| By Cory @ One Wisconsin Now - Nov 25th, 2008 at 3:34 pm EST |
During the last two elections for the state Supreme Court, conservatives have tried to run as crime fighting super heroes. As part of this charade they all but turned the necessary and noble profession of being a public defender into an indictment. So it was a curious move that they would trot out a man that has spent well over half of his entire career as a public defender. Surly, given the course of his legal career, Randy Koschnick would never go down that substance free road right? If the Tuesday press release from his campaign is any indication, he is going down that road even if he has to twist himself into a pretzel doing it.
True to right wing form, he trots out his first two supporters from law enforcement. He quickly sticks with the recent model by then taking unjustified pot shots at his opponent using the same kind of bumper sticker approach to law that made us so sick the last time around. The press release goes on to say the following:
Judge Koschnick said he’s spent time listening to the law enforcement community across the state and there’s one issue in particular that keeps coming up. It’s the frustration felt by law enforcement officers after spending hundreds of personnel hours and thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to catch an alleged criminal only to have the courts set them free via a broad interpretation of the law.
It’s important to note that not a single case is listed nor substantive legal argument made. Just more of the baseless claims and bumper sticker slogans that we have regretfully come to expect. Even beyond that point, is it even wise for Koschnick to make such an argument, no matter how absurd? Are we really supposed to believe that he has never dismissed a single criminal case in which law enforcement has spent “hundreds of personnel hours” or “thousands in taxpayer money”? Are we really supposed to believe that in his 14 years as a public defender that he didn’t win a single criminal case based on what someone might call a “broad interpretation of the law”? If he didn’t then I hope that someone at least filed an ineffective counsel motion on him, because he didn't do his job.
I think that I can understand why Randy Kocshnick is driven to play this crime fighter game, but his resume doesn’t fit that simplistic right wing model. The conflict that he faces here could actually prove beneficial if he just let it drive him to debate on substance and well reasoned legal argument. Unfortunately, if this early press release is any indication, he has opted for the bumper sticker, when we all would have been better off if he simply pled the fifth.
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