“As Attorney General, I will serve all of you. I will defend the law equally, no matter who holds power, and it’s time to turn the page and elect an attorney general that’s going to put public safety over politics” – DA Eric Toney
Flanked by DAs and sheriffs, Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney announced on October 21 that he is running against Democrat Josh Kaul for state Attorney General, stressing the need to fix the crime lab and support border enforcement.
“Now for nearly seven years, we’ve seen a record of broken promises from our Attorney General, and we’ve seen the consequences of that related to the Wisconsin crime labs, something that he campaigned on, that was addressing our crime labs and addressing opioids here in Wisconsin, and unfortunately, the record of our Attorney General has seen the office go backwards and not forward, and there are direct consequences that touch every community, every law enforcement agency in our court systems, in all 72 Wisconsin counties,” said Toney.
Toney also focused on his bipartisan record of working across the aisle on issues like better pay for prosecutors and public defenders, whose offices were seeing recruitment crises and escalating turnover.
In Waukesha County, Toney made his announcement surrounded by the District Attorneys of Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee Counties, and local sheriffs, like Marty Schulteis of Washington County. Toney, 41, is the former president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association.
In contrast, according to Fox 6, “Kaul’s campaign, when announcing his reeleciton bid, said he has been an advocate for liberal causes as attorney general.”
He lost a narrow race to Kaul last time around, but he faces a dramatically different landscape today: a more hospitable media landscape, no primary opponent, years of outreach to the conservative base, and a great deal of goodwill there, for starters. Last time, he was a virtual unknown.
Kaul is seeking a third term despite a tepid response from the Democratic base for a potential run for governor, an idea he abandoned after flirting with it. He has repeatedly failed to fix the crime lab, his office botched an audit response into crime victim services, and, along the way, he managed to anger the mother of the victim of the notorious Halloween killer. (see more about all of that here.)
“I wasn’t sure that I would be here today. About two years ago, I learned that I needed to have open heart surgery, which was a shock to me having run marathons and cross country and track, and it was that running that through the grace of God, saved my life and allowed me to be here today, and I knew that if I made it through that experience, I would want to continue doing something that I love, to help keep the people of Wisconsin safe,” Toney said in one of his appearances on October 21.
“And I’ve been humbled by the encouragement from friends, colleagues and people all across Wisconsin that have been encouraging me to run for attorney general, to help restore leadership to that office, and so that’s why today, I’ve announced that I’m running to be our next attorney general here in Wisconsin, and as your top cop, I will stand up foreEvery Wisconsinite across Wisconsin, I will put public safety over politics, and we will enforce the law without fear and without favor, regardless of who is in power,” he added.
“Now, I will also bring common sense conservative leadership back to our Wisconsin Department of Justice, because that’s what Wisconsin needs, and that’s what Wisconsin deserves.”
Josh Kaul Has Failed to Fix the State Crime Lab, Toney Says
Toney noted that, when Republican Brad Schimel “was our attorney general, we saw more efficient testing at the crime lab. In comparison, Josh Kaul, he is testing 25% less at our crime labs compared to his predecessor, but yet, he’s taking longer to test many of those categories, including the critical DNA evidence that many prosecutors rely on in some of our most serious cases to help take dangerous criminals off the streets.”
Read more about Kaul and the crime lab here.
Toney said that, as a result of Kaul’s crime lab delays, judges are having to reschedule and adjourn trials, court calendars are becoming congested, prosecutors’ caseloads are higher, and the public spends more money on public defenders and court-appointed attorneys. The delays also keep repeat offenders free, causing more victimization, he said.
According to Toney, Kaul has put into place policies that limit “what our law enforcement can send when they can send it in and when those items will be tested.”
“We can’t afford another four years of these broken promises, and it doesn’t end with the crime labs,” he said.
Toney said that public safety is also a concern, including in Milwaukee, from crime and reckless driving. “We need an attorney general that is going to speak up and stand with our law enforcement to help keep our community safe,” he said. “And we also have seen the failures of our attorney general who puts politics over public safety.”
Toney also hit Kaul on the border crisis.
“We look at the border crisis that we saw under the Biden administration, and he promised he would address the opioid epidemic, but he ignored the border crisis. And we know fentanyl is pouring into our country, across the border, and it’s not just fentanyl, it’s methamphetamine and other drugs that are killing kids in our communities and destroying families,” he said.
“And I have sat across from too many of those parents that have had to bury a child, and it doesn’t have to be that way…And if we have an attorney general that will put public safety over politics, we can save lives and help give kids.”
Toney said that there is a border crisis “of illegal immigrants coming in to our country and committing some very serious crime and other crimes that tie up the resources of our law enforcement. I’ve personally prosecuted illegal immigrants that have committed human trafficking.”
He added, “One mother trafficked her own daughter to her boyfriend, who is also in the country illegally, who attempted to sexually assault her. We’ve convicted and sent both of those individuals to prison. We’ve prosecuted another illegal immigrant in Fond du Lac County for a brutal attempted homicide stabbing, who is now in prison. These are the consequences of not addressing and being honest about those issues that have an impact on people all over Wisconsin, and it doesn’t end with just the most serious crimes.”
Eric Toney Revealed His Car Was Totaled by an Illegal Immigrant
Toney revealed that he was “rear ended while driving in the city, and it totaled my Jeep, and that person fled the scene, didn’t have insurance, didn’t have a driver’s license, and then we learned was in the country illegally, and now he’s got an arrest warrant out for him for that case, for the hit and run, and I’m fortunate that I was okay. I was able to get another vehicle. But those are the type of things that other families in Wisconsinites experience that don’t make the news.”
He added: “Wisconsin needs an attorney general who will represent all Wisconsinites putting public safety over politics, not just their own political interests or left wing interests. That’s how I’ve led as a district attorney and as a president of our Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. We have put politics aside putting public safety over politics, and have worked with a Democrat governor and a Republican legislature to get real results for Wisconsinites, to help keep people safe.”
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