Random Thoughts for Reform-Minded Reps

Unlike the vast majority of really smart people who like to talk smart about the Jensen trial, I was in the courtroom for all but two days of testimony so far.

The prosecution’s nit picking about certain activities in the Capitol have raised questions in my mind, as well as my home, as to what is and is not permissible behavior in the State Capitol.

For example:

1. Can lobbyists and other private citizens discuss political fundraising in the Capitol if there are no legislators or staff directly involved?

2. Is it ok for a registered lobbyist to deliver girl-scout cookies his wife sold to legislative staff weeks earlier at another location? (We erred on the side of caution and I delivered the cookies myself. Is that ok with you Mr. Blanchard?)

3. Can fundraising invitations be delivered --- (in a plain sealed envelope) --- to a legislator’s Capitol office so they can be sent home with the legislator at the end of the day?

4. If the plain envelope is given to the legislator outside the Capitol, can he carry it into the Capitol to take home at the end of the day, or does he have to put it in his vehicle before going back into the building? And if his vehicle is parked on state property, does the existence of the envelope and its contents constitute fundraising on state property?

Ridiculous questions, yes. Irrelevant question, no.

Brian Blanchard and Roy Korte made much ado about Scott Jensen's now infamous “mail bag.” The canvass Land’s End satchel has been used by Jensen for years to carry a variety of state, political and personal items between his home in Waukesha and the Capitol and other Madison locations. Jensen sometimes carried campaign contributions from Waukesha to Madison in the bag, and fundraising thank you letters as well as other political items were often placed in the bag at Jensen’s Capitol office to be taken home at the end of the day.

Last summer, I delivered home-made ginger snaps to Jensen’s office for his birthday. I was told the cookies would go home with him in the mail bag. Am I a cookie criminal?

During his cross examination of former Jensen scheduler, Jodi Tierney, Korte insinuated that discussing and scheduling political events on state time was also inappropriate. I would have thought the one man - one calendar rule would apply.

And of course Korte and Blanchard just couldn’t get over the fact that legislators discussed campaigns when they met in the Capitol. Jensen said it’d be pretty hard to get a bunch of legislators in a room without the subject of campaigns coming up. Politics is often the only thing these people have in common. Should they really be required to leave the Capitol to discuss it?

Before legislators give some bureaucratic agency the power to investigate their actions, I hope they have a very clear understanding of what is and is not allowed under the Dome, along with commonly accepted definitions of words like fundraising, political, and campaign. Spell it out, because there will never be a shortage of petty people on both sides of the aisle ready and willing to harass and embarrass you and your friends.

I would also caution them against referring complaints to a legislator’s local District Attorney. Remember last January when Democrats in Waukesha County filed a baseless complaint against Scott Newcomer with District Attorney Paul Bucher in an attempt to embarrass them both.

No matter what kind of reform package legislators pass, it’ll never be enough to satisfy the goo goos, and the rest of the world still doesn’t care enough about ethics and election reform to base their vote on it.

Just make sure the cure isn't worse than the disease.