MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- One of Gov. Jim Doyle's budget vetoes combines parts of three sentences to create a new one, which is an apparent violation of a voter-approved constitutional ban on what critics call the "Frankenstein veto."
   Voters approved the ban in 2008 to limit a governor's veto power. But contrary to the ban, one of Doyle's 81 vetoes issued Monday to the $62 billion budget bill morphs sentences in a way not permitted by that veto law.
   The veto dealt with a study ordered by the Legislature of mentally ill care facilities. Doyle eliminated a study committee and a Dec. 1 due date for a report. Instead, the secretary of the Department of Health Services would be charged with conducting a study and issuing a report to the Legislature's budget committee, but there is no deadline.
   Doyle's budget director Dave Schmiedicke said the veto was done in error, and that the governor's intent could have been accomplished "through a correct veto."
   "It was a mistake," Schmiedicke said.
   Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said he would talk with the Legislature's attorneys to see what action should be taken.
   "It's a completely new issue," he said. "There's no precedent."
   The governor's veto will stand unless challenged, but Schmiedicke said Doyle wanted to work with lawmakers to resolve the issue. Miller called the underlying issue in the veto "very minor" but said it was important to determine how to proceed since this is the first time a veto has been issued contrary to the year-old ban.
   Wisconsin governors have the unique ability to approve spending bills "in whole or in part" under a 1930 constitutional amendment. Courts have said that gives them broad authority to remake budgets approved by lawmakers.
   But last year 71 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment to limit the veto powers, preventing the creation of a new sentence by combining two or more other sentences.
   Even under the ban, governors can still cross out words within a sentence to change its meaning, remove individual digits to create new numbers or delete entire sentences from paragraphs.
   Lawmakers pushed for the amendment in 2005 after they said Doyle overstepped by rewriting a section of the budget to divert millions of dollars of transportation money to schools.
   The 2008 ban came after voters in 1990 passed a constitutional amendment to do away with the so-called "Vanna White veto" after then-Gov. Tommy Thompson crossed out letters within words to create new ones.
   (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)