MADISON, Wis. -- Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his motorcycle stopped in Madison on Saturday night as part of the first day of his seventh annual tourism ride to promote Milwaukee County.

Walker has led the six-day, 1,700-mile motorcycle ride, known as the County Executive's Ride, since 2004. But now that Walker is running for governor of Wisconsin and some say that the ride should be viewed as a campaign event and held to strict campaign rules.

Two people not talking about any controversy are Judy Rhodes-Engels and her daughter. They are just two of the 140 riders joining Walker on his ride through much of Wisconsin, plus parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.

Rhodes-Engels said she is a fan of the attention their group gets as they roll into town on their choppers.

"When you're in a big massive group like this," said Rhodes-Engles, "everyone looks at you everywhere you go."

That attention is supposed to be funneled into raising awareness of Milwaukee County and all that the area has to offer.

Graeme Zielinski, the communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said that Walker’s candidacy means that the county is no longer the main focus of the ride.

"Look, this is a sham," Zielinski said. "It's a sham. Everybody knows this is a campaign trip. Scott Walker isn't here to promote Milwaukee County. Let's be honest. If Scott Walker wanted to promote Milwaukee County, he'd go down to Chicago, which is the biggest pile of cash in the Midwest."

Walker's itinerary includes Rockford, but not Chicago.

Zielinski said that the use of county workers to organize this year’s ride is unethical.

"The ethical bodies that need to need to look at this closely need to give a ruling so that nothing like this ever happens again," said Zielinski.

But Walker said the complaints amount to nothing more than just sour grapes from the other side of the aisle. He said the ride hasn't changed in its seven years and that it has absolutely nothing to do with his current campaign.

"We're very specific about only promoting things related to tourism," said Walker about the objections.

"That's why we go to not just Wisconsin," Walker said, "but we go to four other surrounding states. I think the proof is in the pudding. The results in the past show we've done an effective job."

But Walker isn't just facing complaints from Democrats. The campaign manager for Mark Neumann, Walker's opponent for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, released this statement about Walker's Executive Ride:

"Folks in Wisconsin are smart enough to see this for what it really is: A taxpayer-funded campaing trip."

"In contrast," the statement concluded, "Mark Neumann has a plan to create jobs that doesn't involve jumping on a motorcycle."

Most of the participants in the Executive's Ride aren't concerning themselves with any political bickering. They said they're just happy to be along for the trip.

"It's a great experience to share everything about Milwaukee with the rest of the state and even some of the other states that may not have been there," said Rhodes-Engles.

Walker said that the only tax dollars used for the ride are to pay for county workers.

He said only one county worker organized the entire event. The bulk of the rest of the support for this year’s ride came from AirTran and Visit Milwaukee. AirTran donated $2,800, while Visit Milwaukee helped out with promotional materials.

The County Executive's Ride continues through May 20.

More information on the County Executive’s Ride can be found at this Website.