Is Wisconsin DOA's credibility now D.O.A.? - Isthmus | The Daily Page

Is Wisconsin DOA's credibility now D.O.A.? - Isthmus | The Daily Page

" But what troubles her is the DOA's apparent new role as a purveyor of misinformation seen as helpful to Walker's political agenda. It's put out comically low estimates of protest crowds (a DOA spokesman, asked why his agency's crowd tally last Saturday was so much less than that of Madison police, said the cops may have been "counting people we weren't") and ridiculously inflated claims of the damage to the Capitol caused by protesters.

"We all just roll our eyes," says Hastings of the reaction of DOA employees, at least six of whom retired last week, just ahead of Walker's initial start date for benefit concessions. "They just think there's total lying going on."

On March 3, the agency's top lawyer claimed that protesters caused $7.5 million in damage to the Capitol, mostly to marble from the tape holding on signs and banners. Hastings notes that this claim was "flashed across the country" before being revised downward the next day to as little as $347,000.

On Monday, March 7, after the signs were all removed, DOA spokeswoman Carla Vigue said the agency was bringing in an "outside expert [to] determine the amount and nature of the work that will be needed to be done to bring the marble to its prior condition." On March 9, she said "it may be several days" before this information is in hand.

Now, well more than several days later, no further information has been provided. "Still working on it," said Vigue on Tuesday.

Jacob Arndt has a pretty good idea how much damage to the marble was actually caused: None at all.

Arndt owns Northwestern Masonry and Stone, a Lake Mills-based company that he says "does consultation work and has contracts with the state of Wisconsin." He toured the Capitol early this month with a DOA staffer, inspecting the various types of stone: Kasota-Mankato, Wausau red granite, Dakota red granite, verde jade.

"I looked at each of these types of stones," says Arndt. His conclusion: The painter's tape used to affix signs left "little or no residue" anywhere. The worst problem he saw was some residue where media had taped cords to the floor, but even this was easily removed with simple cleaning agents.

"There's no damage to the stone," says Arndt, who has been back in the building several times since, verifying this finding. He says the DOA official who showed him around agrees even the lower cost estimate is "completely ridiculous and politically inspired."

Hmm, maybe the Wisconsin Department of Administration should consider that — "completely ridiculous and politically inspired" — as its new motto."(see full article)