Wisconsin Ethics Board releases caucus documents
By The Associated Press
08.09.02
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MADISON, Wis. — The state Ethics Board released thousands of pages of documents yesterday detailing its review of allegations against the legislative caucuses, settling a lawsuit filed by two newspapers seeking the records.
The board began gathering information on the caucuses after a newspaper detailed allegations that caucus employees whose jobs were to do research for lawmakers were actually doing campaign work illegally.
The documents detail the board's negotiations with legislative leaders to abolish the caucuses and evidence it gathered for a possible investigation, though much of the information was previously released.
The Wisconsin State Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued the state Ethics and Elections boards last year to force the agencies to release the records.
The Elections Board released its documents last year. But the Ethics Board resisted, citing a state law that it claimed prohibited it from releasing the records because they were not part of a criminal prosecution.
The newspapers claimed the Ethics Board failed to comply with the state's Open Records Law when it refused requests for the records in October.
Ethics Board chairman James Morgan said in a statement yesterday the board decided to release the documents because it was more important "to side with openness" than to continue defending a legal principle.
"This has become more important in recent months as confidence in government officials has waned because of campaign-related issues," Morgan said.
The Ethics Board did not have a total for its legal bills stemming from the lawsuit available yesterday, executive director Roth Judd said.
Jay Heck, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause in Wisconsin, said the documents shed little new light on the caucus controversy, other than acknowledging the board did not conduct an in-depth investigation of the allegations as some had expected it to.
"They should have gotten rid of the caucuses and should have been investigating, not cutting deals with legislators behind closed doors," Heck said.
The records include memos from caucus staffers, bills and handwritten notes from meetings, all possible evidence that state employees campaigned illegally on state time.
The records also include letters the Ethics Board sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, Senate Minority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, and Assembly Minority Leader Spencer Black, D-Madison, on Oct. 1 notifying them the board had authorized an investigation into whether they played a role in state employees illegally campaigning on state time.
Similar letters were sent to caucus employees and former legislative leaders Rep. Shirley Krug, D-Milwaukee, and Sen. Michael Ellis, R-Neenah.
When the letters were sent, the four leaders were already negotiating with the Ethics Board to abolish the caucuses in exchange for the board ending its probe. The deal was finalized 10 days after the letters were sent, and the caucuses were eliminated in January.
None of the legislative leaders returned calls from the Associated Press seeking comment yesterday.
Jensen was out of town at a conference, spokesman Steve Baas said. He referred questions on the settlement to attorney Ray Taffora, who did not return calls. But Baas said the information in the records was "old news."
The documents detail the steps the Ethics Board took to prepare for the probe, including creating "an investigative dream team." The team was going to be given eight to 12 weeks to determine whether caucus employees used state time or resources to assist campaigns and "if so, who knowingly permitted, authorized or directed this."
The board spent $5,345.40 on legal bills for attorneys who assisted in preparing for a possible probe, the records reviewed by the Associated Press showed.
A State Journal series last year detailing allegations of legislative staffers campaigning on state time prompted the reviews by the Ethics and Elections boards. The caucuses were created in the 1960s to do research for lawmakers.
District attorneys in Dane and Milwaukee counties also began separate criminal investigations into the allegations. It is illegal for state employees to campaign on state time or use state resources for political activities.
Taxpayers have spent $682,613.74 to cover legal bills of lawmakers and legislative staffers involved in the district attorneys' investigation. Legislative leaders approved using taxpayer money to cover the bills last year.
So far, state Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee, has been charged with 18 felonies for allegedly using his Capitol office to raise money for his now-defunct campaign for attorney general. Two Burke aides face lesser charges.
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