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Van Hollen’s second act of legislation was within another hazy area of legislation, the issuing of permits to retired officers. This is an area of legislation that Wisconsin differs from in all but one state (Illinois), however, if this is to be changed then it should be changed with new legislation, rather than through another attempt to use a gray area of the law to legitimize his own political ideology, once more using himself as a precedent (and once more entering the spotlight). He also intentionally goaded others to follow, but no one felt comfortable enough to follow suite.
This legislation issue wouldn’t be quite so ridiculous if Van Hollen had his department in good order and working as an effective unit, but there are actually many conflicts there as well. The demoting and forced retirement of many of his personnel is still readily going on, and always ‘coincidentally’ timed around their questioning of Van Hollen’s policies.
Another aspect making this ridiculous is his hypocrisy about the whole issue. He has made a couple statements that seem to contradict his recent actions, specifically the case that was stated in the earlier Blog, on the bill 4109 criticism, and the case in which the County Circuit Court Judge John Seifert attempted to become a member of the Democratic Party while still acting as a judge. Van Hollen was quoted as saying that granting this request could have caused "significant disruption to the legal community of the state." Van Hollen’s need for the spotlight and his questionable activities involving legislation are intolerable, moreover, he should turn his attention away from partisan politics and focus on getting his office in order and his personnel moral higher.
