Josh Kaul, the laziest attorney general Wisconsin ever had (which is saying a lot since JB Van Hollen was hardly a firestorm of ambition), lumbered out of hibernation and promptly refused to oppose abolishing and defunding the police.
Kaul is the state’s top cop, and he couldn’t find the courage or spine to condemn anti-law enforcement insanity. That should tell you all you need to know about the AWOL AG, a nepo baby who has mismanaged the core functions of his office, allowing them to collapse around him.
That’s not rhetoric. It’s provable. His office botched a federal audit response into crime victim services, the crime lab takes longer to process far fewer cases, a tribal leader said the lack of narcotics investigations up north is costing lives, open records requests languish 1.5 years, and a string of state law enforcement agents have trashed his leadership. He’s failed at his job on almost every key front.
I’ve cancelled the silver alert, though, because Kaul has been seen in public! Congrats! But, dear Josh, please fix the crime lab, open records, the office of crime victim services, DCI, northern Wisconsin narcotics enforcement and all of the other critical functions that you have woefully mismanaged. And be nice to the mom of the Halloween killer’s child victim since she’s said in the past you ignored her. Maybe weighing in on commutations would be helpful too.
Kaul Emerges From the Deep
First, Kaul emerged from the deep to highlight the fact he was wearing an orange tie (not joking.) Then Kaul gave an interview to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and it was a very weird one. Credit where it’s due, though. Reporter Jessie Opoien asked him some good questions and then didn’t let him off the hook for his non-answer. Good reporting.
As Journal Sentinel reporter Molly Beck put it on social media, “In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Attorney General Josh Kaul wouldn’t answer whether he has concerns as a law enforcement official potentially running on a ticket with a gubernatorial candidate who has been aligned with ‘defund the police’ efforts, nor if he’s comfortable running with any of the Democratic candidates for governor.” Actually, it’s also abolish the police, which the article itself did note later on; one of the candidates, Fran Hong, has supported police abolition. So if Kaul won’t say he’s uncomfortable with any Democrat governor candidate, he’s enabling and normalizing that too. She’s the frontrunner in some polls.
Opoien asked Kaul the question three times, basically whether he’d be concerned to run with any of the Democrat candidates, especially one aligned with defund the police efforts. Each time, he responded with Kamala-worthy word salads that dodged the question. So this is what it’s come to; the Democrat Party has so moved the needle of what’s accepted that the top law enforcement official in the state thinks he can’t get away with standing against police abolition and defunding, since everyone knows her statements on that (and he didn’t sever himself from Fran Hong’s rhetoric about wanting to abolish prisons either, although Opoien didn’t directly ask that.)
In contrast, DA Eric Toney, Kaul’s opponent, spoke with clarity, responding, “This Dem field for gov. is the most anti-law enforcement in history. Kaul had the chance to condemn their radical views, like abolishing the police, and he punted. He should be condemning the abolish the police movement and act like our Top Cop — while he still has the job.”
Kaul then touted a plan he didn’t get passed. Got that? He can’t run on what he’s done so he’s running on something he couldn’t get done (spend more!)
His claim to fame boils down to joining a bunch of lawsuits filed by other AGs that would have happened anyway.
Josh Kaul Reveals His Inner Character
To be blunt, Josh Kaul had a chance for a “Sister Souljah” moment here and punted.
What the heck is that? You probably have to remember Bill Clinton’s campaign to get the reference. This was a defining moment that helped Bill shake off the radical elements in his own party and position as a centrist to win. When the liberal rapper made a comment supporting racial violence, Clinton rebuked her.
A “Sister Souljah moment” is when a politician has the courage and good strategic sense to rebuke the unacceptable even when coming from his own party. In contrast, Josh Kaul would rather throw law enforcement under the bus than risk offending Fran Hong.
According to the Political Dictionary, a “Sister Souljah moment” is a “public repudiation of an extremist person or statement perceived to have some association with a politician or his party. It is a strategy designed to signal to centrist voters to show that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party.”
Also weirdly, Kaul then went on a tirade about Tom Tiffany’s 2020 election stance. This is ironic since Kaul supported a hand recount of the presidential election ballots in Wisconsin when representing Hillary Clinton. Election denier!
AG Kaul, you’re running against DA Eric Toney, not Tom Tiffany (or Donald Trump.) But, see, Kaul has no case to make against the pragmatic, public service oriented Toney, and he can’t make the case for himself, since everything is falling apart, so he’s pretending he’s running for governor even though his own party didn’t want him to.
At any rate, Toney has flatly stated that Biden won the 2020 election; he has prosecuted cases of double voting, which I’d guess every voter thinks should be prosecuted. In other words, he’s gone after what can be proven to protect “democracy” and not down rabbit holes. But Kaul can’t run against that, so he brought up Tiffany instead.
Maybe the AG should go back into hibernation because he’s doing himself no favors. By the way, people I’ve spoken to on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing. The office Republicans have the best chance to win in November is this one. Now you know why.
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