Posted on 12/23/2010 8:47:05 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Dec. 21, 2010 |(185) Comments
Madison — Outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle quietly attended a United Nations climate change conference in Cancun earlier this month, an aide confirmed.
The Democratic governor, who leaves office Jan. 3, and his chief of staff, Susan Goodwin, had their travel expenses to Mexico paid by an international group, the Governors' Climate and Forests Taskforce, said Doyle spokesman Adam Collins. But state taxpayers paid the undisclosed travel expenses of the governor's policy adviser and two security staff, who accompanied him on the trip.
The governor's office did not put out any statement or news release about the trip.
Collins said the governor's main goal at the conference was to find ways to boost the state's economy through jobs in environmentally friendly industries.
"The conference is where all the international companies (in clean energy) are gathered together in one location, and policy-makers as well," Collins said.
The governor attended the conference to address climate change at the Caribbean resort city from Dec. 6 to 10, he said.
Jay Heck, executive director of the good government group Common Cause in Wisconsin, said that Doyle's lame-duck status makes it difficult for him to use such a trip to persuade businesses to create jobs in Wisconsin.
"The public is not well-served by outgoing office holders attending conferences in places like Cancun," Heck said.
In November 2006, then outgoing state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and outgoing Treasurer Jack Voight were criticized for taking trips to New Orleans and Florida, respectively, to attend annual conferences of national organizations of attorneys general and treasurers.
Steve Hiniker, executive director of the environmental group 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, saw potential value in the Cancun trip both for the environment and Wisconsin's economy. He said Doyle remains governor until Jan. 3 and the state still needs leadership until then.
"You can't stop doing business because one governor is leaving and the next one is coming in," Hiniker said.
But both Heck and Hiniker agreed that Doyle should have made his travel public, as he has done in past international trips to countries such as Spain and China.
"By omitting it, they draw more attention to it," Hiniker said.
Wisconsin is a member of the Governors' Climate and Forests Taskforce, which includes individual states from several countries around the world. The group's goals include seeking to ensure that efforts to protect forests such as those in northern Wisconsin are accounted for in climate change treaties.
Collins said Doyle also served on a panel and spoke with other participants about Wisconsin environmental initiatives, including helping large manufacturers hold down energy costs.
Collins said he would check on how much in taxpayer funds went to the trip but did not provide a figure. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has made an open records request seeking that amount.
Diana in Wisconsin
Let’s keep calling it “Global Warming”
They want to call it “Climate Change” because their data has been proven to be bullshit and their conclusions (warming) are so funny when everything is getting colder.
They tried to say “global warming can cause global cooling” but that sounded so stupid... even they couldn’t swallow that. So they swithced to ‘Climate Change’- if we let them get away with it.
So does this Gov. and his “Chief of Staff” have a “thing” going on?
Good question. The way they reported the news yesterday made me wonder the same thing. As far as I know, there has never been a hint of that, but who’d a thunk Spitzer would turn out to be Client #9?
They mentioned the spouses of the other people on the trip, but nary a word about Jessica and whether she went.
Point well taken!
Nice. What a great guy. One last “screw over” to the people before he leaves office.
Doyle and politicians like him are nothing more than criminals who belong behind bars but we know we’ll never see them there.
I won’t miss seeing that dirty smirk he always seemed to have on his face either.
Why is it that these climate change conferences our public officials like to take on the taxpayers’ dime never occur in places where the change is supposedly taking place, like for example, within the Arctic Circle? Who puts these conferences on? Someone who seeks to profit from this nonsense!
The core sponsor is the UN.
And here is Mrs. Doyle.
Guilty!
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