The state Supreme Court Friday granted former Democratic state Sen. Brian Burke a stay in his impending trial on felony charges related to the state caucus scandal.
In a short amended order released Monday, the Supreme Court decided to halt the trial as the Milwaukee Democrat had requested.
“It is ordered that the petitioner’s (Burke) request for a stay of proceedings before the Circuit Court of Dane County, Wisconsin, the Honorable C. William Foust, presiding, is granted, pending further order of this Court,” stated the order from Clerk of Supreme Court Cornelia G. Clark.
The supervisory writ from the court would likely delay Burke’s trial in Dane County Circuit Court, which was scheduled to begin Oct. 11. Burke previously filed for a stay with the state Court of Appeals, which was denied last week.
With the extra time, the Supreme Court may order Burke to file briefs with the court. Depending on the briefs, Burke’s trial may still be held when scheduled, Supreme Court Information Officer Amanda Todd said Monday.
“When there’s a stay, the court normally requests the party to submit briefs,” Todd explained. “Essentially the court is saying, ‘Hey, we’ll stop your case, now let’s take a timeout and take a look at [the briefs].’ There is a chance the October date will still be a go.”
Burke was charged in 2002 with 18 felony counts for using state-paid employees to work on his campaign for state Attorney General and for falsifying expense accounts. His charges were part of the larger state caucus scandal, which resulted in felony charges against state Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison; Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha; Rep. Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, and a Foti aide.
The four defendants are currently seeking an appeal from the state Supreme Court, leading Burke to question why his trial was set to proceed in October. Todd said Chvala and the others are not scheduled to appear in court until 2005.
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause, said Burke’s spirited defense is understandable for someone in his position but said the effort is possible only because of Burke’s deep campaign coffers.
“Burke is entitled to a vigorous defense, and my guess is that anybody in that position would do the same thing,” Heck said. “But he is doing it by a means not open to most citizens. Burke is able to use money from his campaign fund from the Attorney General race and use it to pay high-priced lawyers to string this process out.”
Heck expressed frustration with the inability to secure trials for legislators charged more than two years ago.
“There’s a saying, justice delayed is justice denied, and I think that’s part of the equation here,” Heck said. “On the other hand, the trials will begin with the Legislature in session, so hopefully citizens will be reminded of what went wrong. This was the worst scandal in the history of Wisconsin politics.”
Burke was unavailable for comment by press time.
