44 Former Assistant Attorneys General Urge Wisconsinites to Once Again Reject Brad Schimel
On April 1 voters will go to the polls to elect a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. The stakes of this race could not be higher. Now, more than ever, we need a judicial system and leadership that embody common sense, fairness, and integrity. These values guide countless attorneys, prosecutors, and judges across our state every day – and they’re exactly what we need on our state’s highest Court. That’s why we, as a bipartisan group of former Assistant Attorneys General, believe Brad Schimel is unfit to serve as a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice.
In 2018, as Schimel was campaigning for re-election as Attorney General, many of us joined together and sent a warning to voters: the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office was a mess. Rather than zealously representing the citizens of Wisconsin, Schimel used the Department of Justice to promote an extreme partisan agenda. Our assessment of Schimel’s failed leadership and misguided priorities still stands today, and is even more concerning as he seeks a 10-year term on the Court.
As 44 former Assistant Attorneys General with over 805 years of service, we worked under both Republican and Democratic AGs. Partisan stripe doesn’t matter to us. We upheld the rule of law as we served the people of Wisconsin efficiently, effectively, and in a non-partisan manner.
Now that Schimel is seeking a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we feel it is our duty to once again voice our concerns and publicly oppose his candidacy. Under his tenure at DOJ, Schimel did not do right by the citizens of Wisconsin. We fear that, if given an opportunity to serve on the state’s high court, Schimel would use the court to further his political agenda at the expense of impartial justice.
The biggest stain on Schimel’s tenure as attorney general is that he refused to prioritize the state’s testing of sexual assault kits. Under Schimel, the Wisconsin Department of Justice tested only nine kits out of a backlog of over 6,000 kits in his first two years in office. Then he lied about his lack of progress and was caught exaggerating the number of completed tests, all while he let kits sit idly on shelves. Schimel reportedly wanted a “bargain price” for testing, which exacerbated the delays and allowed an unknown number of rapists to remain at large.
Like a true politician, Schimel did not make a real effort to clean up the backlog until the clock ticked toward November 6, 2018, when his name appeared on the ballot in front of voters.
Now, Schimel is trying to hide from this disastrous record and rewrite history once again. This time, he’s touting that he “initiated” and “started the ball rolling” on the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. His campaign is even trying to rebrand the work as the “Schimel Initiative” — this would be laughable if it were not such a serious matter. In recent weeks, Schimel has also tried to shift the blame for his backlog onto his predecessors.
This is deceptive to voters. Schimel knows very well that he came into office as the beneficiary of years of hard work to identify and locate the untested kits. His predecessor, Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, convened the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Response Team in 2012 to begin the arduous task of locating and cataloging untested kits all across the state. Then, when Schimel took office, with the full backlog identified, he inexplicably dragged his feet. The untested kits continued to sit on shelves instead of being promptly submitted to labs for DNA testing.
An Attorney General should lead from the front, not be dragged along reluctantly when it comes to improving our criminal justice system. Schimel could have forcefully led by prioritizing and expediting testing on the backlog — but he dragged along for two years, delaying justice for victims.
There are other blemishes on Schimel’s record as AG. Throughout his tenure at the Department of Justice, Schimel politicized his office in a fashion unlike we’ve ever seen — spending taxpayer money on self-promotional coins and custom-made fortune cookies, while at the same time being one of the only Attorneys Generals in the nation to refuse to sue opioid companies after they flooded our communities with highly addictive drugs.
Instead, Schimel prioritized political cases that appeased far-right causes, like spending taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit to rip away health care from hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites and defending lead-paint manufacturers against lawsuits by poisoned children. He even spent Wisconsin tax dollars to defend corporate polluters in other states.
Over a single four year term, Brad Schimel repeatedly failed in his duties as Wisconsin's ‘top lawyer.’ He abdicated responsibility, courted far-right political efforts, and dropped the ball on delivering justice for victims of sexual assault.
Schimel has never lived by the motto of ‘doing the right thing for Wisconsin’ — and this April, we urge our fellow citizens to once again reject his extreme and corrupt brand and not grant him a decade-long term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Signed,
Tom Dosch
Bruce Olsen
Ruth Bachman
Tom Balistreri
Dave Hanson
Linda Bochert
Linda Clifford
Jen Lattis
Maryann Sumi
Diane Welsh
Kevin O'Connor
Warren Weinstein
Jane Hamblen
Carl Sinderbrand
Steve Morgan
Burnie Bridge
Maureen McGlynn Flanagan
Kathleen Falk
Stephen Kleinmaier
Ed Hughes
Mary E. Burke
Jeff Bartell
Hal Harlowe
Peter Ritz
Cynthia Hirsch
Ned Sahar
Chris Wren
Roy Korte
Dave Gilles
Margie Moeller
Alan Lee
Bill Wolford
Dave Flanagan
Crystal Banse
David Hase
Tom Dawson
Lorraine Stoltzfus
Maura Whelan
Barbara Tuerkheimer
Sandy Nowack
Arlen Christenson
Peter Peshek
Diane Sorensen
Dan Stier
