Posted on 02/01/2006 2:26:49 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen says he and other top Assembly Republicans were unfairly prosecuted for using state employees for campaigning when Democratic leaders did the same thing and were never charged.
In a motion filed in Dane County Circuit Court Tuesday, Jensen's lawyer, Stephen Meyer, cited more than 100 pages of newly discovered evidence, including documents and testimony from the secret John Doe investigation of the legislative caucus scandal.
The documents, Meyer said, show that Democratic leaders in the Assembly had their own illegal campaign operation during the 1998 and 2000 elections that was a "mirror image" of Republican activities that led to felony misconduct charges against Jensen, former Majority Leader Steve Foti and former Foti aide Sherry Schultz.
Meyer contends that Jensen was unfairly prosecuted - while no charges were ever filed against former Assembly Minority Leader Shirley Krug, D-Milwaukee, or other Democratic leaders, including Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison - because both Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard and then-Attorney General Jim Doyle are both Democrats.
Blanchard, who is heading the prosecution, had no comment.
Prosecutors were expected to file a response to Jensen's accusations, however, sometime this week.
Meyer's motion does not address the fact that prosecutors did bring corruption charges against two other top Democrats - former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, and former state Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee - on the basis of similar allegations.
In fact, two key figures in the case against Burke - his former chief of staff, Tanya Bjork, and former aide Raghu Devaguptapu - were also top officials in both the Assembly Democratic Caucus before going to work for him.
Meyer says Bjork and Devaguptapu were regularly involved in recruiting candidates, raising money and running campaigns out of their state offices, and that their activities were well-known to Krug and other top Democratic leaders, including Pocan.
Meyer cites documents indicating that Pocan attended meetings in the Capitol where Bjork and other caucus staffers discussed upcoming races.
Pocan this morning dismissed the allegations as "typical Scott Jensen tactics" and an attempt to smear prosecutors and Democrats "so he can bring everyone down along with him."
Pocan said he mainly did campaign work on nights and weekends. He said he couldn't recall whether he might have discussed campaigns with state employees during regular office hours.
"I just don't remember things like that from seven years ago," he said.
Many of the documents involve the testimony of Rich Judge, who was initially an aide at the Assembly Democratic Caucus and eventually took over as both caucus director and treasurer of the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, the private fundraising arm of Assembly Democrats.
Judge, who stepped down as campaign manager for Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager four years ago because of his role in the investigation, is now running Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election campaign.
Judge received immunity for his testimony in the investigation. Bjork and Devaguptapu were charged in connection with their work for Burke; Devaguptapu paid a forfeiture for a campaign finance violation, while Bjork was convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to community service and ordered to pay a fine.
According to the documents, Judge and Bjork decided after the 1998 elections that they needed a "point person" to handle fundraising for Assembly Democrats and hired Devaguptapu.
As The Capital Times first reported in 2002, Devaguptapu used the Assembly Democrats' state offices to oversee the campaign committee's fundraising operations.
The documents say Bjork and Krug met frequently with Devaguptapu to discuss fundraising matters and that he was assigned "exclusively" to do campaign work on state time.
Krug could not be reached for comment this morning.
Those activities are virtually identical to what prosecutors say Schultz did for the Assembly Republicans. Prosecutors contend her fundraising activities were supervised by both Jensen and Foti.
"More Dots To Connect...Ending at Doyle?" Ping!
But, but,but, Harry Reid says the dems are squeaky clean.
So, does Howard "the Duck" Dean ("Duck" because he refuses to appear with RNC chairman Ken Mehlman)want to debate this issue, or does he want to hide from it? I think he wants to turn (his rat) tail and hide.
They have Abramoff, and although we don't know what he is has said, it appears he is going to provide evidence of some Republicans offering a quid-pro-quo, for contributions. If he does, then this scandal has legs .. and it will be very damaging to those Republicans, who may be forced to resign. If they are guilty, then they need to be punished.
Have no doubt the Democrats and their friends in the media will blow this way up. They are already smiling and rubbing their hands together in anticipation.
Right now it doesn't seem that Abramoff has evidence of, or is willing to provide evidence of, Democrats offering a quid-pro-quo for a contribution. This is why the Democrats are so eagerly calling this a "Republican scandal".
In the end, we can't take too much comfort in knowing that Dems took money too, if there is no testimony that favors were offered for it. It's all still uncertain what is going to happen, but I'm just wanting to consider the all the possibilities here.
Ah, the infamous Hillary defense rears its ugly head yet again...
Hey! Whatever happened to the tire slashing dems? That was in WIS, right? And the jury was deliberating, right? Oh, man, I'm sure I don't want to know.
"Oh, man, I'm sure I don't want to know."
Last minute plea bargain. Fines and probation; no jail time.
Same old, same old...
One of the five did not plea bargain and was acquited by the jury.
Howie doesn't want to have to explain where all the dems millions went.
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