|
Capitol investigation timeline
10:47 AM
10/16/02
2001 May 20: The Wisconsin State Journal reports that employees at the four legislative caucuses secretly campaign on state time and from their state offices in apparent violation of the law. Other stories allege the Assembly Republican Caucus helped a private group with attack ads against Democratic Assembly candidates and destroyed or hid campaign documents to keep from turning them over to the State Journal.
June 2: Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard confirms his office is investigating.
June 6: Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign file a complaint with the state Elections Board urging an investigation into the allegations.
Aug. 12: The State Journal reports that caucus and legislative employees spent hundreds of hours compiling voter lists for the parties and candidates.
August: Prosecutors begin issuing subpoenas for caucus staffers to testify in the secret "John Doe" investigation, which began July 25.
Sept. 28: An Assembly committee votes to pay caucus staffers' private attorneys; the Senate follows suit Oct. 3.
Oct. 11: Legislators and regulators agree to abolish the caucuses and adopt new work rules to stop illicit campaigning at the Capitol.
Oct. 20: The State Journal reports allegations that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, used his office and staffers for campaigning in 1996, which Chvala denies.
Nov. 5: The State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sue the state Elections and Ethics boards for all records related to the caucus settlement. The case eventually is settled after both comply.
Nov. 6: Attorney General Jim Doyle asks Gov. Scott McCallum to allow him to file suit to halt payment of legal fees. McCallum later denies the request.
Nov. 11: The State Journal reports that campaigning on state time extends beyond the caucuses into the offices of several state lawmakers, including legislative leaders.
November: Various press accounts report investigators have begun to investigate whether certain lawmakers demanded campaign contributions in exchange for action in the Legislature.
Nov. 22: The State Journal reports prosecutors have granted immunity to 10 current or former state employees called to testify before Dane County Circuit Judge Sarah O'Brien.
Dec. 2: The State Journal reports allegations that Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, employed a staff aide as a full-time campaign fund-raiser in 2000.
Dec. 6: Common Cause in Wisconsin sues to block state payment of legal fees for staffers and lawmakers.
Dec. 16: The State Journal reports that Democratic legislative staffers solicited or were pressured to give political contributions while at their state jobs. Some say Chvala personally asked them for donations.
Dec. 17: The Capital Times sues the Assembly and Senate to release names and details blocked out on caucus staffers' legal bills. The State Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel join the suit in January 2002. 2002Jan. 22: Chvala says legislative staffers should have their legal bills paid but should be required to pay them back if convicted of a crime. He later pays back $10,000 for his own bill.
Feb. 6: Steve Baas, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, is granted immunity. He becomes the highest-ranking legislative employee granted immunity by O'Brien.
March 24: The State Journal reports that Jensen has been personally involved at least since 1996 in the use of state resources to run Republican campaigns.
March 27: Chvala staffer Paula McGuire is granted immunity.
May 3: O'Brien orders the Assembly and Senate to release information about the legal bills.
May 10: Legal bills are released, showing five lawmakers and 59 staffers received at least $500,000 worth of taxpayer-funded legal help. Sen. Brian Burke , D-Milwaukee, drops out of the race for attorney general and announces he won't seek re-election to the Senate. Other lawmakers receiving legal help: Chvala, Jensen, Foti and state Rep. Shirley Krug, D-Milwaukee.
June 26: Burke is charged with 18 criminal counts, primarily misconduct in office, for allegedly using his Senate staff for campaign work, soliciting contributions at his Capitol office, withholding and altering documents under subpoena and falsifying expense accounts. Two aides, Tanya Burke and Raghu Devaguptapu, are accused of lesser offenses.
July 18: Michelle McGrorty, former Senate Democratic Caucus staffer, and Scott McCormick, treasurer of Independent Citizens for Democracy, a group that backs Democratic Senate candidates, become the 22nd and 23rd witnesses granted immunity.
Sept. 18: After a court hearing, O'Brien rules that Blanchard does not have a conflict of interest and can continue leading the John Doe investigation.
Sept. 23: Legal bills in the caucus scandal approach $800,000, with the number of lawmakers and staff receiving state-paid legal help now at 69.
Oct. 7: A Dane County Circuit judge rules against the Common Cause lawsuit to block payment of legal fees to staffers and lawmakers.
Wednesday:
|
