UW System President Katharine Lyall said Wednesday that state Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, repeatedly pressured her to make campaign donations to Democrats, according to a report Thursday in the Wisconsin State Journal.
\He did on several occasions indicate to me that he thought the university should be contributing more. It wasn't clear from those conversations whether he meant 'university' to mean the institution as a whole or me as an individual,"" Lyall told the State Journal.
Chvala, who is former Senate majority leader, is charged with 19 counts of extortion, money laundering and misconduct in the office. Alleged activities include demanding cash for favors, punishing or rewarding special interests based on payments and creating elaborate means to hide money trails. Chvala faces a preliminary hearing Monday.
Lyall's comments are the first to suggest Chvala's extortion activity reached beyond the state Capitol walls to other state agencies.
Despite the repeated pressure, Lyall said she always refused Chvala.
""I just told him that the university had no way of playing that game. As far as our faculty and others go, what donations they make are their business. We certainly don't ask them about it,"" Lyall told the State Journal.
Lyall stood by her comments in the State Journal but refused further comment Thursday. University Communications spokesperson Kent Barrett also declined to comment resigning to leave comments to Lyall and the UW System. Both Chvala and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The system gets about $1 billion or 31 percent of its annual budget from the state.
