Was Tom Loftus a Felon? Changing Standards, Double Standards in Wisconsin’S “Caucus” Scandal

WAS TOM LOFTUS A FELON? CHANGING STANDARDS, DOUBLE STANDARDS IN WISCONSIN’S “CAUCUS” SCANDAL CHARLES J. SYKES n late November “Nowhere can I find or conclude that it is 1986, the speaker 198619 Iof the Assembly 86 the duty of a legisla- received an extraordi- tor to get re-elected. nary 10-page memo. And at least with Had it been written a regard to the argu- few years later, it ment . that some- might have been a 2002 how there is a duty smoking gun — to get re-elected, a exhibit A in an inves- duty to elect a cer- tigation of public cor- tain party member, a ruption. duty to recruit candidates. I don’t think As it was, the those are legitimate memo was unnoticed ! state duties under by investigators and any stretch of the the bloodhounds of imagination.” the Capitol press corps. Speaker Tom But is this a new Loftus went on to standard? become his party’s candidate for governor, This is the way Loftus described his role: ambassador to Norway, and a media icon of political integrity. As the Speaker, I was the chairman, chief fund-raiser, and strategy maven of the But in page after page of extraordinary Assembly Democratic Campaign detail, the 1986 memo outlined how members of Committee. Although raising and giving the Assembly Democratic Caucus staff — under money to others once was a way for all Loftus’s direction — had devoted their time to state legislators to gain support, now it is political campaigns. Those activities are now the particular job of the speaker or the regarded as felonies in Madison. Defending his minority leader. charges against Loftus's successor, Scott Jensen, That attitude is reflected in the memo to Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard Loftus, which proudly recounted how legisla- recently wrote: "Members of the Assembly are tive staffers had run campaigns, helped raise not elected to use taxpayer money to run pri- money, written political commercials, devel- vate political campaigns." oped campaign literature, operated “spy” In his ruling binding over former Speaker Charles J. Sykes is the editor of WI:Wisconsin Interest Jensen and Majority Leader Steve Foti for trial, and a senior fellow of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Dane County Judge Daniel Moeser declared: He also hosts a talk-radio show on AM 620 WTMJ in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Interest 5 phone banks, provided writing and research, the extent to which the caucus was running the orchestrated campaign swings, helped with show. (Many of those same reporters now mailings, and traveled to local districts to breathlessly report the caucus scandal as if it make campaign phone calls and go door-to- had unearthed previously unknown activities. door for candidates. According to the memo, See Sidebar.) Caucus staffers had "total control" of campaign The Memo services to candidates, were in daily contact with campaigns and "felt they were actually a The memo from the caucus staff, dated part of the campaigns." November 24, 1986, is essentially a complete blueprint of the political activities of the Their efforts provided a direct benefit to Assembly Democratic caucus under Loftus Loftus, who was able to maintain his majority during the 1986 campaign. and his hold on the speaker’s chair. Nowhere in the memo do caucus staffers suggest that Each member of the Caucus Staff was any of the campaign work was done on their assigned three candidates, one non-incum- own time. bent and two incumbents. S/he had total responsibility for services to the candidate. One of a series of records documenting the For example, if a letter to farmers was political climate of the Capitol under needed, the agriculture analyst would Democratic rule, the memo — along with write it but the responsible staffer would Loftus’s own political memoirs — paints a pic- make sure it stressed campaign themes, etc. ture of Assembly leaders deeply immersed in This system worked well. The staff felt fund-raising and running campaigns as an they were actually part of the campaigns integral part of their jobs. and worked hard to provide needed services. In addition, they were in daily touch After eighteen months of John Doe investi- with the incumbents and served as an early gation, in which immunity was granted to over warning system if campaign plans were fifty legislators and staff, District Attorney falling behind schedule or negative issues Blanchard was not able to come up with any- surfaced. The graphics staff and radio per- thing even remotely comparable to the Loftus son were not assigned candidates since memo. Instead, his investigation ended only their workload is so heavy with all the with allegations that one Assembly staffer campaigns. (Sherry Schultz) was assigned to work on cam- Far from expressing concern that their paigns, that several others on partial leave may activities might be controversial or perhaps have worked more hours on campaigns and even illegal, the caucus memo to Loftus sug- less on state work than reflected on their time gests that, in the future, “it would be a good sheets, and that some others, as one Capitol idea to bring the assigned staff person into insider puts it, “may have occasionally blurred the campaign strategy process as soon as pos- the already blurry line in their offices between sible. By including the staffer, a better what was politics and what was policy.” media plan could be laid out earlier and But in 1986, not only was the politicking teams could be developed better throughout not prosecuted criminally, it was apparently all the literature.” conducted quite openly. In the Loftus memo, The memo also makes clear that members the caucus unapologetically reports — actually of individual legislators’ staffs played integral brags about — its full-time systematic cam- roles in the re-election campaigns of the paign operation. incumbents. “One of our best assets in the Names are named. Legislators clearly incumbent campaigns was each legislator’s knew what was going on; and it is difficult to staff,” the memo boasted. imagine political reporters covering any of the But the caucus staff clearly wanted to races described in the memo being unaware of stress the central — and irreplaceable — role it 6 Spring 2003 had played in key legislative races. In the Caucus staffers also helped State eightieth assembly district, for example, the Representative Wayne Wood write “the copy caucus memo complained that incumbent for most of his media.” Robert Thompson “did very little door to In a section of the memo subtitled door.” “Services to Candidates,” the Assembly Faced with a disorganized local campaign, Democratic Caucus notes that “in addition to the caucus staff “provided a budget and time- daily work and the legislative roll calls, the line.” In fact, however, that was just the begin- caucus provided a number of services to candi- ning. According to the memo to Loftus, “by dates (not just targeted candidates).” the second week in October, we had a com- For Margaret Baldwin, caucus staffers pro- plete spy phone bank [sic] and started a volun- vided graphics assistance, as well as writing teer voter ID phone bank.” and research, and a radio ad. For Caucus staffers also “increased radio buys, Representatives Bell and Black, the caucus . decreased newspaper buys, added an extra staffers provided graphics for brochures. For mailing to voters, a Representative Peter Feingold letter, a letter to Bock, the caucus provid- undecideds and imple- ed graphics for campaign mented a [Get Out the letters and two sample Vote] strategy.” ballots. In addition cau- But the caucus staff cus staffers bragged that So central was the role they had also helped set of the Assembly clearly wanted to stress up a phone bank for Democratic caucus staff Bock, “trained volunteers, that the memo sneers that the central — and recruited, trained and “the best thing that could supervised poll workers, happen to Rep. Thompson irreplaceable — role it [and] coordinated [a] in 1988 would be the dis- had played in key write-in campaign [Get solution of his local cam- Out The Vote].” paign committee.” legislative races. On behalf of other The memo makes candidates, the caucus clear that the efforts on told Loftus that it had behalf of Representative written copy for plant Thompson were by no gate flyers (Rogers), hired “in-district staff to means isolated. In the thirty-sixth assembly supervise campaign” (Shoemaker), provided district, then represented by John Volk, the photography (more than a dozen candidates), caucus staffers reported that, at Volk’s request: produced radio ads attacking Republican We developed his entire campaign budget. opponents (Wilbur), and worked to have We wrote and designed a district-wide opponents denied public financing (Looby).” postal patron mailing, produced and bought extensive radio and newspaper On behalf of one candidate (Randall), the ads. caucus staff proudly told Loftus that it had provided graphics help for brochures, door In the twenty-ninth assembly district, then hangers and cards, as well as research and a represented by Dick Shoemaker, the caucus graph on the Republican incumbent’s atten- staffers also ran a “spy phone bank to determine dance, salary, and per diem. In addition, cau- Shoemaker’s strength in the district and helped cus staffers “wrote and produced 2 straight- on media — worked on a brochure, drafted copy ads, wrote 2 negative ads, and [sic] some letters and provided radio services.” Proxmire ad.” Wisconsin Interest 7 Caucus staffers were eager to document What about the editorial boards of the the extent of their politicking. They also Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal? claimed credit for orchestrating: Both have championed the investigations and called for Jensen’s head.

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