of the "Travelgate" investigation or indictment and only came to light on a tip from a vigilant WPEC member. The information has since been forwarded to the U.S. Attorney in charge of the case.

This is new information that puts a whole new spin on "Travelgate". Thompson was awarded a raise by a Doyle appointee after she granted a contract to campaign contributors. According to my source, these raises are "basically a way for supervisors to give favorite employees a payraise, with no oversight ... and without having to give a legitimate reason."

This investigation must go far beyond Thompson. Who primarily decided to give her this raise? Who gave the order?

UPDATE: What I meant, as far as the "breaking" part, is not so much the news of the raise, but that WPEC is spreading this to its members. That is significant.

(Cross-posted at Right off the Shore)