“Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.”
– The Trial

Pity Georgia Thompson.

Ms. Thompson, a career civil servant, went to prison last week. She was indicted by a Federal grand jury in January, found guilty in June, and sentenced in September for procurement irregularities supposedly aimed at paying back a contributor to Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. The whole show happened during the run-up to the November, 2024 election.

After sixteen years of glad-handing Republican good-old-boys ruling the roost, four years ago a Democrat, Jim Doyle, was elected Governor of Wisconsin. It could be just a coincidence that the Federal Department of Justice took an interest in assuring fairness in Wisconsin’s procurement processes as Doyle’s campaign for re-election was cranking up. It could be a coincidence that the US Attorney pressed so hard for felony convictions and jail time. The partisan nature of the charges and the Federal grand jury process was offset by case review by Democrats, the Dane County District Attorney and the State Attorney General. Plus, Justice is blind, isn’t she?

I don’t know what happened during the bid evaluations, nor do I know Ms. Thompson personally. It seems likely that she was doing a little apple-polishing, second guessing what her superiors might hope to see come out of the travel contract procurement. It seems clear that in the meetings she suggested that a local vendor would be a better choice than an outsider. This moment of assertion came back to haunt her. I suspect the worst crime she committed was a breach of stuffed-shirtitude, the running of the mouth in a manner not permitted to people in state service. It was certainly a gaffe to share a personal opinion during a procurement process that is supposed to be perfectly objective.

For those moments of candor, she has been financially ruined. She lost her job. She was convicted of felonies. Her savings and her home have gone to pay for her defense. And now she is settling into an 18 month stretch in the Federal pokey.

She will appeal her conviction of course, but the cost will be enormous. If, like me, you sense a certain Kafkaesque stench here, if you can see your way clear to supporting a woman who appears to have been trampled by take-no-prisoners partisan politics, and who is paying a ridiculous price for a lapse of objectivity, who has perhaps an extra share of the desire to please others in her personality, then you may want to contribute:

The Georgia Thompson Defense Fund
PO Box 1528
Madison, WI 53701-1528