Fitzgerald supports differing policies
He backs increasing, reducing prison numbers
MADISON - As he runs for Congress, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald wants to have it both ways on criminal justice.
The Republican leader from Juneau said Thursday he supports the criminal justice overhaul law President Donald Trump signed in December. That measure, called the First Step Act, resulted in more than 500 inmates being released early, allowed some offenders to avoid mandatory minimum sentences and provided drug treatment to more inmates.
But while Fitzgerald backs Trump’s new law, he also is rushing through state legislation that would toughen penalties, sending more offenders to prison for longer periods.
In short, Fitzgerald is simultaneously backing policies that would reduce the federal prison population and increase the state prison population.
“They are opposites. They are ideological opposites,” Democratic Rep. Evan Goyke of Milwaukee said of the two approaches to criminal justice.
“The Republican authors (of the Wisconsin legislation) pretty much say as much — these are people that should be behind bars longer. And Trump is saying these are people that should be behind bars shorter. I don’t see how you can square those two.”
Goyke, an opponent of the effort to toughen penalties, added: “This is nondebatable. This is not an opinion question and I hope to be Politifacted.”
Fitzgerald contended there was no contradiction in what he wants.
“Trying to give law enforcement the tools they need to deal with those that continually break the law is not necessarily in contrast with dealing with those who have been incarcerated in the past and are trying to move on,” Fitzgerald told reporters. “So, no, I don’t see those two things in conflict at all.”
Fitzgerald is running for the seat U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner — a supporter of Trump’s First Step Act — is giving up. Fitzgerald faces Democrat Tom Palzewicz in a heavily Republican district.
Fitzgerald and other Republicans touted bills at a Thursday news conference that would provide $5 million in grants to enhance policing; increase penalties for vehicle theft, reckless driving and fleeing an officer; and toughen sentences for domestic abusers convicted of intimidating witnesses.
The measures are part of a broader package that also would require the state to try to revoke extended supervision for all offenders who are charged with committing a crime while on supervision.
The Department of Corrections
estimated that measure would boost costs by $211 million over two years because of a larger prison population. In addition to the higher operational costs, the department maintains the state would have to build two prisons at a cost of perhaps $350 million each.
Fitzgerald said he didn’t know enough about that bill to say whether he would bring it to the floor of the Senate before the legislative session wraps up in March.
But GOP Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills argued it was important to take up the measure. Darling is the co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.
“As the co-chair of Finance, I’d like to say that public safety is one of our major responsibilities, so we can’t always talk about the costs and I think this bill is one of the major bills we have to look at,” she said.
Republican Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of New Berlin, the
“The people who focus solely on cost and use that as the reason why we can’t protect our families and our neighborhoods, that just doesn’t hold water.” Rep. Joe Sanfelippo
sponsor of the bill, questioned the accuracy of the cost estimate. But the cost should not be the prime concern, he said.
“The people who focus solely on cost and use that as the reason why we can’t protect our families and our neighborhoods, that just doesn’t hold water,” Sanfelippo said.
Two years ago, the Department of Corrections and the independent Council of State Governments reached similar cost estimates when they reviewed similar legislation.