Here & Now

Abortion and Authority of DAs in the Attorney General Debate

Frederica Freyberg:

As to prosecuting abortion cases, in the heated race for attorney general, questions repeatedly came up during a debate Thursday referencing a PBS Wisconsin report on the candidates that touched on the matter.

Josh Kaul:

What I think is important to note though is Mr. Toney said direct to the camera, he’s on video saying that one of the things he thinks we should consider is to allow DAs to cross county lines. It’s another example of this point that as attorney general, what you say matters. You don’t get to walk it back weeks later because people will make policy decisions based on what you’ve said.

Eric Toney:

The full context of the quote was asked about DAs that wouldn’t prosecute certain crimes. We have a couple statues on the books right now – election fraud and state ethics codes – that actually allow a district attorney to prosecute in an adjoining county if the DA of that county refuses to prosecute. So I use it as an analogy to say our attorney general should have authority if a DA is refusing to prosecute and that would be another option. I never expressly advocated for it.

Frederica Freyberg:

In a new article, reporter Zac Schultz provides the full question and answer at issue which you can find by going to PBSwisconsin.org and then clicking on the news page.