No Runny Eggs

Jenna has a very thought-provoking piece on the show trial of Scott Jensen that reads like a mix of Moby Dick and Alice In Wonderland. What set her off this time was Judge Queen of Hearts’, er, Ebert’s decision to not allow any evidence of what the Assembly Democratic Caucus did during the same time period as the crimes Jensen is accused of committing.

The second comment from an anonymous poster (thanks for the find, Charlie) has a wicked, if slightly flawed, explanation on why the Jensen prosecution is “selective prosecution”. About the only thing I can really see wrong with that poster’s line of thinking is that former Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Chvala was charged by E. Michael McCan’t because of the massive violations of the law. I don’t recall if I ever went all the way through my Caucus-gate charging theory here (or at the old Blogspot home, which was imported here), so better late than never:

– The four Legislative caucuses (one in each House for each party) all got nailed by the State Ethics Board for having state workers do campaign work on state time in 2001. Instead of refering the case to either the Dane County District Attorney, the aforementioned Brian Blanchard (D-Madison), or the Attorney General, Jim Doyle (D-Madison), for prosecution, the Ethics Board and the Legislature reach an agreement to stop the practice and disband the caucuses.

– Blanchard had a concurrent investigation into 3 of the caucuses, with the Senate Democratic Caucus refered to fellow DA E. Michael McCann (D-Milwaukee) because Blanchard and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Chvala shared a campaign office (and because McCann had a long history of not prosecuting dirty ‘Rats). McCann kicked the participation of Senator Brian Burke, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, back to Blanchard because of McCann’s close ties to Burke.

– While the investigations were still ongoing, two things happened that would later become pivotal in “Caucus-gate”: Assembly Democratic Leader Shirley Krug (Milwaukee) gave up her position in favor of Spencer Black (Madison), and Burke announced he would run for attorney general to succeed Doyle, who was running for governor.

– Rather than accept the deal that the Ethics Board reached with the Legislature, Blanchard decided to go after the enemies of the Madison wing of the Democratic Party, both Republicans and the Milwaukee wing of the Democratic Party.

Because Krug handed over power so willingly in mid-2001, the Assembly Democratic Caucus was spared. Senate Republican “Leader” Mike Ellis was the best Pubbie the ‘Rats could ever hope for because he kept on giving back control of the Senate to them; so the Senate Republican Caucus was spared. Because Scott Jensen was successful in getting and growing a Republican majority, he was targeted for legal extermination.

– That leaves us with the Senate Democratic Caucus. It was already in the hands of the Madison ‘Rats, but it appears the word came down from on high in the DPW that Burke was not to be allowed to become attorney general (in fact, going back through the JSOnline archives, it appears I am right in that assertion). Since time was of the essence to get an AG candidate the DPW could live with (or at least they thought they could live with), Burke was the first one charged, with a laundry list.

– In a rare fit of rage, McCann didn’t take the charging of Burke lying down. He uncorked his laundry list on Chvala. Blanchard dilly-dallied a bit more, finally getting a couple of charges in on Jensen and company.

– Except for Jensen, everybody else left the Legislature pretty quickly, and Burke left the AG race. The legal system took its sweet-natured time in getting trial dates set up.

– Once things cooled down and the trials started to approach, the plea deals started to come in. First, Burke copped to a pair of charges – the felony charge of use of state workers on campaigns and a reduced misdemeanor charge of attempting to hide supoenaed documents – in exchange for the rest of the charges, including fraudulently receiving the $88-per-day per-diem, being dropped.

– Shortly afteward, in appreciation for his friend only getting 6 months of Huber law jail, McCann’s office cut a deal with Chvala in which he pled guilty to a pair of felonies – funneling money illegally to a campaign and, you guessed it, using state employees for campaigns. In exchange, multiple charges of extortion were dropped. Of course, Chvala couldn’t leave well enough alone, and earned himself 9 months of Huber law jail instead of the recommended 6.

– Earlier this year, former Pubbie Assembly members Steve Foti and Bonnie Ladwig saw that Blanchard would use the plea bargains that Chvala and Burke reached to sink them along with the intended target of Jensen and turned state’s evidence in exchange for misdemeanors.

So, we are where we are – a kangaroo court bound and determined to drive Jensen out of the Legislature. Never mind that the ‘Rats couldn’t capitalize on this, getting fewer seats in both 2002 and 2004. Never mind that Blanchard used the services of the ‘Rat caucuses to get himself re-elected. Never mind that, especially if someone is found to run against and defeat Pat Crooks for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the kangaroo court will be slapped down on appeal. Captain Ahab, er, Brian Blanchard has his whale, oops, Assemblyman to hunt. Blanchard will get a harpoon in his whale, but the best he can hope for is that the rope breaks before the whale pulls him down.