Common Cause: Burke should do jail time

Common Cause chief Jay Heck complains that his comments about the conviction of former State Sen. Brian Burke were misinterpreted here yesterday.

I said Heck's statement made it sound like he was blaming the system, rather than Burke, for Burke's bad behavior.

Au contraire, says Heck, claiming I am the only one in the Free World who read his remarks that way. I thought the message was self-evident, but perhaps it was too subtle for me.

Heck points to a Captal Times story in which he said Burke should serve an unspecified amount of time in jail for his crimes. Here it is:

Former state Sen. Brian Burke should spend time behind bars for his role in the Capitol corruption scandal or the public might view the case as a whitewash, the head of Common Cause in Wisconsin said today after Burke entered guilty pleas to a felony and a misdemeanor.

"I think if we were to go through these trials and pleas and there is no incarceration, it might be viewed by the public as much ado about nothing," said Common Cause director Jay Heck.

Heck declined to say how much time Burke should serve, but he said "incarceration of some sort is necessary."

The prosecution agreed to recommend a two-year period of probation, a $2,500 fine, restitution yet to be determined, and a six-month stay in jail.

Defense attorneys are free to argue against the jail term when Burke is sentenced on Nov. 30, and that will be the contentious issue at that hearing.

Heck, whose group has tried in the past several legislative sessions to get some form of public financing of campaigns passed in an effort to curb so-called "pay-to-play" practices, said, "Burke has already in many ways suffered a tremendous loss."

He noted that the Milwaukee Democrat has gone from one of the most powerful members of the Legislature - co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee - to being a convicted felon, and is likely to lose his law license.