It's a busy week for Wisconsin, as far as ethics goes. First Georgia Thompson's trial ended with a guilty verdict, and now the case of former state Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen has developed further.
Jensen, some of you may know, was convicted earlier this year of ordering state employees to do work for Republican political candidates. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but now a judge has ruled that he can remain free on bond while his appeals are pending, which could take a couple of years. Judge Steven Ebert did have harsh words for Jensen, though:
Ebert said he would allow Jensen to stay free because a core principle of the judicial system is "fair play," although he called that a "foreign concept" to Jensen.
By using state-paid aides to run the campaigns of Assembly Republican incumbents and first-time candidates, Ebert said, Jensen hurt Wisconsin's political system.
"You abused and you violated the public trust," he told Jensen.
Some are angry, but as Jack Heck of Common Cause Wisconsin said, the decision has only "postponed the inevitable."
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