October
2006
Endorsement: On the Role of Attorney General, Kathleen Falk Gets It
What’s the role of the Wisconsin Attorney General? John and Jane Voter don’t necessarily know. There is no incumbent left standing this fall in the AG's race to say, “I’m doing a great job,” and walk away with the election, as incumbent AG's typically do.
The very definition of state attorney general is at stake as Democrat Kathleen Falk, in her third term as Dane County Executive, and Republican J.B. Van Hollen, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, crisscross the state for votes.
Based on how the two candidates say they view the job, the Watchdog Milwaukee endorsement goes to the former Assistant Attorney General, Kathleen Falk. She understands that the AG’s job requires a big picture vision of law enforcement needs across the state and has the executive experience to identify and deliver effective support strategies. Falk, 55, has successfully managed Dane County for a decade and, prior to being elected, worked for 14 years as the state Public Intervenor, the assistant AG watchdogging corporate compliance of state environmental laws, protecting the public interest.
Not suprisingly, Falk is the candidate in this race who vows to fight for consumers and to aggressively prosecute corporate scofflaws and white collar crime, the type of crime that county prosecutors often say is beyond their resources. She understands that looking out for the little guy is what the people want from an Attorney General. That's the job.
Van Hollen, 40, is a prosecutor who views the AG role as an opportunity to promote an activist agenda. As a prosecutor he has a weak record with over 69% of the felony charges before him being dismissed or pled out. As U.S. Attorney, Van Hollen has never taken even one case to trial himself and his numbers for prosecution are among the worst in the country, ranking the second-to-lowest prosecution rate in the entire country in 2002 and the lowest in 2003. If ever there was a US Attorney who was weak on crime, it is Van Hollen.
Van Hollen, a Bush appointee, is telling voters otherwise in hopes of deflecting attention from his far right political leanings. Will he look out for the little guy against an irresponsible corporation, or will he look the other way? He's endorsed by corporate Wisconsin's political action machine, the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which ran a string of TV ads falsely accusing Falk of "harassing" businesses and filing frivolous suits as public intervenor. Van Hollen's friends clearly want him to look the other way if elected.
The state crime lab, pedofiles and the meth epidemic
Much has been made of the backlog in the state crime lab in the state, and both Falk and Van Hollen say they will bring it up to speed. The crime lab is primarily a support service to local law enforcement that requires the AG to lobby the state for budget funds and to effectively staff and manage it. Falk is easily more qualified to work politically to secure the funds and to oversee management of the lab. Her Dane County budget is $450 million, many times bigger than the AG's budget, and she oversees a full array of departments and services. In stark contrast to depleted Milwaukee County, Falk beefed up the sheriff's department in Dane County, adding 87 new positions. She also added a gang unit and expanded white collar crime investigations.
Tracking sexual predators and internet pedofiles, and fighting the methamphetamine epidemic are key areas in which the AG has extended support to local law enforcement. On the predator issues, Wisconsin has model systems already in place. The new AG would be wise to continue those.
On meth, which we've written about on this site, use of the drug is rising in the face of reduced arrests and a change in drug distribution patterns. Falk's plan combines tough law enforcement and federal assistance with a public health approach to addiction, a both-arms-working strategy that could revolutionize how we fight the drug war in the state.
Van Hollen basically proposes a continuation of AG Peg Lautenschlager's current strategy, recognizing that most of the meth in state is imported. This has already happened, although Lautenschlager, inexplicably, has instead promoted the resulting reduced meth arrest numbers in the state.
In western Wisconsin, where meth has hit the hardest from over the Minnesota border, Polk County DA Karen Olsen and Iowa County DA Larry Nelson have endorsed Falk.
Politicizing the AG: J.B. Van Hollen, legislative activist
Then there are the legislative proposals not yet on the books that Van Hollen says would indicate a political agenda and are not part of the AG's job. He supports the death penalty as "an option." Falk is morally opposed to the death penalty and wants to keep it off the books. We're morally opposed to Van Hollen's stance, and his position does not support his apolitical rhetoric.
Falk would protect a woman's right to make her own health decisions under current law. Van Hollen's position is strictly anti-choice, and he's supported by Right to Life. He also backs the Republican "Defense of Marriage" Amendment that would mark the first time the Wisconsin Constitution is used to infringe upon basic citizenry rights, impacting gay and unmarried couples. Falk is staunchly opposed to the amendment, saying it would "seriously endanger existing legal protections for all unmarried couples."
Van Hollen also supports the National Rifle Association's concealed carry law that would allow gun owners to supercede the rights of everybody else by carrying concealed weapons in public — a position almost universally opposed by law enforcement officers. Falk wants to take guns off the street. The NRA supports Van Hollen. Again and again, Van Hollen's position does not support his rhetoric.
Ignore the rhetoric. Kathleen Falk is a highly qualified lawyer and politician who understands that the people of Wisconsin want an AG to look out for the public interest and be a champion for the little guy. The Wisconsin job calls for an Elliot Spitzer (the celebrated New York AG, soon to be elected governor, who won big cases against Wall Street and drug companies, and protected clean air by backing down the Bush Administration and power companies) — not an AG with a right wing agenda who will look the other way on the environment, consumer protection, white collar crime and corporate irresponsibility.
J.B. Van Hollen may be likeable, but he doesn't appear to understand the role of the state Attorney General.
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Written by John-david Morgan. Publisher Jim McGuigan contributed to this story.
John-david Morgan
Endorsements, John-David Morgan, Watchdogging Campaigns, Watchdogging Criminal Justice
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Excuse me? She has never tried a criminal case in her life. Not one. Her own Dane County Sheriff endorses her opponent. Van Hollen has 19 Democrat Sheriff and DA’s endorsing him because he has worked with them in the past and they like his style. All she has is pure Democrat endorsements, following the party line.
I disagree that she has sucessfully managed Dane County. When given a choice, the Democrats of Dane county voted for Peg rather than Kathleen in the primary. They either didn’t like what they saw in her management or in her meanness aimed at Peg in the primary.
JB continually says he will enforce the laws leaving Governors and Legislators to write and approve them. That is not activist. She ran for Governor in the past and clearly will again. She is the activist.
The previous two AG’s both came from prior experience at US Attorney. JB has that experience too. Falk does not. Falk has never tried a criminal case. Not one.
If you say trying criminal cases is the AG’s job, you’ve got an AG who’s spending most of his time on the links. JB’s got a lot of law enforcement support, but, with all due respect to the law enforcement community, you don’t call a sheriff when you want to gather evidence in an air pollution case or when you have to take an irresponsible corporation to court after they pulled up operations leaving employees holding the bag. Or when you’re going after Walmart for civil penalties for taking advantage of Badgercare (something to consider). Or when you’re getting the state crime lab caught up.
If JB wants to try criminal cases, he should come work in Milwaukee County. That seems to be the job he’s applying to the voters for. It may be working for him, but that’s because people have a much better idea of what their county prosecutors do than what the role of the AG is. Unfortunately, it’s a bad description of the job that he wants.
No criminal charges were filed when NY AG Elliot Spitzer nailed drug companies for price fixing; or when Peg Lautenschlager won settlements for workers left uncompensated when the employer corporation closed shop. Consumer protection cases are of the class action/civil liability variety.
Democrats in Madison hopefully learned a pretty good lesson about hubris in the Lautenschlager matter. Both Republicans and Democrats statewide got the candidates they wanted in this one and it has been good for the tone and tenor of this elections season.
Kathleen’s a highly experienced lawyer who has argued a case before the state Supreme Court. She has much more experience with the types of cases that the AG handles than JB does, and the correct perspective on what the job is.
You point out that Falk hasn’t tried a criminal case but you conveniently forget that she was the Assistant Attorney General for 14 years?
Are you suggesting that Van Hollen’s dismal record as a prosecutor qualifies him for the job? Did you not read the article before and the stats in it before commenting?
You say that Dane voted for Peg over Kathleen which is true but Dane always supports the more liberal candidate so it wasn’t a shock that Peg won the primary nod from Dane.
Somehow you figure that because Falk has run for other offices that she wants to be an activist AG yet he’s supported by the NRA for his position on guns and Wisconsin Right to Life for his postion against abortion. How does that reconcile with your assertion that he’s not going to be an activist?
Fauk hasn’t tried a single criminal case.
I haven’t forgotten that she touts her experience as Assistant Attorney General as if she was the next in line as the sole Deputy Attorney General. She was the lowest level of one of more than 40 assistants. And her work there was not fighting crime, it was being paid to sue the State Government, a position that was eliminated, and is now her priority to reestablish. OK, she argued an environmental case before the Supreme Court, but I remember she lost that case. She only adds money to the Dane County Sheriff’s budget when she is running for another office, be it Governor or AG. The other years she ignores the department. Hey, her under budgeting has left 6000 arrest orders unserved.
Your arguments suggest that her best credential is that she is a Democrat, and that she it. But she is hardly the moderate Democrat that she tries to portray herself as being. She is very left wing mean. Just look at the very mean ads she ran against Peg. I don’t know if she will be tough on crime, but she sure was tough on Peg.
So I can understand why JB has so many Democrat DA’s supporting him. I’m supporting him.
But let’s go back to your initial claim that he will be the activist and she will not. He has consistently said he enforces the laws; he doesn’t make them. In his work as US Attorney he demonstrated that to others, and to me. So he gets my vote this time.
Jack
Jack,
The chief argument for Falk is her management ability, which will help with the crime lab, and in her executive experience to deliver effective strategies, including the criminal justice reform strategies and leadership on law enforcement that this state lacks. I don’t want a cop for AG. We’ve had cops for the last 16 years in the AG’s office and in Milwaukee we’re like every other major Midwest city - violent crime spiked terribly last year. Law enforcement needs new strategies, and needs to find new ways to make political and community partnerships that can lead to successful approaches. Current practices in the drug war, in particular, don’t work.
JB may win, but that’s because people don’t understand the role of the AG. It’s up to Falk to educate voters.
Kathleen’s new ad makes the case of our endorsement article above - JB won’t go after polluters (the Bush Administrations so-called power company friendly Clean Air Act), won’t go after big oil (which he’s invested in) and he doesn’t seem interested in consumer protection. In other words, he wants to be a DA and come prosecute cases in Milwaukee county, not be the Attorney General looking out for the little guy. Kathleen Falk is the public interest candidate who understands what the AG job is. She’s our Elliot Spitzer.
I would also add that we have a cop for governor. It hasn’t helped the crime situation in Milwaukee. We respect JB — Democrats were many of the first to realize that he was far superior to Bucher — but I’m going to take the Milwaukee perspective on this. Our law enforcement community is paralyzed right now and we need a shake up.
Peg Lautenschlager came out of the fed Western District. We don’t need another fed WD prosecutor as AG. It doesn’t work in Milwaukee and it didn’t even work in western Wisconsin on meth. JB won’t do much different than Peg, except have a more difficult time working with the Doyle Administration. We can demonize sexual predators until election day, but that’s not where the differences in the candidates lie. We need new ideas, new strategies. We need Kathleen Falk.
Let me address your last two replies in order. You state she has management experience. But apparently many Democrat DA’s who know her, and have worked with JB, prefer JB’s management style. I don’t consider Doyle a cop, he is a lawyer.
Furthermore, you want Falk to solve the crime spike in Milwaukee, but laud her only for her work going after polluters, not criminals. That’s understandable since she has never tried a criminal case. So after I’ve been shot in Milwaukee, she’ll sue the bullet maker for giving me lead poisoning. You didn’t like Peg because she came form the Fed Western District, as did Doyle. Now you think a county exec is suddenly the experience one needs to be AG? You are easily sold. My fellow Democrat DAs I agree with you on one key point: Falk has demonstrated in her ads against Peg that she will be mean and tough. I don;t know if she will be effective on the Milwuakee problems you seem concerned about. By the way, her ad attacking JB for not changing the bail on a man the previous DA handled is sloppy false lagal research form her people.
She is the type of Democrat that gives us all a bad name. Her ends justify her means. And her means are consistently mean regardless of opponents.
Falk provides essential leadership in the state on harm reduction strategies: day reporting centers and community-based alternatives to incarceration. She wants to take a two fisted law enforcement/public health approach to meth that would be next to revolutionary in rehabilitating the the social harm drug addiction does to families. That’s the real Kathleen Falk, and we could use this kind of leadership in the state. In Milwaukee, we have had a vaccum in law enforcement leadership since about 2000, though John Chisolm (sure to be our next DA) seems to have some new ideas.
It’s unfortunate that she [and we] cannot talk about harm reduction or alternatives to incarceration in an AG’s race. Such is the beast. I was disappointed to see Kathleen’s supporters resort to a Willie Horton strategy against JB. I thought it was unfair, and it was fitting that it turned out to be wrong. Looking back at the wording of the ad, in between the lines it is conveyed that JB wasn’t responsible for the bail. The ad seems to criticize him, however, for not pulling that case and revoking the bail. It was a reach and it was unfair.
But was that a Falk ad? I believe it might have been the building Wisconsin’s future group playing hitman for the Dems in many races this fall. I’ll check on that.
Thank you for your points on the Falk ruthless truthless attack ad. Her harm reduction should start with ads for her that are lies against JB. But for her, the ends justify the means.
The Willie Horton-style ad against Van Hollen did not come from the Falk campaign. It came from the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, an arm of the Greater Wisconsin Committee, which is run by Bill Christofferson, who’s run campaigns for Ed Garvey, Herb Kohl, John Norquist, Milwaukee school choice candidates and Gov. Doyle.
If you’re suggesting that Falk call on Greater Wisconsin and TV stations to pull, we’re all for it. The ad, much like the Wisconsin Manufacturers’ & Commerce ad slamming Falk, has scarred the debate between Falk and Van Hollen. The candidates should have control of their political messages and their campaigns, not the soft money funds and special interests.
Here’s a link to the group’s defense of the ad.
http://www.wispolitics.com/printerfriendly.iml?Article=75813