Georgia Thompson found guilty!

Georgia Thompson has been found guilty of two felonies and faces up to 20 years in federal prison. She now has a choice, either do the time, or start cooperating with federal prosecutors. It is believed that if she starts talking, the focus will be on Governor Jim Doyle and Mark Marotta. Sphincters are definitely tight around the Governors Office this afternoon!

JS Online: DayWatch
A federal jury has convicted state procurement official Georgia Thompson of two felony counts.

Thompson, 56, of Waunaukee, was charged with illegally steering a $750,000 state travel contract to Adelman Travel, a firm whos excecutives had donated $10,000 to Gov. Jim Doyle's reelection campaign around the time the bids were being considered.

Thompson testified that she followed proper procedures in the contract awarding process, and was not pressured to steer the contract to Adelman.

The guilty verdicts followed about 4 hours of delibertion today, following trial last week. The two charges were misapplication of funds and participating in a scheme to defraud the State of Wisconsin of the right to honest services. The indictment does not allege a pay-to-play scheme in which the contract was awarded in exchange for the donations. Rather, it alleges that Adelman Travel would not have gotten the contract if Thompson had not illegally inflated the firm's scores. Thompson steered the contract to Adelman "to cause political advantage for her supervisors" and to bolster her job security, according to the indictment.