The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Race for Attorney General sets off

Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager (D) will speak in the Weasler Auditorium at 7 p.m. today. As Wisconsin's top law enforcement officer, the attorney general heads the state's justice department in representing the state, prosecuting crimes and establishing law enforcement policy. . Partisan primaries in this year's attorney general's race will be held Sept. 12. The following is an overview of the candidates and the positions they have staked out on major issues in the race. The information has been assembled from press releases, statements made to the media and the candidates' own Web sites.

The Candidates

Peg Lautenschlager

Lautenschlager, the incumbent Democrat, will seek her second consecutive term as attorney general. Lautenschlager became the first woman elected to the post in 2002. She had previously served in the state assembly and as U.S. attorney for Wisconsin's Western District.

Kathleen Falk

Dane County Executive Falk will oppose Lautenschlager in the Democratic primary. In 1997, Falk became the first woman elected to the post, and has since been re-elected twice. Falk also served as assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Paul Bucher

Bucher, the Waukesha County district attorney, is seeking the Republican nomination. A Marquette Law School graduate, Bucher began working in Waukesha County as an assistant district attorney in 1983. He was appointed district attorney in 1988, and is the county's longest-serving official in the position.

J.B. Van Hollen

Van Hollen, a former U.S. attorney and district attorney, will also seek the Republican nomination. In 2002, Van Hollen succeeded Lautenschlager as the top federal prosecutor for the state's Western District. He has also served as district attorney in Ashland and Bayfield counties.

The Issues

Drunken Driving

Wisconsin is the only state in which a first-time Operating While Intoxicated offense is an ordinance violation, not a criminal misdemeanor.

Both Falk and Bucher support criminalizing first-time OWI offenders and giving law enforcement officials the authority to operate sobriety checkpoints on the road. Wisconsin law currently prohibits such checkpoints.

Van Hollen is opposed to both measures, citing a need to separate first-time and repeat OWI offenders, and questioning the effectiveness of checkpoints. He has said he instead favors stricter enforcement of existing laws.

Lautenschlager has declined to take an official position on the issue, saying she will defer to the decisions of the state legislature on the matter.

Lautenschlager herself carries a first-time OWI conviction from a 2004 arrest, an incident she has called the worst mistake of her life.

Death Penalty

The Nov. 7 ballot will include a non-binding referendum on the death penalty, which would recommend that lawmakers reinstate capital punishment for first-degree homicide convictions backed by DNA evidence.

Both Bucher and Van Hollen support the referendum, saying the death penalty should be an option open to prosecutors.

Lautenschlager and Falk both oppose bringing back the death penalty, saying it would be a considerable burden on state resources.Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1858.

DNA Evidence

A growing number of DNA cases in state crime labs has generated a sizable backlog of evidence yet to be tested in recent years, an issue that has become a point of contention in the attorney general's race.

Lautenschlager has come under fire from all three challengers for failing to reduce the backlog.

Bucher has called for higher fees for criminal violations, which he says would pay for more crime lab workers. Van Hollen has said he would find money in the Justice Department budget.

Falk has said the backlog has become a chronic problem for state law enforcement officials, and that clearing it out would be her top priority if elected.

Lautenschlager has said she took steps to help deal with the backlog by hiring private labs in 2004 to help with testing, and that she is preparing a 2007 budget that will include more crime lab analysts.

Marriage Amendment

Lautenschlager's summary of the proposed constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex marriage in Wisconsin has drawn criticism and the threat of a lawsuit from Bucher.

The attorney general's office is responsible for summarizing statewide referendums. The summaries are posted in polling places as guides, but do not appear on the ballot.

Lautenschlager's summary stated that other domestic partnerships or agreements between unmarried persons might be affected by the amendment, depending on future legislative and judicial decisions.

Bucher said the summary mirrors a popular argument among the amendment's opponents that the ban will have an impact well beyond gay marriage. He accused Lautenschlager, who opposes the ban, of injecting personal bias into the summary, and said he will fight the wording and ask a judge to intervene if necessary.

A spokesman for Lautenschlager has refuted the charges, saying the summary was based on sound legal research and accurately reflects the amendment.

Bucher and Van Hollen support the amendment. Lautenschlager and Falk oppose it.

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