Gov. Scott McCallum announced Friday he would call a special session of the state legislature Nov. 13 to focus on cleaning up corruption in state government.
The announcement followed a second round of indictments last week in the John Doe caucus scandal. After state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, was charged with 20 felony counts Thursday, Assembly members were charged Friday with various counts related to the use of public employees and resources for private campaigns.
State Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, was charged with three felony counts and one misdemeanor and state Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti, R-Oconomowoc, was charged with one felony count. State Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, R-Racine, was charged with one misdemeanor count.
McCallum said he wants the special session to combat illegal activities by passing his Corrupt Practices Act, which grew from recommendations made by the Task Force on Ethics Reform in Government in September 2002.
The governor's initiative takes an important step, said UW-Madison political science Professor Don Kettl, but he added that it will not solve the real problem by simply focusing on political ethics.
\We can't really clear the problem until we get some campaign finance reform laws on the books,"" Kettl said. ""The legislature passed campaign finance [reform], but it's likely to be held unconstitutional.""
The act includes provisions to apply codes of ethics to elected officials and to create a new seven-member Ethics and Elections Board staffed with at least one permanent investigator and attorney.
Kettl also said if McCallum does not win the election, his lame-duck status could hurt momentum for the bill.
""Regardless of who is in the governor's chair, we're going to need to move foreword on some of these issues,"" he said. ""We can't play politics on this.""
McCallum's announcement drew criticism from key Democrats who said they view it as a ploy to improve his image before the election.
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said it was ""very motivated by poor rankings in the polls.""
John Kraus, spokesperson for McCallum's Democratic gubernatorial challenger, state Attorney General Jim Doyle, called the governor's announcement ""election year gimmicks.""
However, McCallum's motive had ""nothing to do with that,"" according campaign spokesperson Debbie Monterrey-Millet.
""He has been planning this since last spring'he can't put his duties as governor on hold because of the election,"" she said.
Rep. Steve Freese, R-Dodgeville, a contender to replace Jensen as Speaker, said he supported the governor's initiative and hopes bipartisan bickering will not derail it.
""We can point blame everywhere'the time is to get past that and solve the problems of the state by first cleaning up our own mess,"" he said.
