Burke's probably going to jail; Scooter's still in the Assembly

Former State Sen. Brian Burke pleaded guilty yesterday to misconduct:

For the crimes, [Burke] could serve jail time and be ordered to reimburse the state tens of thousands of dollars--funds that could come from his still-open campaign account. [. . .]

The plea deal comes less than a month before [Former Democratic State Sen. Chuck] Chvala is slated to go on trial on allegations of exchanging action on bills for campaign contributions and illegally controlling an independent political committee.

Three Republicans are scheduled to go to trial early next year on charges of having aides campaign on state time. They are Rep. Scott Jensen of the Town of Brookfield, former Rep. Steven Foti of Oconomowoc and former Rep. Bonnie Ladwig of Racine. Jensen's lawyer, Stephen Meyer, said there had been no plea bargain talks on behalf of Jensen, who faces three felonies and one misdemeanor charge of having Capitol aides campaign on state time. Earlier this week, Foti's attorney said he was trying to negotiate a plea deal for the former Assembly majority leader who faces one felony of having aides campaign on state time.

Chvala and the three Republicans were in leadership positions at the time of the charges. Jensen stepped down as Assembly speaker but unlike the others, ran for re-election.

All of these charges stemmed from the same investigation of the same kinds of practices by all those in power in Madison at the time. In fact, there was speculation that before Burke reached his deal, he was going to go with an "everybody was doing it" defense. With Foti likely to plead, too, and things looking ugly for Chvala (and probably Ladwig) after Burke's deal, one has to wonder about Scottt Jensen. It's possible he was caught by accident in the investigation that netted the others in conduct that will likely send them to jail, but I bet Scooter was one of the everybodies doing it when they all got caught. So why is he still in office? The others had the sense to hang it up in the face of these charges, while Scooter's still writing law and sitting on the powerful Joint Finance Committee. How is that right?