In the first debate of the Dane County district attorney’s race, challenger Bob Jambois delivered a scathing critique of his boss, incumbent DA Ismael Ozanne, while Ozanne touted his record of success and innovation despite inadequate resources.
Jambois, a Dane County assistant district attorney and the former Kenosha County district attorney, compared Ozanne’s leadership style and work ethic to that of an “absentee landlord” and an “empty suit” and blamed him for “demoralized” employees and “dysfunction” within the DA’s office. “The Dane County district attorney’s office is truly a hot mess,” said Jambois, who throughout his campaign has accused Ozanne of “not showing up” to important meetings, failing to mentor young lawyers in the department and refusing to try cases.
Ozanne brushed off the criticism, showing up to the debate, held Thursday afternoon at Isthmus’ office, with nearly 400 pages of his calendar dating back to 2010 as a rebuttal to Jambois’ claims. “I am there, working every day, in and out of the office, to make sure that there is systemic change in this community and in this criminal justice system,” Ozanne said.
The debate took place just days before the Aug. 9 primary election. Since Ozanne and Jambois are both Democrats — and no Republicans are running — the primary will serve as the general election.
Jambois said at the debate that he did not come into his role as assistant district attorney with the intention of running for the department’s top job. Instead, he felt compelled to run after becoming fed up with what he views as Ozanne’s “abusive” and “bullying” tendencies.
Jambois referenced a specific meeting in May at which Ozanne brought together a group of prosecutors to discuss notes in a case file that Ozanne perceived to be potentially racially biased. Ozanne said he also addressed at the meeting a “statement” one of his employees made about getting out of implicit bias training by showing up in blackface. Jambois said the meeting was “counterproductive” and “insulting” to the prosecutors, while Ozanne insisted that the meeting was necessary to educate his staff on racial sensitivity.
Ozanne’s approach to veterans court came up repeatedly in the debate, with Jambois accusing the incumbent of not doing enough to support the initiative and pledging that if elected, he would “stand up” for veterans. Ozanne said Jambois’ attack was a mischaracterization.
“The issue that I had with veterans court was not whether we should have one or not,” Ozanne said, emphasizing that his department is working with “1985 staffing levels” while the county’s population has grown significantly. “I said, listen, if you want to add specialty courts, it is harder and harder for us to support it.... I want to make sure these innovative reforms are successful.”
After the formal debate, candidates participated in a brief “lightning round” (although at times they failed to grasp the rapid-fire response concept). They fielded questions about recreational marijuana legalization (both are in favor), whether or not Dane County needs a new jail (Jambois says no, Ozanne says yes, explaining it needs a “humane facility”), and whether or not Dane County locks up too many people (both say no, but with lengthy explanations).
When asked about the Netflix true crime documentary series, Making a Murderer, Ozanne admitted he hasn’t seen it, but Jambois did -- he thinks Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both guilty of killing Teresa Halbach.
And finally, after nearly an hour of at-times rancorous debate, both candidates were asked to say something nice about the other.
“I like Ish Ozanne, [although] you maybe can’t tell,” Jambois said, eliciting a laugh from the audience. “I voted for him when he ran for attorney general, and I voted for him the first time he ran for district attorney...He’s a nice person, a loving father, loving husband.”
Ozanne also had some kind words about his colleague, albeit fewer of them.
“Bob’s a hard worker,” he said.
