MADISON, Wis. -- A jury was selected on Monday for the federal trial of a state employee accused of steering a travel contract to an agency with political ties to Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election campaign.

Lawyers for Georgia Thompson, a Department of Administration purchasing supervisor, and prosecutors trimmed a jury pool of 43 to 13, including one alternate. The trial is expected to last a week at the federal courthouse in Milwaukee.

Federal Judge Rudolph Randa refused a defense motion to dismiss charges against Thompson.

She's pleaded not guilty to fraud charges for her alleged actions while serving as a state worker.

Federal prosecutors said that she used her position on a committee charged with evaluating bids for state travel contracts to steer the deal to Adelman Travel Group of Glendale, whose executives donated to Doyle's re-election campaign.

CEO Craig Adelman donated $3,000 to Doyle's campaign before and $7,000 after his firm landed the contract. Adelman board member Mitchell Fromstein gave another $10,000 shortly after the contract was awarded.

Thompson, a 56-year-old civil servant, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry up to 20 years in prison.

Doyle has denied any link between the donations and the contract, which was canceled after the indictment. He has refused to return the donations.

Judge Allows Evidence

Judge Rudolph Randa also ruled on Monday that prosecutors can introduce evidence showing the travel agency had close ties to Doyle and top aides around the time that Thompson allegedly steered the contract to the company.

The evidence that will be allowed includes campaign donations made by executives at Adelman Travel, phone calls between the executives and the Doyle administration and an invitation to an Adelman party sent to Doyle.

Thompson's lawyer has argued that she wasn't even aware of the donations made by Adelman when she served on a committee that evaluated bids for state travel contracts.

Randa said that the evidence is relevant if it helps explain why Thompson allegedly favored Adelman during the bidding process on a contract to book up to 40 percent of state travel.