News

Burke one step closer to court

Former state Sen. Brian Burke moved a step closer to trial Tuesday when the state Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay in his case on several felony charges.

The Supreme Court had granted Burke the stay in September to consider the former senator's request for a supervisory writ suspending hearings in his pending circuit court case. He argued his case should not be held before trials for Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, and Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, indicted along with Burke in the Capitol corruption scandal of 2002, commence early next year.

Furthermore, Burke argued his proceeding should not be held before the Court determines the constitutionality of a Wisconsin statute being challenged by Chvala and Jensen. In June the Supreme Court accepted a request by Chvala and Jensen to review a prior court of appeals decision in the matter.

After considering Burke's request and subsequent briefs, the Supreme Court denied Burke's petition and removed the stay in the case Tuesday. They ruled Burke's request for supervisory writ came under "significantly different procedural posture" than Chvala and Jensen's inquiry in June.

Additionally, the Supreme Court found no reason to intervene in the circuit court case "unless the duty of the trial court is plain and the trial court has acted or intends to act in violation of such duty." The Supreme Court found no evidence to suggest such a violation.

Burke faces multiple felony counts, including misconduct in office for using his staffers to work on his campaign for Attorney General. Chvala; Jensen; Rep. Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, and Foti aide Sherry Schultz face similar charges in the scandal.

That the trials against the legislators have not occurred yet should not be considered a surprise, according to University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.

"It's taken a while because they've all adopted a strategy of delaying their trials as long as they can," Franklin said. "Public figures have an advantage in that if they can wait long enough, some of the passion behind the case will be lost."

UW political science professor Herbert Kritzer agreed, saying the proceedings seem "unusually slow."

But Tuesday's ruling signals Burke's trial will be held in the near future. With the petition for supervisory intervention denied, Judge William Foust will now schedule Burke to stand trial in Dane County Circuit Court. Prior to the Supreme Court's September stay, Burke had been scheduled to stand trial Monday.

Oral arguments in the Chvala and Jensen cases will begin Jan. 6, 2005.