Cleaning up in Madison

It's about time this guy saw jail time.

Chvala starts his nine-month term in jail on Monday

Once one of the most powerful men in state government, former State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala will begin a nine-month jail term Monday for his role in the Capitol corruption scandal.

Chvala is due to check in to jail early Monday morning, but unlike his colleague and fellow disgraced senator Brian Burke of Milwaukee, he will not immediately be released to home detention with electronic monitoring.

"Not here," said Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin. "He will be booked in and assigned to a housing unit, either in the Public Safety Building or the Huber Center," said Hamblin.

...Chvala [will be allowed} to leave jail every day to tend to affairs in his law office and real estate interests.
...
Chvala was charged with 20 felony counts in October 2002, more than a year after Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard began an investigation into how legislative caucus staffs were being used illegally to run partisan political campaigns. That investigation quickly mushroomed into more serious allegations, however, that Chvala and other legislative leaders were essentially shaking down lobbyists for campaign contributions in exchange for getting their bills scheduled.

Eventually Chvala entered guilty pleas to counts of misconduct in public office for using staff for partisan campaigns, and of violating campaign finance laws.

This proves something that many have known for a while: if Republicans simply sit back and watch the Democrats self-destruct, they usually win (I cite the Republican majority in the Wisconsin state senate since the Chvala scandal as evidence). Unfortunately, all too often they're just as guilty.