The amount the state Department of Transportation paid consultants for engineering work leaped 45% over the past five years, nearly four times the rate for all state contracts during that period.

The size of the engineering contracts swelled from $82.1 million in fiscal 2000 to $119.1 million for fiscal 2004, which ended in June, putting them among the fastest-growing group of contracts. State contracts for 2004 totaled $862.8 million.

Employees of four of the five firms that reaped the most from the engineering contracts in the past year have given $44,385 since 2000 to candidates for governor and the Legislature, according to state records compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-partisan group advocating campaign finance reform.

"The contracts go out and the campaign contributions come in," said Rep. Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids). "That's a pretty good return for them, if they're getting by with that little amount and getting that size of contracts."

Legislators demanded information on contracts after the Journal Sentinel reported in August that the DOT outsourced the oversight of its stock of road signs, tripling the cost of the job. The contract was later revoked, and Gov. Jim Doyle ordered departments to review all their contracts.

The Oct. 15 report did not include information on the engineering contracts because those figures needed to be compiled from a database separate from the one used for other contracts. The engineering figures were calculated by the DOT at the request of the Journal Sentinel.

Public employee unions have long said that the deals drive up costs for taxpayers, and Schneider and other legislators have called for a review of all contracts, in part because of concerns that campaign contributors get favored treatment.

Technical problems

Under state law, the Department of Administration must report details on contracts annually to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. But from 2000 to 2003, the department did not issue the report because the software that compiled it had not been reprogrammed to deal with the Y2K glitch at the end of the century, the department said.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-chair of the committee, said the administration had failed to keep legislators abreast of the contracts, first by not filing the reports and then by leaving out information on the engineering work.

"It's like your kids and you ask them where they were last night, and they tell you, but they don't tell you for the time you want to know," she said.

The largest increases in engineering contracts came in 2001 and 2002. After Doyle took office in 2003, the engineering contracts rose less than 2%, from $117.1 million to $119.1 million.

Randy Romanski, executive assistant to DOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi, said the contracts rose so much in the early part of the five-year period because of an influx of federal aid. Past governors and legislative leaders decided to use the money for consultants instead of having the state do the work, in part to get the work done more quickly, Romanski said.

Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) said leaders of all political stripes can be blamed for not monitoring contracts more closely.

"This shell game has been going on through three administrations now, and a legislative mix of Democratic (and) Republican (leadership)," he said.

Ellis, whose push for broad campaign finance reform has been brushed aside, said he saw a troubling correlation between campaign donations and contracts. "This is the hidden, dark side of state government," he said.

Eau Claire-based Ayres Associates landed the largest chunk of engineering contracts for 2004, with $7.47 million. Actual billings for those contracts may be above or below that figure, DOT officials said.

Ayres employees donated $14,575 to state candidates from 2000 to 2004, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

"The (contract) selections are done by the staff of the DOT, and the politicians never get involved in the selection," Ayres President Pat Quinn said. "The political process is important to all of us, so quite a few of us, frankly, support candidates of both primary parties and don't expect any type of quid pro quo."

Quinn has given money to Doyle, a Democrat, as well as to the Republicans who preceded him, Scott McCallum and Tommy G. Thompson.

Madison-based KL Engineering was the only business in the top five for 2004 whose employees have not given money to candidates in the past five years. Its contracts came to more than $5 million in fiscal 2004.

From fiscal 2000 through fiscal 2004, all state contracts climbed 12.4%, from $767.4 million to $862.8 million. The contracts account for about 3.6% of the $23.8 billion the state was scheduled to spend for the just-ended fiscal year.

JSOnline

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2004