Chvala and Jensen: Neither Knaves Nor Knights, but Pawns
By Tony Palmeri
October 21, 2002
Joel McNally wrote a column a few months back in which he said that Chuck Chvala is not a knave, but a knight. Joel argued that Chuck has almost single-handedly prevented the Republicans from getting their way on virtually every major public policy issue to come up in the last decade. No doubt some conservatives would say the same thing about Scott Jensen-the bold knight able to secure an assembly Republican majority for almost a decade and put in place almost every piece of the Thompson agenda.
Now that Chuck and Scott find themselves facing a list of felonies longer than Victoria's reign as Queen, are they necessarily knaves? Or are they, as they and some of their supporters might suggest, knights victimized by what Chvala called "politically motivated special interest lobbyists and a District Attorney bent on political revenge"?
I believe the events of the last few days demonstrate clearly that Chvala and Jensen as legislative leaders have acted not as knights or knaves, but as pawns. Pawns of a political system now under complete control of well-connected and powerful insiders. Pawns of a political system that they did not create but cultivated and mastered more expertly than most. Whether or not they did anything illegal will be decided by the courts; what our state's politicians can do legally is just as big a problem. It's not illegal for legislators to put policy items in the state budget, for example, but such a practice sure has become a convenient way for pawns to play sycophants to the kings and queens.
The pawns can say all the nasty things they want about Jay Heck and Common Cause, Mike McCabe and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and other watchdogs, but can there be any doubt at this point that these groups have been right all along in their pointed criticisms of the system? Even if Chvala, Jensen, Burke, Foti, and others are ultimately found not guilty of any felonies, that would not change the fact that legislative system is in need of a complete overhaul.
How to start the overhaul? First, and probably most obvious, the next legislature must pass real campaign finance reform. Reform groups claim that something along the lines of Senator Mike Ellis' bill is probably the best we can hope for, but if felony charges against the two most powerful politicians in Madison does not lead to at least a serious consideration of full public financing, then the system is even more pathetic than I have heretofore described it.
Second, we need to see a rebirth of the maverick spirit in the Wisconsin legislature. That Democratic members of the Senate waited until the Milwaukee District Attorney filed charges before calling for the resignation of Chvala is nothing short of appalling. That the Assembly Republicans are apparently willing to allow Jensen to remain on as speaker until January smells like Nixonian personality cult politics. Don't buy the smokescreen that these legislative Democratic and Republican lapdogs did or do not want to "prejudge" Chvala and Jensen. The sad truth is that the majority of the 130 saw the political punishments meted out to representatives (e.g. Bill Lorge, Jon Erpenbach) who took on the leadership, and so they elected to remain silent and avoid the lash.
Will the next legislature be willing to do those things necessary to move out
of pawnliness and into knighthood? The conduct and financing of the current
gubernatorial campaign, along with the fact that too many incumbents will be
returning to the legislature, suggests not. On the other hand, even spineless
pawns will respond to the voice of the people if we decide to speak.