Chisholm owned up to bail mistake
I live in Milwaukee County and was dismayed to learn that Republican lawmakers from Waukesha County sent a letter to the governor calling for the removal of District Attorney John Chisholm (“GOP lawmakers are calling for removal of DA Chisholm,” Dec. 7).
According to statute, Chisholm can be removed only if the governor first receives a complaint from within Milwaukee County, where Chisholm has been repeatedly elected since 2007.
No such complaint against Chisholm was made. Not being satisfied, these brazenly partisan lawmakers from another county wrote their own letter to the governor. I believe this letter was clearly nothing more than an opportunistic stunt, using a tragedy to score political points, avoid their own responsibility and remove a good man from office.
Beginning immediately after the Waukesha tragedy, Chisholm acted with courageous transparency. Chisholm himself highlighted the low bail issue and explained that an overwhelmed assistant district attorney did not catch it. Nor did the court commissioner who approved that bail.
Chisholm has since taken pains to explain in careful detail what went wrong, when and by whom. Moreover, although he could have, he did not cast blame on Republican lawmakers for their role in starving the county of funds for the past 10 years.
After these legislators helped create an underfunded and overwhelmed county district attorney’s office, it strikes me as the ultimate irony that they now try to use that office as a scapegoat.
Erin Stilp Milwaukee