Marsy's Law and Victims Rights in Wisconsin (Concerns and Benefits)

Someone I am close to was the victim of a minor sex crime a few months ago.  The perpetrator went through court in a different County, and a court system I am not often a fan of.  The person I know felt like she was treated with dignity throughout the process, which was resolved rather quickly.  I commend this court system for how they handled this specific incident.  By the way, if it seems like I am being vague, it is out of an interest to respect the privacy of the individual involved.

I've been hearing a lot about "Marsy's Law" over the past year or two.  Over the last few weeks, I have started to hear the commercials pushing for the public to support Marsy's law.  The commercials are low on information, and instead focus on making a strong emotional appeal.

So tonight I finally got an opportunity (and remembered that I wanted to) look up the actual provisions of the proposed law, which would be embedded into the State constitution.  In reading through it, there are some things I absolutely agree with, along with a few points of concern.

Good Provisions
Some of the provisions are very good and important.  Specifically, victims should know if the convicted perpetrator is released from prison or escapes prison.  Victims should know when all of the court hearings are, and under this law they would receive adequate notification.  They should also be able to confer with the prosecutor, and they should be able to make statements in court about how the crime has impacted them, especially at sentencing.

I think just about all of us would agree that victims should have these rights.

Concerning provisions
To understand why the provision I am about to mention is concerning, you have to remember that, prior to 1776, we were ruled over by a King.  That King could, either directly or via his government officials, throw somebody in jail, hold a court hearing without them knowing the charges, and convict them with flimsy evidence.  Often this was done to political enemies, who often had committed no crime.  As a result of that, we modeled our justice system on the premise that, when someone is accused of a crime, they have the right to a full and proper defense.  That includes:

1. Knowing the charges against them.
2. Knowing the evidence against them.
3. Being given the opportunity to prepare an adequate defense based on full knowledge of the charges.
4. Being given the opportunity to call witnesses to refute the charges and evidence against them.

One provision of Marsy's law proposes to prohibit the accused from being able to question the victim prior to the court hearing.  Specifically, it states that victims would have the right "to refuse an interview, deposition, or other discovery request made by the accused or any person acting on behalf of the accused."  If this was enacted, it would mean that the victim could come into court, and give testimony for the 1st time.  The accused would have no opportunity to prepare a defense for those accusations, and no time to identify and call witnesses that could refute the victim's testimony.  A person that was wrongly accused would be unable to prepare a defense to establish his/her innocence.  The right to prepare the best defense is a basic rights afforded in the U.S. constitution, specifically to protect innocent people from going to prison, and this provision of Marsy's law undermines that right.

Marquette Law School and the Journal Sentinel (a newspaper I frequently disagree with) seem to share these concerns, and bring forth some others.  Here are their articles:

• Marquette Law School: https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2018/01/23/marsys-law-in-wisconsin/
• Journal/Sentinel Online: https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/10/30/strang-marsys-law-bill-unworkable-unconstitutional/799667001/

Make no mistake about it, I want the system to be conscious about not revictimizing victims.  I just have to look at Jayme Closs, who is both a victim and hero, and ask what justice I would want for her, to know that I want her kidnapper to spend a long time in Prison.  I have a strong feeling that we can get justice for her without infringing on her kidnapper's right to a fair trial, and that we can make sure that any depositions are handled in a manner that are sensitive to her.  Elizabeth Smart was able to do exactly this thing, and her testimony was a big part of how her kidnappers were forced to face justice for their crimes.

So I support most of the provisions of Marsy' law, and believe victims should be treated with dignity and respect, but I do have a few concerns that need consideration.

Renewing my United Way Committment

Last year (2018) I made a commitment to give 1 month of my County Board Supervisor salary to the United Way. A few weeks ago, I renewed that commitment for 2019. I stopped in at the County's Human Resources office and completed my pledge card, to have monthly deductions equal to 1 month of my salary, with donations to be split between organizations like the Heroine Task Force, Elevate, Family Promise, Friends Inc, and NAMI-Washington County. I got elected to serve the community, and returning a portion of my salary to the community furthers that service.

Property Tax Rate (County Portion) Goes Down Again

This Wednesday night, our County Board will be approving our 2019 budget, and it includes a further reduction of the county portion of your property tax.  As you'll recall, last year we reduced the county portion of your property tax down to $2.48 per thousand dollars of assessed value (excluding library and bridge assessments).  That rate is the lowest rate in 100 years.  This year we are reducing the rate by another 9.7 cents per thousand dollars, down to $2.38.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors continues to be good stewards of your tax dollars.

What We Learned About the 58th

Prior to 2018, the last time the 58th saw a general election challenge was in 2008, when Republican Pat Strachota won 82% of the vote.  Quite frankly, that was some pretty old data about the voting trends of the 58th.

Now, in January of 2018, we had a special election with an extremely low turnout, which gave Democrats some false hopes.  Only 4,330 people voted, and Rick Gundrum beat Dennis Degenhardt, 57% to 43%.  By vote counts, the margin of victory was 571 votes.  That gave the democrats some false hopes about the 58th.

We saw that these were false hopes in the fall primary.  7,261 Republicans voted for Rick Gundrum in the Republican Primary.  In the Democratic Primary, 2,634 Democrats voted for Dennis Degenhardt.

Last night, we saw the true make-up of the 58th, in a fairly high turnout election.  28,867 people voted (a 700% increase over the 4,330 who voted in January) and Gundrum won decisively with 71% of the vote, receiving 20, 468 votes and winning by a margin of 12,100 votes.

Whether you like this news or not, numbers don't lie, and tonight those numbers show that the 58th remains solidly and securely Republican.

Nothing I am saying is meant to in any way be disrespectful of Dennis Degenhardt, he has done a lot of good for our community and put a lot of work in this election.  He had as good of a showing in this election as could be expected.  All I am doing is pointing out what we now know about the 58th.

Tuesday's Election

For the upcoming election, I think all my neighbors know that I’ll be voting Republican primary (The signs in front of my yard are a subtle hint).  I thought I would quickly highlight a few contested races, and how I intend to vote and why.  If you are not sure who you are voting for in one of these races, you are welcome to follow my lead.

State Assembly

Since this is the most local race, I’ll start with this one first.  I worked with Rick Gundrum on the County Board, while he was the County Board Chairman, and saw him always work toward reducing taxes by making government smaller, more effective, and more efficient.  Rick was a key leader in reducing the County Tax Rate to the lowest rate in 100 years, while improving the quality of service for many programs in Washington County.

Since being elected to the Assembly in January, he has already started working toward solutions to make property taxes more consistent, including ending the dark store loop-hole that lets retailers skimp on their obligation.    Because of this focus, shortly after his election he was appointed to the 2018 Legislative Council Study Committee on Property Tax Assessment Practices.

Governor/Lt. Governor

Scott Walker has done tremendous things for our state, with Rebecca Kleefisch fully supporting his efforts.  His opponent wants to undo many of the successful reforms Walker has implemented.  Walker’s opponent also has given conflicting views on his plans for taxing us, though with all the spending he is proposing, increasing taxes seems most likely.

State Senator

I endorsed Leah Vukmir in February, and I stand by my endorsement for this excellent candidate.

Attorney General
Brad Schimel inherited a massive backlog of untested rape kits from his predecessor, Peggy Lautenschlager.  It took his office 3 years to get caught up, but he did the hard work and got it done.  Now Peggy’s son, Josh Kaul, has the nerve to lie and claim that Schimel ignored these rape kits for 2 years.  This is in my view the most disgusting negative attack of this election cycle (except for the attacks on Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.  Negative ads of this scale are a sign of Kaul’s lack of character.

State Treasurer
Travis Hartwig wants to turn the position into one that will look to reduce wasteful government spending, which of course I support.

Secretary of State
Jay Schroeder strikes me as an interesting character.  He raises a lot of important issues about the burden his opponent will place on taxpayers when he retires after 40 years as Secretary of State.  Doug La Follette has done nothing for Wisconsin for 40 years, except work a job that’s only requirement is to work 3 hours per week.  Doug La Follette’s pension will pay out $280,000 per year.  If you don’t believe me, look it up online.

5^th Congressional District

Jim Sensenbrenner holds 100 town hall meetings each year with constituents.  He didn’t go to Washington and forget about us, he fights for us.

I Oppose Legalizing Marijuana

A few Counties have put advisory referendum on their county ballots.  The referendums are seeking support for asking the state to legalize marijuana.

Today, as I left a restaurant after eating dinner, I found a card on my windshield advocating for the legalization of marijuana.  Similar cards had been placed on all the cars in the parking lot.

I absolutely oppose legalizing marijuana, and would oppose any ballot initiative related to the legalization of marijuana.  I know this is an issue in which many of my Republican and Democrat neighbors will agree with me, and a few of my Republican and Democrat neighbors will disagree.

Rationalization is the strongest human drive.  Marijuana users want to rationalize their favorite vice as non-addictive and non-harmful.  Research does show that marijuana has harmful health effects, and is addictive.

Moreover, a recent trend that has emerged is extremely alarming.  Drug dealers, seeing marijuana as a low profit product, are finding ways to turn it into a high profit product.  Lacing marijuana with heroin or fentanyl is one method they have employed, with the hopes of turning marijuana addicts into heroin addicts.  Creating artificial marijuana, often laced with chemicals like rat poison, is another emerging method to increase the profitability of marijuana sales.

I will also oppose medical marijuana, which is the smoking of marijuana for allegedly medical reasons.

What will I support:
I will support research into medications (in pill form) that provide no recreational value, have no addictive qualities, and help treat diseases.  There is some promising research related to pills that treat epilepsy, that use a part of the marijuana plant in a non-recreational form.  If I had a kid who had epilepsy, and there was a pill that would help control it, I'd want him to have that pill (assuming it had no addictive properties).  So I support research into learning more about these potential medications, including potential benefits and side effects, along with addictive qualities.

Shared Services Work, Our Public Health Department Continues to Earn Recognition

Today our County announced that our combined Ozaukee County & Washington County Health Department achieved level III designation.  This is a higher designation than either county's department had ever achieved on their own, and a recognition of the outstanding work our combined health department is doing.  It is also proof that we can combine government services to be both more effective and efficient while saving costs.  Consolidation if done correctly does not mean a diminishment of services, it means better service.

There are a lot more opportunities for our County government to consolidate services with local governments and nearby counties, and I will continue to push for us to explore those opportunities.  While the health department merger happened shortly before I was originally elected, I immediately recognized the benefits of this opportunity and fully supported it.

Read more about this news here: http://www.co.washington.wi.us/inner.iml?mdl=news.mdl&ID=252