Monday, February 26, 2007

The Troha/Doyle fiasco could hurt Kenosha

I have to say, I am not the least bit shocked about the news that the FBI is investigating Dennis Troha.

No one should be shocked.

The names of Governor Jim Doyle, the Troha family and the Kenosha Casino have become synonymous in Kenosha.

The campaign donations by the Troha family to Governor Jim Doyle have been well documented.

The Wisconsin Democracy campaign has been leading the charge.

All told, the Troha family members and company employees have given $236,842 in direct contributions to Doyle since 2002. In addition, Dennis Troha has contributed $50,000 to the Democratic Governors Association which plans to help Doyle’s reelection campaign in November, and three members of the family have contributed a total of $25,000 to the state Democratic Party.

The Kenosha News has gotten into the mix. Recently, the Kenosha News Opinion Editor, Steve Lund, questioned the additional $50,000 the Troha family gave to Governor Doyle for his inauguration. Steve Lund has been taking a beating by some K-News readers that were defending Dennis Troha.

Even I have had a few things to say about this issue in the past.

Still, many folks had their heads buried in the sand and refused to believe that there was anything inappropriate taking place.

I hope that these folks will now realize how serious this issue has become.

Absolutely no one walks out of a multi-million dollar deal, unless there is something shady taking place. Dennis Troha and family stood to gain millions upon millions of dollars from a Kenosha Casino. Yet, Dennis Troha and family are walking away.

Why is that?

Dennis Troha and family have spent well over a million dollars to get the referendum, approving a casino, passed in Kenosha. They then spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get Governor Jim Doyle re-elected.

None of this happened by accident. The Troha family thru hundreds of thousands of dollars at Governor Jim Doyle for a reason. They believed they would get a casino out of this deal.
Now, as we move forward- I am very worried about my hometown. This could be painful for Kenosha and leave a serious stain on our business climate.

Let us start with the fact that Dennis Troha is a self-made Kenosha millionaire. Mr. Troha has also donated liberally too many great Kenosha causes. For instance, he has almost single handedly kept the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha operating for years.

One of the reasons Mr. Troha gave for pulling out of the Kenosha casino, were financial reasons. My prayer is that these generous donations do not stop.

Another reason that I am concerned is that Mr. Troha is not the only Kenosha businessperson involved in this mess. Many other high profile Kenosha families, with a stake in the Kenosha casino, have also donated generously to Governor Jim Doyle.

I do not believe for a second, that the Troha family is the only high profile family in Kenosha that will be investigated. I believe there will be more families caught up in this.

All a person has to do is flip thru Governor Doyle’s campaign contributions, to find out how many Kenosha contractors, holding companies, plumbers, electricians and construction companies are involved with very large donations. The numbers are staggering.

Because of all of these issues, I am concerned about the Kenosha business climate.

Kenosha businesses could end up looking like they are all dishonest.

If this FBI investigation ends up hitting more than Dennis Troha, all of the honest, hard working Kenosha businesses can get hurt also.

I do not want to see this happen.

Not to be overlooked in this entire situation is Governor Jim Doyle.

None of these business owners would have even attempted to buy off the governor, if the governor did not give the impression that he was for sale.

I am certain the Governor and his campaign were well aware of the fact that the Troha family was shelling out some serious money for his re-election.

The Governor had to have known that these campaign donations were questionable. Why would no one is his campaign question why another check for thousands of dollars was coming thru from someone named “Troha”?

The Governor and his campaign continued to accept campaign donations- even though the media was already questioning the honesty in these donations.

Governor Doyle epitomizes the notion that government is for sale to the highest bidder.

Governor Jim Doyle is for sale and Dennis Troha knew it.

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