Capital City Sunday: SCOWIS candidate embraces 'progressive' label, Tiffany defends panel investigating DOJ

By: A.J. Bayatpour 

MADISON (WKOW) -- Voters heard from all four candidates this week in the race to decide who will control the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

The April election may well have a longer-lasting and more significant impact on Wisconsin than the midterm elections in November. The court, which currently has a 4-3 conservative majority, could take up challenges to the state's abortion ban and its legislative maps.

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly and Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow are considered the conservative candidates in this campaign.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz and Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell are viewed as the progressive choices.

Kelly appeared on Capital City Sunday in December. You can watch that full interview here.

This week, Protasiewicz told 27 News in an interview she doesn't mind being branded as a progressive, at least with regard to social issues.

"In regard to the progressive label, I embrace that when it comes to issues such as gerrymandering," she said. "When we talk about the maps, when we talk about marriage equality, when we talk about women's rights, and women's rights to choose."

Protasiewicz said the Dobbs ruling ending federal abortion rights under Roe v. Wade was the worst supreme court ruling she could think of, either at the state or federal level.

She said it was because the court didn't give it enough consideration to the right to privacy, which she'd weight if considering a challenge to Wisconsin's abortion ban.

"I will be looking at privacy," Protasiewicz said. "I will also tell you my own personal values. Again, not legally how I would decide a case, but my own personal values, that a woman's right to choose, should be able to be made solely by her."

Protasiewicz, who was a prosecutor in Milwaukee for 25 years, said she also wanted to be seen as someone who takes violent crime seriously.

Conservatives have targeted some of her past sentencings, including the 2021 sentencing of Anton Veasley, who was convicted of child enticement and third degree sexual assault.

In a story first reported by conservative outlet, Wisconsin Right Now, Protasiewicz sentenced Veasley to more than 400 days in the county jail, giving him credit for having served that time prior to his eventual conviction.

Protasiewicz stayed Veasley's prison sentence, and upon release, he was arrested again and charged with felon in possession of a firearm.

Protasiewicz bristled at the criticism, and said she had no regrets about how she handled Veasley's sentencing.

"Because you don't have a crystal ball," she said. "I knew the facts that I knew at the time that I sentenced this person."

"The Republican Party of the State of Wisconsin did an open records request for every single case that I have touched since I've been a judge, and there are thousands of them. That's the best they can come up with? I don't find that particularly compelling."

Protasiewicz said she did support a Republican-led effort in the legislature to change the state's bail laws. Lawmakers are on the verge of putting before voters a constitutional amendment that would allow judges to consider the seriousness of a crime and a defendant's violent criminal past when setting bail.

Currently, judges are only to base bail decisions on a defendant's likelihood to show up for court.

"Judges' hands are pretty tied right now, the way the bail statute is written," Protasiewicz said. "I welcome this amendment, though quite frankly, I don't think it goes far enough. There are people that we should be able to hold in custody without any opportunity for bail."

Tiffany defends speaker drama, new panel to investigate DOJ

House Republicans in Washington are moving forward with their slight majority following a drama-filled election of  new Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), who represents the Northwoods, said he wasn't bothered by the negotiations between McCarthy and hardline conservatives, which led to McCarthy needing to make numerous concessions while needed 15 votes to secure the speaker's gavel.

Tiffany said he wasn't concerned McCarthy wouldn't be operating with a political gun to his head, as one concession made it so only one member can call for a 'no confidence' vote against the speaker.

"I think it's an important check on the speaker," Tiffany said. "And I think it'll be used appropriately."

The other changes include allowing amendments on the floor, which will give more power to rank-and-file members, but makes it much more difficult to pass wide-ranging bills. That could complicate the upcoming fight over raising the debt ceiling.

Tiffany said the changes were worth any new complications that could arise. 

"I think this was the one chance to change the rules, in naming the speaker," Tiffany said. "Because once the speaker vote was done, the rules were not going to change after that."

In one of their first acts with a new majority, House Republicans on a party-line vote created a new panel dedicated to reviewing federal investigative agencies.

From the DOJ, to the FBI, and the IRS, House Republicans want to put the agencies under the microscope and explore what the consider to be efforts to target conservatives.

It's unclear if the panel will attempt to disrupt the special counsel review of former President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election, of if it'd be able to.

Tiffany, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, said he'd serve on the panel if he were asked to. Tiffany added he was most interested in seeing the panel look into connections between federal investigators and large social media companies, like Twitter, and any possible efforts to suppress the speech of those pushing alternative treatments for COVID-19.

When asked for an example of someone being suppressed, Tiffany cited White House officials labeling the promotion of Ivermectin treatment as 'misinformation.'

The vast majority of the medical community rejects the idea of using Ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

"People can say that, but I've also talked to doctors that have used it as an effective antidote to Covid," Tiffany said. "But I think it gets to the broader issue there were many virologists and eminent doctors here in America who had a different view, and their views were suppressed."

When asked if it was hypocritical for conservatives to brand themselves as 'pro-law enforcement,' then potentially meddle in ongoing criminal investigations, Tiffany said, in addition to passing legislation, the job of Congress was to provide accountability to federal agencies.

"It is important that we do the oversight," Tiffany said. "That our federal government is acting in the interests of the American people. It's very important that we do this."

Busy days on deck at State Capitol

The action is ramping up at Wisconsin's Capitol, as lawmakers are set to hold a floor session Thursday in the Assembly. They're expected to pass the resolution amending the state's bail laws, allowing the question to go before voters in the April election.

Senate Republicans also rolled out their proposal to move Wisconsin toward a flat income tax rate of 3.25%. While Gov. Evers is all but certain to reject a flat tax, it's the latest signal the next two-year state budget will be defined by a significant tax cut as leaders debate over how to use a projected $6.6 billion surplus.

Democrats want much of the money to go toward local governments. Freshman Rep. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) said, based on her experiences on the village board in Cottage Grove and Dane County Board, it wasn't realistic to expect municipalities and counties to pursue the "innovation" Vos has said must be part of any local government funding discussion. 

"Local communities have already been innovative to provide services throughout our state," Ratcliff said. "In Cottage Grove, we have joint services already with our fire department as joint, village and town, and our EMS is Deerfield and the Town and Village of Cottage Grove."

Ratcliff has listed housing among her legislative priorities. A report from Forward Analytics this week estimated Wisconsin must find a way to add about 140,000 new housing units by 2030 to accomodate people entering their working years.

Ratcliff said part of the challenge is flat shared revenue distributions to local governments have made them especially reliant on property taxes. She maintained that has created another financial hurdle before people looking to buy a home.

"If we are able to give municipalities more shared revenue and other funding from the state, that will help municipalities to not rely on homeowners for providing services to their communities," she said.

When asked what lawmakers could change this session to spur the development of new housing, Ratcliff acknowledged the challenge. She suggested making changes that would affect what local governments are able to do, but did not offer many specifics.

"There are other things we need to look at with the zoning, TIF districts, and all options are on the table," she said. "We need to provide more housing for our residents."

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