22
August
2006
August
2006
Falk and Bucher pandering
It's really quite shameless, but Attorney General candidates Kathleen Falk and Paul Bucher are coming out in favor of criminalizing first time offenders of drunk driving.
While it may seem like a sound solution on the surface, the reality is that most of the problems out there are with repeat offenders. If Falk and Bucher focused on finding solutions instead of ways they can take a sideways slap at Peg Lautenschlager, they would be elevating their campaigns.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan, Watchdogging Campaigns
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Falk’s in the lead and gaining momentum. Lautenschlager limps and lags a little more as each day passes. For the past week, she’s been taking heavy fire for the state crime lab backlog, and now she doesn’t have a position on whether her first offense drunk driving should have been a misdemeanor state crime instead of a ticket. Instead, she takes the old Attorney General’s non-position of - “I will do whatever the Legislature tells me to do” about first time drunk driving.
There are many, many better responses than what she said. Such as: “The importance of taking responsibility for one’s actions, and then looking at the cause of the action, is far more important than whether a charge is filed as a muni ticket or a state crime. Muni or State? That’s an argument about who is going to file the paperwork. The responsibility remains the same for the offender.”
Instead of worrying about Lautenschlager, we should applaud Republican candidate J.B. Van Hollen’s stance that “new laws are not the answer.” That’s the proper response. “Getting tough” on crime during a campaign excites some voters, but layers of tough sounding laws that don’t really address underlying problems (Politicians) are one of the downfalls of the criminal justice system.
As Dane County Executive, Falk boasts a highly proactive and responsible record on criminal justice. It will be interesting to see how this develops after Sept. 12.
And Lautenschlager? The media stopped treating her like a front-running incumbent a long time ago. In this case, Peg looks like a do-nothing who doesn’t really have a position on an issue that impacts families all over the state in many, many ways — and one that had an impact on her own life.
Still, the Journal Sentinel soft-pedalled it for her: Bucher and Falk got the headlines. Van Hollen got it right before Lautenschlager is even mentioned in the JS story. Lautenschlager got to hide.
It’s all less a slap in the face at Lautenschlager than a sign that this campaign is leaving her in the dust. She shouldn’t even be in this debate or the AG’s race — that’s becoming clearer and clearer.
The unfortunate fact that she’s in the AG’s race can only be interpreted as hubris on her part.
“As Dane County Executive, Falk boasts a highly proactive and responsible record on criminal justice.”
You obviously don’t live in Dane County or you couldn’t say that with a straight face. Go, Peg! (and just go, Kathleen. anywhere. please.)
Day Reporting Centers and Drug Courts are bad things? Reducing the harm of the drug war by finding ways to deal with drug crimes and addictions as a public health issue are bad things? I don’t live in Madison, but the fight in Milwaukee to get and keep succesful programs like the Day Reporting Center rage on in every budget. Kathleen’s also funded sheriff’s positions and law enforcement programs on the front end.
If you don’t want Kathleen, Geof, we’ll gladly take her in Milwaukee!
And so will Racine, Kenosha, LaCrosse, Eau Claire, Green Bay and Fon du lac too, on Sept. 12.
What you fail to realize is after the drug court proved successful she then tried to turn around and throw a $200 user fee on it in the 2006 budget. Court officials agreed it would kill the drug court and the treatments it spawned, as few defendents could afford it.
I won’t even mention the gutting of Dane County’s Human Service system which used to be a national model. But you may want to look at another of her user fees. Tap the elderly when they need to access social services. What a progressive! Let’s put fees on all of the worst off folks we have in society.
Anyone that votes for her deserves to be the beneficary of her regressive public policies.