l.-r.: Brad Schimel and Josh Kaul
Brad Schimel insists that he doesn’t let his personal views interfere with his job as the state’s attorney general. “I defend the law as is,” he says.
“I don’t make the policies,” he tells Isthmus. “If it is at all legally defensible, if there’s a palatable argument that my team can make, we will work hard to defend policy,” says Schimel, a Republican. “It doesn’t matter who passed it.”
But Democrat Josh Kaul, an attorney for Madison-based Perkins Coie and former federal prosecutor, finds that claim far-fetched. Kaul — the son of the late Peg Lautenschlager, who was attorney general from 2003 to 2007 — is challenging Schimel in the Nov. 6 midterms.
On Aug. 26, Kaul released a letter — signed by 45 former assistant Wisconsin attorneys general who worked under both Democratic and Republican AGs — opposing Schimel’s bid for re-election. They complained about Schimel’s “ideology first” approach to his work.
“The Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office is a mess,” the letter reads. “The current attorney general, Brad Schimel, has blatantly politicized the office, dropped the ball on his role as the lead crime fighter in Wisconsin, and abdicated the AG’s traditional role as ‘the people’s lawyer’ representing Wisconsin citizens’ interests in criminal and civil matters alike.”
When attorneys general take the oath of office, they pledge impartiality. As the head of the state Department of Justice and the chief legal officer of the state, the AG is meant to operate above partisan politics.
And yet, most of Schimel’s actions have broken down along partisan lines. He’s joined lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act and federal environmental regulations. He defended the district boundaries that Republicans drew to their favor. He supports arming teachers in schools. And he’s ready to defend a Wisconsin law — currently unenforced but still on the books — that makes abortion illegal.
Nevertheless, Schimel insists that he and his team are “public servants, not bureaucrats.”
“What I do as the head of the Department of Justice in general is focus on public service, on recognizing that when we come to work every day our job should make the community safer,” Schimel says.
As the campaign ramps up, both Schimel and Kaul lay out the biggest issues the next AG will face, how they would handle those challenges and why they’re the better choice for Wisconsinites.
Both Kaul and Schimel agree that the most pressing issue facing Wisconsin is the opioid epidemic.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the rate of opioid abuse in the state has more than tripled since 2005. In 2017, 883 people in Wisconsin died from an opioid overdose — a number that has been increasing since the early 2000s.
In 2015, Schimel launched a prescription painkiller abuse prevention program called Dose of Reality. Since its creation, he says there has been a drop in the number of opioid prescriptions in the state, and the awareness campaign has expanded to include information for students, parents, teachers, coaches, tribal communities, seniors and now employers.
“We’re not going to be able to solve this problem by going after the supply side, we have to go after the demand, and that’s what we’ve been working on since I got in office,” says Schimel, who was Waukesha County’s district attorney before being elected AG in 2014. “That’s why Wisconsin is leading the nation, it’s why five other states are using our Dose of Reality campaign, lock, stock and barrel, to try and raise awareness and prevention in their states.”
Kaul would continue the public education efforts Schimel has put in place but would like to see the DOJ targeting large-scale traffickers, investing more in treatment efforts and holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable.
“I don’t think Brad Schimel has indicated that he is committed to holding pharmaceutical companies accountable and I think that we need an AG who is,” Kaul says.
Kaul credits Schimel for joining a multi-state investigation into whether pharmaceutical companies broke the law in marketing opioids. But he believes Wisconsin should have already joined the growing lawsuit against big pharma — Schimel has said he would join a multi-state lawsuit against opioid manufacturers only as a last resort.
“The AG needs to be willing to go to court to hold the pharmaceutical companies accountable,” says Kaul.
Asked why Schimel has yet to join the lawsuit, his spokesperson refers Isthmus to a column the attorney general wrote for the Baraboo News Republic, which argues negotiation is the best way to get compensation from pharmaceutical companies. “Filing a lawsuit now will likely lead to delay tactics and endless litigation that could last many years,” the column reads.
The Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, has heightened concern about school safety.
Kaul would fund mental health services in schools. But he’d also push for stricter gun laws, including establishing universal background checks, restricting the distribution of blueprints for 3D-printed guns, banning bump stocks (which were used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting) and enacting a red flag law that would allow those at risk to be temporarily disarmed.
“We need common-sense gun safety measures,” Kaul says. “That’s part of making schools safer and part of making our community safer.”
Schimel argues that stronger gun control laws would not have kept guns out of the hands of the shooters at Sandy Hook and Parkland.
“When you put in place some of the restrictions that some have talked about with guns, all you’re doing is impacting law-abiding gun owners who don’t commit any violent acts with their guns,” Schimel says. “We need to focus on the individuals who are misusing guns.”
If re-elected, Schimel says he would try to make schools safer by making schools less vulnerable targets, building stronger collaborations between educators and law enforcement, and boosting mental health training.
The nomination of conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has raised concerns over Wisconsin’s abortion ban, which was detailed in Isthmus’ July 19 cover story. The law makes Wisconsin one of 10 states to have a pre-Roe abortion statute still on the books, meaning that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, abortion would be illegal in Wisconsin.
“There’s a very real risk that if [Kavanaugh’s] confirmed, there will be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Kaul says. “Wisconsin’s Legislature should take action to repeal that law now so that it’s clear that women’s reproductive freedom is protected here in Wisconsin.”
Kaul says repealing the statute would not only protect the rights of Wisconsinites, it would also avoid unnecessary litigation.
Schimel describes himself as pro-life. He and his wife adopted their two daughters after being unable to have children of their own. “I have two amazing heroes that are part of our family’s life, two 18-year-old young women who chose to give my wife and I the opportunity to have a family,” Schimel says.
If Roe were overturned and Wisconsin’s abortion ban went into effect, Schimel would defend the statute outlawing abortion. “Right now part of that statute on the books is not legally enforceable because of the Supreme Court decision,” he says. “If the Supreme Court changes that, of course, I defend the law as is. So yes, the answer is I would defend the law consistent with whatever the U.S. Supreme Court concludes if this issue gets back in front of them, and that’s not likely to be soon if it ever got there.”
Both Kaul and Schimel tout their record of prosecuting tough crimes as reasons why they should get the job of Wisconsin’s top cop.
But Schimel points out that he’s the only candidate who’s ever been a prosecutor in Wisconsin (Kaul worked as a prosecutor in Baltimore).
Schimel lists 63 [county] sheriffs, including 12 Democrats, who have endorsed him. “We put public safety ahead of politics … that’s why I’m law enforcement’s choice in this race,” Schimel says. “I’m confident the public will learn that we have a tremendous record on public safety, and law enforcement is in our camp because of that.”
But Kaul accuses Schimel of being selective in his application of the law.
“Far too often our current AG has taken the side of powerful special interests or his political allies,” Kaul says. “We need an AG who is going to be effective and who understands that the job is about standing up for hard-working Wisconsinites and Wisconsin families.”
Kaul says he would prioritize his time as AG addressing delays in crime lab testing, protecting Wisconsin’s environment, and enforcing consumer protection laws.
“Our AG should be standing up for our rights, our protections and our values in Wisconsin,” Kaul says.
