NEWS RELEASE

Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA  98005

'GIVE IT BACK,' GUN GROUP TELLS DOYLE IN CAMPAIGN MONEY SCANDAL

For Immediate Release: January 25, 2006

BELLEVUE, WA – Anti-gun Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle should return $20,000 to executives of a company that was awarded a state travel contract, now that an official in Doyle's administration has been indicted on felony fraud charges in connection with that award, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

"Just last week," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "Gov. Doyle did criminals a big favor with his veto of concealed carry legislation that would have empowered Wisconsin citizens to fight back. While he's been treating honest citizens like criminals for demanding their constitutional right to bear arms, a member of his administration is now facing criminal charges.

"It makes one wonder whether Doyle would have been less eager with his veto pen if Wisconsin gun owners had come up with $20,000 for the governor's re-election campaign," Gottlieb mused.

"Maybe Georgia Thompson, Doyle's procurement bureau chief in the Department of Administration acted on her own, and maybe she's done nothing wrong," he noted. "That's for the courts to decide, but her indictment certainly underscores the appearance of impropriety. These campaign contributions from officials at Adelman Travel sound like something disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff might have engineered.

"At the same time Thompson's indictment was announced," Gottlieb observed, "Doyle was over in Iraq visiting troops. Was he telling them that while they've been away from home defending liberty, he just used his veto pen to scribble all over their state constitutional rights? Maybe he told the troops that once they stop dangerous fanatics in Iraq, they'll be defenseless against dangerous thugs when they get back to Wisconsin.

"Doyle should give the money back, and right now," Gottlieb concluded. "It's bad enough that he's willing to sell gun owners down the river. This case makes it appear that Wisconsin state government is for sale under his leadership. Only he can correct that by returning any and all questionable contributions."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

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