Biskupic Steps Down

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Citing both personal and professional reasons, U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic announced today he will step down from the position in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, effective Jan. 9.

In a brief statement inside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee, Biskupic, 47, said he plans to venture into private practice, as well as teach at Marquette Law School next year.

He praised his colleagues and predecessors in the department, but cited the upcoming change in the White House, along with the death of his father a month ago as factors in his decision to vacate the building where he has worked for almost 20 years.

“Obviously, there is a new administration coming up and it’s their prerogative to pick a new U.S. attorney,” Biskupic said. “Personally, it seemed the time was right.”

Biskupic’s father, Vince had been a longtime attorney and, according to his son, “left quite a few files that my brother [Vincent] and I are trying to sort out.”

Vincent R. Biskupic is an attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Appleton.

Steve Biskupic said he hopes to have a permanent job in place by February, and indicated he may also continue to teach at Marquette University Law School, as he did this past spring.

Biskupic also reiterated that he has no plans to run for public office.

“When I knew I wanted to work on public corruption cases and try them myself, I knew that you’ve got to decide you are not going to run for [public] office because you are going to have a lot of enemies when that time comes,” Biskupic said.

Biskupic spent seven years as the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District and during his tenure received attention for his high profile prosecutions of four Milwaukee aldermen, including Michael McGee; state Sen. Gary George and former chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Mark Sostarich.

Despite his success in prosecuting public corruption cases, Biskupic said he hoped his successor would go even further with attacking the problem in Milwaukee.

“I don’t mean to throw something out there, but I just think there is more there and I hope the next U.S. attorney continues an aggressive path,” Biskupic said. “I think it’s definitely called for.”

Biskupic seemed especially proud of his work on the Frank Jude beating case in 2006-07 and said the convictions of several Milwaukee Police officers helped restore some public confidence in the department.

“People don’t look to the Bush appointee as someone who would be aggressive on civil rights and I hope I broke that mold a little bit,” said Biskupic, who was appointed to the position by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002.

He did not know or venture a guess as to who will succeed him as U.S. attorney when Democrat Barack Obama takes office in January.