Adelman Travel non-Gate

Surprisingly, there has been news in the world besides that about the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, including the indictment of a state Department of Administration official in the Adelman Travel "pay-for-play" scandal. While the right Cheddarsphere is basking in the news, Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin has a harsh, cold shower for them:

First, the indictment “does not allege a pay-to-play scheme in which the contract was awarded in exchange for the money.” Second, Georgia Thompson was actually hired by the Republican McCallum Administration. Even if one is inclined to believe the right wing conspiracy theories, it would be very difficult to accept that a Republican hire was at the center of a grand Democratic plot. Really now, just think about it. If you are going to plan such an elaborate scheme, why would you make the main player a person that your last opponent hired?

For several days now, the right has been following the grand jury, with hoping Thompson "rolls" on someone higher up. Wigderson, for example, is eating his words with his Thin Mints, but I bet he never expected that the indictment handed down would be against a Republican appointee. It's looking more like there may be no there there, at least not the one the GOP has been hoping for.

Do I support the kind of numbers-cooking Thompson is alleged to have done? Of course not. But I will not judge Jim Doyle or anyone else in the administration based on such a limited indictment. The right would do well to hold its tongue, too.