CIRCUS AIR PERMEATES LEGISLATORS' DAY IN COURT

ONE OF the early arrivals Thursday morning outside of Dane County Courtroom
2B was Ben Masel, the well-known marijuana and civil disobedience advocate.

"Why are you here?" Masel was asked.

"For the circus," he said.

Actually, Masel had been at court at the opening bell because a friend of
his, he said, had been busted last week with marijuana by customs agents up
from Chicago. Masel's friend said it was for medicinal purposes. The agents
called it possession with intent to deliver.

"He was in jail for three days without a bail hearing," Masel said. "How
come these guys never saw handcuffs?"

The stars of the Thursday circus referenced by Masel - state legislators
Chuck Chvala, Scott Jensen and Steve Foti - came with their lawyers,
unshackled, for initial appearances before Court Commissioner Todd Meurer.
The actual proceedings were brief and without rancor. Signatures bonds all
around. A Milwaukee prosecutor made a dispassionate stab at asking Meurer
to issue a special order preventing Chvala from intimidating witnesses.
Meurer said the laws on the books already prevent it.

Chvala, on entering, had even gone up to Jensen and Foti and stuck out his
hand. The two Republicans did not immediately respond. "Come on," Chvala
said, "shake hands." And they did. Once his own appearance was over, Chvala
put his hand on Foti's back and said quietly, "Good luck."

Only the large media presence in the hall outside the courtroom indicated
this was anything more than a routine morning in traffic court. The number
of reporters, photographers and camera operators grew to more than 50 by
the time Chvala, who was first up, signed his bond and left the courtroom.
"Must be a murder trial," a bystander said. Chvala and his attorney,
Patrick Knight of Milwaukee, pushed through the media mob and headed for
the second-floor elevators. They ignored the shouted questions, but as they
got on the elevator it was impossible not to hear WTDY/AM 1670 morning host
John "Sly" Sylvester shout: "Bye, Chucky! See you in Waupun!"

The elevator door shut and Sly said, "I've been waiting 20 years to say that."

Sly's antics made it seem more farce than tragedy. Either way, the world
was watching. Public radio funnyman Michael Feldman aired the state's dirty
laundry in a prominent and pointed New York Times op-ed piece that hit
sidewalks and newsstands just a few hours before Chvala had his booking
picture taken.

In the courtroom, Jensen followed Chvala. His attorney, Mike Zaleski, still
looks like the pit bull he was as a prosecutor, a little thicker and a
little grayer, that's all. Coming out into the hall Zaleski announced
Jensen would have a brief statement and then answer no questions. It was
brief, all right. Jensen said he was glad his side of the story was finally
going to be told, but he didn't look glad. Zaleski tried to clear a path
for him but the reporters were crowding and demanding answers.

It was hard not to wonder if Zaleski might be having flashbacks to 30 years
ago when the circus came to the same courtroom of the same building in the
form of the sentencing hearing of Karleton Armstrong. Zaleski prosecuted
that one and couldn't hide his contempt for the defense lawyers, who
included Bill Kunstler from New York City. Kunstler could never see a
microphone without opening his mouth, but Zaleski on Thursday kept quiet
and eventually managed to shepherd his client down the stairs and out into
the cold damp air. Still hounded by reporters, Jensen and Zaleski crossed
Martin Luther King Boulevard and Wilson Street and hurried onto the
sidewalk, heading east.

Inside, it was Foti's turn. His attorney, the esteemed Frank Gimbel of
Milwaukee, a former State Bar president and bald as Kojak, entered a plea
of not guilty for Foti on the charge that the Oconomowoc representative had
a state payroller doing nothing but campaign. There was no question Foti
benefited by having the bigger fish fried before him. When Gimbel and Foti
walked out of the City-County Building together, there was not a single
reporter still on their scent. They walked without interruption across
Wilson and into the Madison Club. It was a little early for lunch, but then
it's hard to imagine they had much appetite.