The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments the first week of January from attorneys of former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala and former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, who are both allegedly involved in a caucus scandal where campaign funds were raised illegally.

The Supreme Court agreed last June to hear charges against Chvala, who represented the Madison/Monona area as a Democrat; Jensen; and former Assembly Majority Leader and Oconomowoc Republican Steve Foti.

Only four of the seven justices were present for the hearing. The justices will eventually determine whether Chvala and Jensen will stand trial on their accused charges.

Chvala was charged with 20 felonies in the fall of 2002 relating to illegal campaign funds, with one felony charge later dropped by a Dane County Circuit Court judge.

Foti has been charged with one felony, and Jensen with three felonies and one misdemeanor. Both are charged with a possible connection to hiring a staff member, Sherry Schultz, who allegedly accepted taxpayer money for campaign work.

The three justices absent from the hearings were David Prosser, Jon Wilcox and Louis Butler. It is possible these justices had worked with the accused and wanted them to receive a fair trial.

“They didn’t give a reason [why they did not attend the hearing], which is quite common,” Amanda Todd of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court said. “Normally justices don’t give their reason. The philosophy is that by giving a reason, [they] may taint other members of the court.”

The decision on whether the former Wisconsin legislators will face trial could be made anytime between now and June, according to Todd.

“There is no set deadline,” Todd said. “After they hear the case, [the justices] go back to conference and decide if there will be a dissent. It can take months to write an opinion and get everyone to agree with it.”

If the justices rule in agreement with the lower courts, the former legislators will face a criminal trial on the original charges.

“It seems to me inconceivable that the majority would turn everything around and reverse the lower court,” Jay Heck of Common Cause said.

Common Cause of Wisconsin is concerned something of this nature could happen again if a significant change in campaign-finance practices does not take place.

“While the players are different, all the same rules are in place,” Heck said. “The government and the legislature did not move to change the campaign-finance laws.”

According to Heck, the ethics board and State Elections Board are still very weak and full of loopholes. He said neither carries out its duty of acting as a watchdog that goes after wrongdoing.

“[The government] needs to fix campaign-finance reform, or it’s not going to get better,” Laura Anderson, a recent UW-Madison graduate, said. “This is really important because reform would make politicians put people before profits.”

Another Wisconsin legislator associated with the caucus scandal, Brian Burke, already has a trial date set for October 2005.