New administrations are often marked by \honeymoon"" periods, when political opponents of the recently elected official lay low before they tear into his policy decisions. Gov. Jim Doyle's tenure has matched that scenario thus far, but with the clouds of fiscal disaster and political scandal hanging over the Capitol, some observers said the beginnings of bipartisan rumbling signal Doyle's honeymoon will not last long.
The first storm appeared on the horizon of Doyle's ""new day"" when he declined to keep the appointments of 127 state board and committee members, including four UW regents. The appointees were nominated by Tommy Thompson and then left in limbo, many serving the state while waiting for official confirmation by the Democrat-controlled Senate. Critics saw the delay as a stall tactic by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, to give the next governor room to usher in an influx of Democrat appointees.
Now that Doyle will make new appointments to the unconfirmed positions, Senate Republicans have condemned him for cashing in on Chvala's strategy.
""It doesn't look good because it's taking advantage of something Chvala did that really was not in a bipartisan spirit at all,"" said former Governor Lee Dreyfus.
Dreyfus, a Republican, found himself in the same position as Doyle of being the opposite party of the majority party in the house and senate when he served from 1979 to 1983. That situation, Dreyfus said, requires absolute cooperation from both parties if they want to accomplish change.
Doyle said in his inaugural speech that he would foster bipartisan cooperation.
""We'll approach problem solving not as Republicans and Democrats ... but as citizens of one state, headed together toward one future,"" he said.
Yet Doyle also said he wants to get on with the business of restoring clean government and a balanced budget, two issues which Republicans and Democrats have clashed over in the past.
Whether these early bumps in the road will seriously derail his agenda remains to be seen. His move to stop the state's payment of legal fees for legislators under investigation in the caucus scandal could cause further acrimony, according to former Democratic Governor Anthony Earl, who served from 1983 to 1987.
""Each step like this erodes a little bit of that potential goodwill,"" he said.
Dreyfus said animosity over the legal payments could affect other areas of policy.
""Withdrawing the money is going to wind up costing these legislators a lot of money personally,"" he said. ""It could leave the notion to get even ... and if so it could hamper some serious legislation.""
Observers from all sides await two particular pieces of ""serious"" legislation: a balanced budget and a new campaign finance reform bill.
Doyle has the potential to greatly influence both, but it is too early to tell whether he will work productively with the legislature, said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
""[At] the beginning of the session and in inauguration time you always get a lot of talk about bipartisanship and willingness to work together and the proof is always in the pudding,"" McCabe said.
Since his group concentrates on campaign finance reform, he said he would especially like to see Doyle come out strong on that issue, using his office as a bully pulpit, introducing a special session to concentrate on campaign finance reform and putting a campaign finance reform proposal in his budget.
McCabe may not see the last wish granted, however, because Doyle agreed, along with the legislature, to keep policy items out of the budget. Lawmakers usually load their budget proposals with extraneous items to use as bargaining chips when the proposal works its way through the legislature, slowing the process considerably.
Earl, who has served on the board of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a campaign finance watchdog group, said he would like to see Doyle take advantage of this period.
""It would be terrific to see him work hard with these folks while he still is in his honeymoon with the legislature, to come up with mutually acceptable campaign finance reform sooner rather than later,"" Earl said.
