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Charges in caucus scandal expected

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Thursday, October 17, 2002 12:00 a.m.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, will be charged in the state caucus investigation today, according to a Milwaukee County district attorney.

Chvala was in court Wednesday trying to delay the investigation by removing the Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Mike McCann.

Chvala accused McCann of having a conflict of interest in the investigation, saying he believes McCann’s investigation is a personal attack because Chvala blocked legislation that would have increased the term length for district attorneys from two to four years.

Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney David Feiss told Dane County Circuit Judge Paul Higginbotham he was prepared to file charges Thursday against Chvala.

Feiss told the Associated Press that Dane County District Judge Sarah O’Brien authorized charges against Chvala earlier this week, but he did not specify what charges.

Feiss told Higginbotham, “It’s too late. The train is already out of the station. Judge O’Brien could file the criminal complaint herself.”

Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, has also been mentioned as a possible target in the probe.

The John Doe investigation into whether lawmakers and their legislative aides campaign illegally on state time has been going on for the past year and has been widely debated because of lawmakers’ decisions to use state money to pay for the legal fees of those being investigated.

Under state law, legal-fee payments for state employees are only to be repaid if the employee is found innocent. The investigation has cost state taxpayers more than $700,000 in legal fees alone.

Sen. Brian Burke, D-Wis., is the only legislator who has been charged so far. He faces 18 felony charges in the caucus investigation, but continues to proclaim his innocence.

“Let me say this as clearly as possible: I haven’t done anything wrong,” Burke told his colleagues in the state Senate.


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