Blaming the Gov

Pretty Boy Floyd, they say, used to get blame or credit for every robbery in five states, whether he was anywhere near the scene or not.

Flip Wilson's character Geraldine always passed the blame for her transgressions, saying: "The devil made me do it."

Wisconsin Republicans have their own demon. Whatever happens, blame Jim Doyle.

When a campaign finance "reform" bill was brought to the State Senate floor prematurely, it was doomed to fail. Predictably, it did on a 20-13 vote, for a lot of reasons, some of them legitimate and some of them self-serving.

So who does State Sen. Mike Ellis, the Republican sponsor of the bill, blame for its defeat? The governor. "This is the long arm of Jim Doyle," Ellis said.

While it's true that only two of 14 Democrats voted for the bill, Ellis was only able to deliver 11 votes from his own Republican caucus. Eight GOPers voted against it.

Republicans have a solid majority in the Senate, as they demonstrate every time they want to pass some piece of political posturing for the sake of causing Doyle some grief. The GOP could have passed the bill all by itself with two votes to spare. In fact, with two Dems voting "aye" Ellis only needed 14 of the 19 Republicans to support it. He only got 11.

Do you think those Republicans were responding to secret, subliminal messages from Jim Doyle? Or do you think they killed the bill on its merits, or lack thereof?