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Republican AG candidate talks John Doe, crime lab (UPDATE)

By: Eric Heisig//March 19, 2014//

Republican AG candidate talks John Doe, crime lab (UPDATE)

By: Eric Heisig//March 19, 2014//

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Brad Schimel (File photo by Kevin Harnack)
Brad Schimel (File photo by Kevin Harnack)

Waukesha County district attorney and attorney general candidate Brad Schimel said Wednesday that he likely would have worked on the most current John Doe cases if he was in J.B. Van Hollen’s position.

Schimel, speaking at the Milwaukee Press Club, said that he would prosecute “unless there was a direct conflict of interest.” Van Hollen recused himself from the proceedings, which were started by Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm and spans five counties. They pertain to potentially illegal activity during the 2012 recall elections.

Schimel, the only candidate running for the Republican primary to replace Van Hollen, said it is the attorney general’s job to prosecute cases, even if they do appear to be political in nature. And Schimel said he has heard doubts as to whether the investigation itself is credible.

However, he said the information that leaked has made the investigation problematic.

“If we are conducting a secret investigation, it will be a secret investigation,” Schimel said, adding that leaks “would be dealt with pretty severely.”

During Wednesday’s panel, Schimel also said, if elected, he would have the Department of Justice’s State Crime Laboratory test blood samples for intoxicated driving cases. Moving the samples from the state’s hygiene lab at the University of Wisconsin would help, he said, fix delays for tests that are often needed to prosecute the cases.

“For years we have struggled with a problem … where we have waited sometimes up to a year for drugged driving tests,” Schimel said. “While prosecutors wait for that year, that individual goes unconvicted, the case goes unresolved …”

He also said he thinks that research needs to be done to determine whether changing a first-offense operating while intoxicated charge into a criminal matter will benefit the state. Whichever way it goes, though, Schimel said it will be more expensive if the change is made.

Three candidates – Milwaukee state Rep. John Richards, Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne and Jefferson County DA Susan Happ – are running for the Democratic nomination. Schimel has Van Hollen’s endorsement.

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