Convention
governor. Businessman Tim Michels and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch lead the field, according to the recent Marquette University Law School Poll, with former 2018 GOP Senate runner Kevin Nicholson and state Rep.Tim Ramthun trailing.
“They’ve staked out a far, far-right promise for the people of Wisconsin and I think that doesn’t sell,” Evers said.
Evers may have an advantage over his Republican rivals, according to the Marquette Poll, but he is taking nothing for granted.
“I just think it’s way too early to tell anything,” he said. “We are a purple state.”
For his part, Kaul said he’ll continue to advocate for new legislation on abortion and that he anticipates litigation over the 1849 law.
“We’ve got to mitigate the harm this ban will potentially cause in Wisconsin, if it is found to be in effect,” he said. “And one of the ways we can do that is to have the Department of Justice not investigating or prosecuting anybody for alleged violations of that ban.”
Asked if he could see not prosecuting violations of the abortion ban through a second, four-year term, Kaul said: “Absolutely.”
“We make decisions every day at every law enforcement agency about how to use limited resources,” he added. “And my view is that we should be using those resources to investigate and prosecute the most serious offenses.”
Kaul chided the two main Republican rivals bidding for the party’s nomination for attorney general, former legislator Adam Jarchow and Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney.
Kaul said the two men support the GOP probe led by ex-state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman of the 2020 election and would also embrace abortion restrictions.
“So it’s a very stark contrast between using the Wisconsin Department of Justice as Gableman Part Two, or the abortion police, versus continuing to use it to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes in Wisconsin,” he said. On Sunday, the convention will take up the party’s platform. Delegates will also hear from the large field of U.S. Senate candidates, including Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.
GOP ties Evers to Biden, inflation
In a pre-convention media availability, Republicans sought to tie Evers to President Joe Biden, pounding Democrats over inflation, government spending and crime.
“The only way to describe the Evers administration and the Biden administration is abject failure,” said Derrick Van Orden, who is running for Congress in the Third Congressional District.
“We’re fully focused on holding the Democrats accountable,” said Paul Farrow, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Asked about the court decision overturning Roe, Farrow said, “When you look at the impact of what the Supreme Court did, we need to keep in mind what they really said was 50 years ago an activist bench made a decision that wasn’t constitutional and put that into place. So they’re correcting that.
“Is it causing any change in the political landscape? When you look at the sides, I think there’s there’s a standard that people have, the Republicans know we’re pro-life. The vast majority of people know that we stand for the sanctity of life from the beginning. And we’ll continue to work on that.”