A member of the legislature's budget committee suggests Governor Doyle change travel plans, in order to concentrate on the state budget. At the Capitol, the conference committee is still mired in trying to reconcile the vastly different budgets passed by the Assembly and Senate. Senate Minority Leader, Juneau Republican Scott Fitzgerald, said Governor Jim Doyle needs to be more involved . "The governor should cancel his trip to China," said Fitzgerald, adding that Doyle needs to "stay engaged" in "trying to bring together the document."
But Fitzgerald's concerns about the governor's involvement were dismissed by the Democrat's Minority Leader in the Assembly, Kenosha's Jim Kreuser . "He doesn't need to cancel his plans," said Kreuser. "There's ways to get ahold of him. I'm sure there's a red phone in Susan Goodwin's office." Goodwin is Doyle's chief of staff. The Governor is slated to make a trip to China and Japan, September 7th through 18th. Budget conferees met for a couple of hours of wrangling Thursday, without resolving any differences.