Republican Gov. Scott Walker is interviewed by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors and reporters on Tuesday. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By of the

Madison — Road trips in Wisconsin can be long, and campaigns in this purple state can be even longer.

Just check the odometer on Gov. Scott Walker's state vehicles.

Since taking office in January 2011, Walker has used a state SUV and sedan to get to political events on at least 365 days, or more than a year out of his four years leading the state, according to state records reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The practice, which is allowed under state law, goes back to Walker's predecessors such as Democrat Jim Doyle and Republican Tommy Thompson, and state taxpayers are amply reimbursed for the cost. The governor's security detail of State Patrol troopers has long insisted on an official vehicle because of the police radio and other gear that come with it.

But state vehicle records provided to the Journal Sentinel provide a window into the campaigning by Walker, a governor in a battleground state who fought off a year of recall elections against him and his allies, flirted with a presidential run and now finds himself locked in one of the nation's tightest governor's races.

For the four months leading up to the June 2012 recall election for Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Walker's campaign paid a monthly rate to rent a Chevy Suburban and Ford Expedition for the dozens of events they attended. Between March and June 2012, they put more than 7,700 miles on the vehicles and ended up reimbursing state taxpayers a total of $16,000 for their use — enough to buy a good used car.

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now provided the state records to the Journal Sentinel, which reviewed them and then received additional records from the Walker administration. The Journal Sentinel also interviewed political veterans of both parties about the practices of former governors.

"The people of Wisconsin are paying Walker's salary to work for them, but for over a year of his time in office, he has been on the campaign trail working only for his own political ambitions," One Wisconsin research director Jenni Dye said. "He is repeatedly putting his own political interests before doing what is right for Wisconsin or even being on the job as governor."

Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick dismissed the criticism, saying the Republican governor tries to schedule campaign events in the evenings and on weekends and to avoid overlapping with official events. The governor's aides noted that his campaign pays a healthy reimbursement to the state even if the vehicle is used for just part of a long day of official travel and duties.

"Governor Walker is focused every day on working to make Wisconsin the best state in the country to live, work and raise a family," Patrick said, adding that no other Wisconsin governor has faced a recall in the middle of a term.

"It's (an) important point to note the impact of the unprecedented nature of the recall on the amount of campaign-related travel," she said.

Unlike Doyle, Walker has not included any political events on the official calendars that he releases to the public, making it difficult to track his travel across the state and country as he campaigns for himself and other Republicans. That makes the vehicle records more revealing, since they give a fuller picture of Walker's campaigning.

Earlier this month, Democrats criticized the governor for wasting taxpayer money by having state planes take 29 flights of 40 miles or less on official trips between places such as Milwaukee and West Bend. Walker said there was good reason for the flights, such as a pressing need or a larger series of flights that included the puddle jump.

Between January 2011 and August of this year, Walker's campaign reimbursed the state $66,200 for use of state vehicles, according to records released by his office.

For the same period in his own first term — January 2003 to August 2006 — Doyle spent $11,760, according to the records. Over Doyle's eight-year term, his campaign reimbursed taxpayers for $24,910 in vehicle use.

The available state records don't allow for breaking out the number of days that Doyle used a state vehicle to get to campaign events.

The amount of the Walker reimbursement is somewhat inflated over Doyle's, and not only because of the increases in the cost of vehicles and gas over the past eight years.

Both governors used a similar method of reimbursing the state at a daily or weekly rate for use of the vehicle, relying on commercial rental prices to determine the charge. That much is the same.

Under the current rates, Walker's campaign pays $157 a day plus mileage for the Suburban, or $623 a week, bumping up to the higher rate any time the vehicle is used four or more days out of seven.

The campaign paid monthly rates of $1,765 each for the Suburban and Expedition in the four months leading up to his 2012 recall. There are no records of Doyle having used a monthly rate, according to Walker's office.

Much of the difference between the two governors is their method of paying for mileage. Doyle gave state employees a campaign credit card to pay for gas to travel to campaign events, while Walker prefers to have state employees buy the gas using their usual method and then have the campaign reimburse the state for the fuel.

That approach inflates the amount of Walker's reimbursements somewhat over Doyle.