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Wis. governor avoids questions while budget talks continue

MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Gov. Jim Doyle refused to discuss the state's budget Friday, as lawmakers continued their search for a solution to the state's expected $527 million shortfall.

Legislative leaders met Thursday with a representative from the governor's budget office but did not emerge with a deal.

They and their staffs continued talks Friday by phone, said Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker.

But none of the three principal negotiators — Decker, Republican Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and Democratic Minority Leader Jim Kreuser — were in the Capitol on Friday afternoon.

Doyle's spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the governor would address questions about the budget Friday after the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony outside the Capitol.

But the governor left the ceremony without talking to reporters, and Sensenbrenner later said he expected Doyle to be available Monday.

Budget talks have taken on a greater urgency given that up to $260 million in bids for summer road projects are scheduled to be let Tuesday. Doyle has said failure to get a budget deal would delay that work.

But Sensenbrenner said Friday that the state Department of Transportation will decide Monday what to do about the bid letting.

Doyle and lawmakers have differed on major parts of the plan, including whether to raid the state's transportation fund and replace the money with additional borrowing, whether to delay a $125 million payment to schools and how much money to get through a refinancing of the state's tobacco settlement payments.