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Republicans Challenge DOJ Outsourcing
Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol are calling for changes in the state’s Department of Justice after a blistering report into outside influences.
The Senate Special Committee on Oversight of the Department of Justice on Tuesday approved its final report on Attorney General Josh Kaul's office, and how he is using a special environmental prosecutor paid for with money from billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
"It is clear that Attorney General Kaul is weaponizing the power vested in him by the people of Wisconsin to further partisan interests with the help of out-of-state billionaires. The Senate is not done looking into this matter," Special Committee chair Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said in the report.
The Special Committee launched an investigation into the DOJ following complaints about Special Assistant Attorneys General, specifically one who handled environmental cases.
"These attorneys were given the...power to prosecute Wisconsin citizens, yet were considered 'volunteers' at DOJ. The special interest groups funding these positions could fire them at any time," the report noted.
Felzkowski's committee said there is nothing in state law that allows for the use of "volunteers" or "Special Assistant Attorneys General."
The special assistants in Kaul's office were paid for with money from the Bloomberg-funded State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. They first started working in Wisconsin in 2022, and it was an Impact Center-funded special assistant who launched the case against Wisconsin dairy farmers that resulted in a lawsuit. That lawsuit led to the Special Committee's investigation.
“These outside-funded attorneys were assigned to at least 35 cases against Wisconsin farmers and businesses, resulting in significant forfeitures, much of it for minor technical violations that were not even real environmental violations," Sen Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, said after the report was released.
"Hard-working Wisconsin farmers were targeted by attorneys whose paychecks came from New York University funded by a billionaire."
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