Caucus spotlight hits Loftus
10:42 AM 1/08/03
Dee J. Hall Wisconsin State Journal

A 1986 memorandum from the Assembly Democratic Caucus indicates that campaign activity at the taxpayer-funded agency might have been common under then-Speaker Tom Loftus.

The 10-page memo, addressed to Loftus from the Assembly Democratic Caucus staff, purports to recap the activities of caucus staffers on behalf of 50 Democratic candidates for Assembly in 1986. There is no mention of staffers using leave, vacation or compensatory time to do the work.

Loftus, reached while traveling in Arizona, said he doesn't recall receiving the memo, and he questioned whether the author may have mixed up the role of staffers working on their own time for the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, or ADCC, with those working on government time.

"It seems mostly an analysis of ADCC activities, and confuses and merges various separate campaign entities," Loftus said. "The author is not that sophisticated about how the ADCC was set up or worked and, quite frankly, there seems some bragging here meant to impress."

Loftus, former ambassador to Norway who now works for the World Health Organization, said he was strict about having Assembly staff adhere to "the letter and the spirit" of the law.

The memo was sent to the Wisconsin State Journal on Friday by legislative aide Steve Baas on his last day as spokesman for then-Speaker Scott Jensen. Jensen, R-Waukesha, is defending himself against three felony counts of misconduct in office for allegedly using state workers to run campaigns.

In motions to be heard in Dane County Circuit Court this Friday, Jensen and Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, plan to argue that campaigning was part of their official duties as legislative leaders. Foti was charged with one felony count of misconduct for allegedly placing a full-time campaign fund-raiser, Sherry Schultz, on his payroll. Schultz also was charged with misconduct.

A call to Jensen's attorney and a message left for Baas weren't returned Wednesday.

The 1986 memo describes a systematic approach to assigning caucus staffers to campaigns, similar to the system revealed in a series of stories published in the State Journal beginning in May 2001. That series sparked an investigation that so far has resulted in charges against Jensen, Foti and three other lawmakers. However, the activities described in the 1986 memo probably would be too old to prosecute; Wisconsin's statute of limitations is generally six years for felonies and three years for misdemeanors.

According to the memo, "Each member of the Caucus Staff was assigned three candidates, one nonincumbent and two incumbents. S/he had total responsibility for services to the candidate. .