Dennis Troha, Kenosha businessman and would-be casino kingpin, has pleaded guilty to two federal misdemeanors Friday in connection with improper political contributions he made.

That Troha was negotiating a plea has been widely reported.

But the media will be shocked, shocked to discover that Troha's plea is not a scandal involving Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, but a bipartisan conviction.

All of the paperwork hasn't been filed, [UPDATE: Here's the agreement.] But Troha pleaded to conspiring to skirt campaign finance laws and help the campaigns of Doyle and -- surprise! -- President George W. Bush.

To my knowledge, Bush's name had never been mentioned in any of the previous news accounts about Troha's troubles. [UPDATE: The Wisconsin State Journal did write about Troha's donations to Bush in a story in March,which became an AP wire story. A search of the archives of the Journal Sentinel , which has written extensively about the Troha investigation, does not show that the JS ever carried it.]

The DOJ press release is a little sketchy. It doesn't even mention Doyle's name, although Bush's makes it.

But a Journal Sentinel story offered a little more:

Troha's spokesman Jeff Fleming said one misdemeanor had to deal with contributions that were organized in a way to avoid campaign donation limits to Bush's campaign, while the other went to the federal account of the Democratic Party with the understanding it would be spent on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's race.

It is not clear whether Troha admitted he laundered contributions though family members to avoid donation limits, as had been previously reported.

If Troha's donations were to the Democratic National Committee or some other arm of the party, it would be illegal for him to earmark how ity could be used, or for the party to agree to spend his contribution on a specific campaign.

But media coverage of the Troha investigation and indictment, especially in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has made it appear that the donations were to Doyle and that perhaps Troha had been promised something (like approval of a new casino) in return.

The plea agreement does not support that in any way, shape, or form.

There's another player missing from the recent coverage, too: Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, another beneficiary of tens of thousands of bundled campaign dollars from Troha's family.

And Ryan actually intervened and asked federal officials considering Troha's casino application what was taking so long. That was reported long ago. Ryan also pushed passage of a law that gave Troha a windfall when he sold his trucking business.

But in recent stories the focus has all been on Doyle. Must be that liberal mainstream media at work again.