Wisconsin committee asks AG Kaul to stop use of privately funded attorneys

A Wisconsin special committee is advising Attorney General Josh Kaul’s use of special assistant attorney generals paid for with private funds.Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said that the attorneys had salary and benefits paid by the Michael Bloomberg-funded New York University State Energy & Environmental Impact Center.
Felzkowski read that the committee found that the use of those attorneys was not authorized by Wisconsin statute, it was never requested to be allowed in the departments budget and it acts as a unallowable gift from an outside influence. Felzkowski noted that a formal complaint about the issue has not been resolved within 412 days.
“We are deeply troubled by the Department of Justice’s practice of allowing volunteer attorneys paid by out-of-state interest groups to prosecute Wisconsinites. Rather than seeking legislative approval or funding for additional staff, Attorney General Kaul brought in progressive, billionaire funded attorneys who do not answer to the taxpayers of Wisconsin,” the committee said in a statement after hearings on the matter. “The lack of transparency is astonishing, and the taxpayers of Wisconsin have a right to that transparency. The Department of Justice is not for sale in Wisconsin.”
Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove, said the report was false and that the two Democratic members of the committee were not consulted on the final report, instead receiving the committee’s report on Monday.
“This report was not done in a collaborative manner,” Ratcliff said.
She called the committee “political theater” instead of a responsible use of time.
The report advised the Legislature to put new rules in place to prevent the special interest money from being used to prosecute Wisconsinites in the future.
It noted that one of the special attorneys was not licensed to practice law in Wisconsin at the start of the attorney’s tenure and that responsive documents to the committee’s questions were not received from Kaul’s office.
Committee member Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, said that the topic could have been addressed by legislation from Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, that did not make its way out of committee.
Wimberger said that his bill was about employees but these attorneys are categorized as volunteers, not employees.
Wimberger said that, if this is allowed, then the DOJ is “for sale,” calling it “very concerning.”

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