By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON - Former Gov. Scott McCallum has reimbursed the state $13,000 for using a state airplane to bring himself and his son back from a Colorado soccer tournament and paid a $500 fine for accepting free use of a boat, the state Ethics Board said Wednesday.
The payments were part of a settlement McCallum negotiated with the board to end a seven-month investigation into his use of state airplanes and the boat.
McCallum gave the board two checks dated Tuesday for the $13,000 reimbursement and the $500 fine. The settlement is the Ethics Board's largest with an individual.
"What the lesson is, is state officials should find less expensive ways to fly for personal pleasure," board attorney Jonathan
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Becker said.
McCallum referred questions to his attorney, Stephen Hurley. He said McCallum would have prevailed if the case had gone to a hearing, but McCallum wanted to spare the state the cost.
State law prohibits public officials from using their positions for personal gain or accepting gifts that could influence their official decision-making.
McCallum, a Fond du Lac Republican, served as former Gov. Tommy Thompson's lieutenant governor for 14 years and in the state Senate for 11 years. He became governor in February 2001 when Thompson resigned to join President Bush's cabinet.
He lost the job to Democrat Jim Doyle in the November election. Doyle questioned McCallum's use of state planes during a bitter campaign, sparking the ethics investigation.
McCallum reimbursed the state $3,420 for flights with family members on board. The Department of Administration later decided it had undercharged him by $295 - a balance that McCallum still hasn't paid, Becker said.
Part of that reimbursement covered a state flight McCallum and his son Rory took from Madison to a San Diego conference in June 2001, Becker said.
On the return trip to Wisconsin, the plane dropped McCallum and Rory off in Colorado Springs, Colo., where Rory had a soccer tournament.
When the tournament ended, McCallum and Rory flew home on a state plane.
Becker said McCallum never reimbursed the state for the flight to Colorado or back. Becker said the board calculated the cost of renting a plane for the trip and arrived at $13,000.
McCallum said he considered the trip state business because he visited a social organization called Focus on the Family during the tournament.
But the board said it found McCallum had reserved a hotel room in Colorado Springs more than a month before his staff set up the Focus on the Family visit.
"Governor McCallum's visit with Focus on the Family was an afterthought," according to the board's findings.
McCallum said no one with the state told him of his personal obligations when using state planes, but he accepted responsibility for improperly using the state plane, according to the settlement.
"Had staff been more attentive, this would not have occurred," Hurley said. "If we owe, we'll gladly reimburse. That's what he did."
McCallum used the 21-foot boat from Mercury Marine at the governor's mansion during the summer of 2001.
McCallum had said publicly he thought it came from the state Department of Natural Resources.
Gordie Ray, a member of the Capitol Police assigned to mansion security, told the Ethics Board that McCallum said to him about a month before the boat arrived: "Gordie, Mercury Marine is giving Fond du Lac County's favorite son a boat to use."
The DNR procured the boat and delivered it to the mansion, but later returned it to Mercury Marine because of ethical concerns.
McCallum's staff then arranged for Forward Wisconsin, a public-private organization led by McCallum, to return the boat to the mansion.
Becker said the board decided on the $500 fine because the evidence didn't clearly show McCallum knew where the boat came from or whether his staff ever told him.
Former mansion director Carol Muller told the Ethics Board that McCallum used the boat for family outings and water skiing.
McCallum's chief of security, Larry Ambrose, said he never saw the boat used at an official function. McCallum told him and his son used the boat once to go fishing but forgot to bring bait, he said.
"Pretty dumb, isn't it?" McCallum said, according to Ambrose.