Advertisement Or he could be seen as a re-emerging political operative with a controversial and somewhat mysterious past, including what he refers to a “15-minutes-of-fame” role during the Watergate scandal.
King, 65, of Janesville, Wis., has been many things over the years: a school teacher, an FBI agent, a congressional aide, an assistant to the U.S. secretary of agriculture, state Republican Party chairman and a business owner.
For now, however, he seems content to be a thorn in the side of Gov. Jim Doyle. And judging by the reaction from some Democratic loyalists, he’s pretty good at it.
As chairman of the Coalition for America’s Families, King is pushing a statewide television ad campaign that interposes Doyle’s image with historical footage of President Richard Nixon, proclaiming, “I am not a crook.”
As required by campaign finance laws, the “issue ad” is not affiliated with the campaign of Doyle’s Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Mark Green. But the message is clear: It makes Doyle look, and sound, like a crook, even if the moments in time are separated by more than three decades.
The ad also inter-sperses images of Doyle with former Department of Administration purchasing supervisor Georgia Thompson, who was convicted earlier this year of steering a state travel contract toward a business whose top executive contributed to Doyle’s campaign.
King said the ad is intended to educate people about Doyle’s honesty — a family value.
Doyle has said he didn’t even know Thomp-son and that no state business has been tied to political contributions.
The coalition’s ads drew a quick and pointed response form Doyle’s 2002 campaign chief, Bill Christofferson, who took aim directly at King’s past on his blog.
Based on excerpts from a biography by Martha Mitchell, the wife of former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, Christofferson accused King of being involved inthe Watergate coverup.
Because of his experience as an FBI agent in Mississippi, from 1967 to 1970, King had been asked to serve as a private security guard for John Mitchell. Mitchell had just shifted from his role as U.S. attorney general to head Nixon’s 1972 campaign and wouldn’t be afforded the government protection to which he was accustomed, King said.
The security job, which was not a government post, naturally brought him into contact with Mitchell’s family, King said.
Martha Mitchell’s biography claims King ripped a phone out of the wall and kicked her in an effort to stop her from calling a reporter with information about Watergate. She made similar accusations about King in interviews at the time.
King denies subduing Martha Mitchell, but he said he won’t reveal “deeply personal” details of what happened on that June night in 1972.
King said his job guarding the Mitchell family is unrelated to what he’s doing today. But he added that his experience in Washington, D.C., serving in the Nixon administration as an assistant to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz is exactly what inspired the ads.
“I saw that administration, of which I was a part, poison the political milieu in Washington, D.C., and we’re still suffering from that.”
He said that today in Madison, he sees “all the same attributes.”
The ad is most likely the first political sucker-punch in what’s bound to be a nasty campaign season.
King described the Coalition for America’s Families as a group of like-minded people who share views on issues such as taxes, abortion and concealed carry.
King, who has headed the coalition for about a year and a half, ran for the U.S. Senate in 1988 but was defeated in the primary. And although he recently sold his business and retired, he said he has no further political ambitions.
Unfortunately for Doyle, perhaps, King has deep pockets. He won’t reveal how much of his own money is involved in the coalition, but he acknowledged that his Milton-based chemical company, Tomah Products, sold in April for about $115 million.
“You will hear from us again at some point in time when we think we need to raise an issue to a wider audience,” King said of the coalition.
Tribune capitol reporter Tom Sheehan at tsheehan@madison.com or (608) 252-6198.
