CITY MUM ON JOCKO'S REVELATIONS

Mayor Sue Bauman, Fire Chief Debra Amesqua and Police Chief Richard
Williams maintained silence today on the Jocko's case, despite new
revelations published and broadcast Wednesday.

Bauman, Amesqua and Williams issued a ''no comment'' statement after
meeting together Wednesday, saying they did not want to ''do anything which
will compromise the criminal case'' of those facing a federal trial next month.

They said they are not privy to more than 2,000 pages of investigative
reports from a drug probe at Jocko's Rocket Ship bar that The Capital Times
reviewed for its stories Wednesday. The reports detailed the allegations
against some Madison firefighters implicated in the case.

They maintained the material is under a federal court seal. The documents
reviewed by The Capital Times, which were distributed to various parties in
the case, were not accompanied by any official admonishment or statement of
restriction.

The probe thus far has resulted in the indictments of nine accused drug
dealers and has implicated 12 Madison firefighters.

Dozens of other Madisonians, including some prominent figures, were also
implicated in the investigation.

Bauman, Amesqua and Williams released their written statement late
Wednesday, after The Capital Times published the identities of four Madison
firefighters accused of drug use who have been on paid suspension for 21/2
months.

The officials' refusal to identify the suspended employees has stirred a
public controversy.

''We have no knowledge of how the material was released to a reporter or
whether any law violations were involved in this disclosure,'' the mayor,
fire chief and police chief said. ''We understand that the U.S. Attorney is
looking into this matter.''

U.S. Attorney Peg Lautenschlager could not be reached for comment this morning.

Newly appointed Dane County District Attorney Brian Brophy said today in an
interview he has not seen the 2,000 pages of material. But Brophy
reiterated the stance of his predecessor, Diane Nicks.

Brophy was appointed last month to replace Nicks, who was appointed as a
Circuit Court judge. Brophy is running for the job as a Republican in November.

He said the DA's Office plans to wait for both the federal trials and the
internal Madison Fire Department investigation to conclude before making
charging decisions.

''It's fair to say that what I have seen so far are historical cases where
there's not any physical evidence,'' Brophy said.

''This office has not had the resources to prosecute (those kinds of cases)
in the past. But that doesn't mean that I will rule out prosecuting cases
stemming from Jocko's.''

At a March press conference, Lautenschlager said federal charges from the
Jocko's probe were brought for those accused of large-scale drug dealing.
She said other people in the investigation could face lesser drug charges
from the DA's Office.

While Brophy said his office was would review the Jocko's documents, he
admitted that building strong cases against those accused would be difficult.

''I can assure you that over the weekend, there were a lot of UW students
who smoked some dope. If somebody comes to me and says, 'I was at a party
where a bunch of these guys were taking hits off a bong,' ... do we have
the resources to send out investigators and then try to prosecute these
crimes?'' Brophy said.

''At the same time, we're not talking here about a bunch of college
students taking a few hits from a bong. We're going to have to take a look
at what we're given.''