Even though the state is supposedly broke, top officials in Gov. Scott Walker's team were able to scrape together enough money to give a state job to the woman identified as Sen. Randy Hopper's girlfriend.

Anything for a political ally.

Valerie Cass, a former Republican legislative staffer, was hired Feb. 7 as a communications specialist with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. She is being paid $20.35 per hour. The job is considered a temporary post.

Cass previously had worked in the state Senate and for the GOP campaign consulting firm Persuasion Partners in Madison. She also was paid for campaign work for the state Republican Party and U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner before that.

"Ms. Cass' name was among many forwarded to DRL by the Governor's Transition Team as potential candidates for positions with the department," said David Carlson, the agency's spokesman.

But who exactly recommended her for the post?

Cullen Werwie, spokesman for the governor, confirmed that it was Keith Gilkes, Walker's chief of staff. She was then interviewed by the Department of Regulations and Licensing's executive assistant and deputy and hired by Secretary Dave Ross, a Walker cabinet member.

An internal staff directory lists Cass as working in the secretary's office as the assistant to the executive assistant.

Werwie said Gilkes did not recommend her as a favor to the first-term lawmaker, who voted for the governor's controversial budget-repair bill earlier this month.

"That's certainly not the case," Werwie said.

Cass did not return calls last week.

Hopper is expected to face a tough recall battle following his vote on the budget bill, which curbs collective bargaining for public employees. The Fond du Lac Republican won his seat by just 163 votes in 2008.

Since the recall effort was launched, news outlets and bloggers have focused in on Hopper's pending divorce. His estranged wife, Alysia, issued a statement to WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) accusing Hopper, 45, of beginning an affair with Cass, 26, last year. He filed for divorce in August.

"Randy is the love of my life," she said in the statement. "This divorce and the lack of any attempt to save our marriage is solely his decision not mine."

There have been conflicting reports on whether she or the family's maid signed Hopper's recall petition. Democratic Party sources have told No Quarter that Hopper's estranged wife has agreed to give to his opponent, whoever that may be.

Hopper has maintained that he had nothing to do with Cass' recent appointment to the state job.

Interestingly, Cass' name does not appear on a lengthy list of job applicants to Walker's transition team.

Werwie said that's because she put her name in the mix late in the process.

"I enjoyed talking with you a few weeks ago, and I'm excited about the news I read today regarding Governor-elect Walker's plans for the Department of Commerce," Cass wrote in a Dec. 28 e-mail to Gilkes, Walker's former campaign manager who was then with the transition team. "It's about time Wisconsin starts creating jobs - and I look forward to helping make that happen."

Werwie said Cass spent part of January in Washington, D.C., helping Reince Priebus with his bid to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was elected to the post midway through the month.

She brings up this duty in her note to Gilkes.

"Things are really heating up with Reince's campaign and shaping up nicely," she wrote. "With the RNC vote coming up in a few weeks and Governor-elect Walker's inauguration this week, I was wondering if you had any more details about when you would have a spot ready for me?"

They did - even if it took a few weeks.

Carlson said she filled a vacancy created by a previous limited-term employee who left in January. These temporary workers can put in no more than 1,043 hours during a fiscal year, which ends June 30. According to a Madison TV report, Cass received a substantial pay raise over her predecessor.

If she were to put in a full year in her current job, she would make about $43,200. Her predecessor was paid at a rate of $31,200 a year.

Money man

Radio talk show host Charlie Sykes says he was simply putting his money where his mouth is.

Sykes, who has never given to political candidates in the past, began doing so in October, chipping in a total of $1,750 to three Republican candidates, according to recently filed reports. The conservative talker said he told listeners last fall that he would be writing checks to GOP candidates and encouraged them to do the same.

In all, Sykes donated $1,000 to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, $500 to Gov. Scott Walker and $250 to U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble. Walker has appeared frequently on Sykes' show, and Sykes had a hand in encouraging Johnson to run.

Sykes' show airs on WTMJ-AM (620) - which, like the Journal Sentinel, is owned by Journal Communications. The company ethics policy discourages any political involvement that "jeopardizes our loyalty to the company, impairs our ability to do our job fairly or threatens the company's credibility."

Steven Wexler, the company's executive vice president of TV and radio operations, said there is no policy regarding campaign contributions by on-air personalities. Wexler said Sykes informed him of his donations last fall.

Reporters, opinion columnists and editorial writers at the Journal Sentinel are banned from making political donations.

Asked whether his contributions were similar to those by former liberal talker Keith Olbermann, Sykes said he had no problem with Olbermann's political activity. MSNBC suspended Olbermann for four days for giving to three Democratic candidates last year. He has since resigned his position.

"I make no secret of where I stand or who I support," said Sykes, who then offered an on-air defense of his newfound policy of rewarding favored candidates with campaign cash.

He wasn't the only radio talker opening his wallet last fall.

Walker got $150 from Jay Weber, who has a morning show on WISN-AM (1130), and $100 from John "Sly" Sylvester of WTDY-AM (1670) in Madison.

Sylvester is a political liberal who participated regularly in the recent Capitol protests against Walker's budget-repair bill.

So what was he doing giving to the Republican governor?

Sylvester said he was trying to stick it to former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, Walker's GOP primary opponent. Years earlier, Neumann ran a tough campaign against Sylvester's buddy, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.

"If I could take that one back, I would," Sylvester said of his Walker donation. "I was trying to create a little mischief."

Dylan Brogan, Sylvester's producer, said Mid-West Family Broadcasting Group has no rules against hosts giving campaign donations.

Since January 2008, Sylvester has doled out nearly $1,000 to state candidates - most of them Democrats. He tossed another $500 to a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky.

But there is one local talker whose name you won't see on recent campaign finance reports.

Mark Belling, a conservative on WISN, gave to no political candidates during the last election.

"I don't make contributions because of my desire to speak only for myself and not be part of any political group or organization," Belling explained. "I have absolutely no problem with other talk show hosts who take a different approach."

Belling said his was not a hard-and-fast rule. He said he may give to political candidates in the future.

More than a decade ago, he contributed to Democratic lawmaker Mark Meyer, a college friend.

Daniel Bice can be contacted by phone at (414) 224-2135 or by e-mail at dbice@journalsentinel.com.