Here & Now

AG Kaul Discusses an Investigation into Wis. National Guard

Frederica Freyberg:

Now to state news. The long-serving adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard is out, in the wake of a scathing federal report showing the Guard’s investigations of sexual assault and harassment violated the law. Governor Tony Evers this week called for Donald Dunbar’s resignation when the report showed, among other things, that the Guard failed to properly report or track sexual assault allegations, that victim advocates were understaffed and undertrained, even resulting in one victim being investigated for sexual misconduct. The report showed the adjutant general was running his own internal investigative arm rather than referring cases out as required. The report says overall “The Wisconsin National Guard’s program and systems for handling allegations of sexual assaults, sexual harassment and other workplace or service-related misconduct were noncompliant with federal law and regulation and in various respects, deficient or failing.” The Federal National Guard Bureau conducted the review, looking at 35 reports of sexual assault from 2009 to 2019. Tonight, we get the reaction of Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to this and check in on other matters. He joins us now from the state capitol and thanks very much for doing so.

Josh Kaul:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

As attorney general, Wisconsin’s top cop as it were, what is your reaction to that National Guard report?

Josh Kaul:

Well, first I’m glad that Governor Evers and Senator Baldwin and Senator Fitzgerald called for this investigation. There was a really thorough report done by the National Guard’s Bureau Office of Complex Investigation and it uncovered some really shocking details about what was going on at the National Guard. I support the way Governor Evers responded to this by calling for General Dunbar’s resignation and we are working and will continue working with Governor Evers to assess how best to address any other issues moving forward.

Frederica Freyberg:

According to that report, the prior administration at Justice entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Wisconsin National Guard on sexual assault investigations to minimize the use of Federal National Guard investigators according to that report. What’s the status of that agreement with Justice under your administration?

Josh Kaul:

We are assessing that agreement and how to move forward with it right now. I learned about some of the circumstances related to that agreement while the National Guard Bureau investigation was going on. And wanted to wait until the completion of that investigation before taking any action. What’s important for survivors of sexual assault, whether in the National Guard Bureau or elsewhere, to know is that the Department of Justice is committed to getting accountability when there are cases involving sexual assault. So regardless of what we do with that memorandum of understanding going forward, the Department of Justice is going to continue working with local law enforcement around the state to ensure that sexual assault cases are properly investigated and that where prosecutions can be brought that they are.

Frederica Freyberg:

Toward that end, what’s the current status of the rape kit testing at the State Crime Lab which is under your jurisdiction?

Josh Kaul:

We have completed the testing of kits in the backlog. There were little over 300 kits from cases involving convictions that hadn’t been tested but that were — we had agreed to test before I took office. Testing has been completed and now we’re just awaiting confirmed testing results on those. We’re also moving forward with cases that have resulted from that testing. There have now been two convictions and one person was recently sentenced. Somebody who was a serial sex offender received a sentence of 25 years. That goes to show how important it is that we test kits and that we continue pursuing justice in these cases. We’re also working to move forward legislation that’s designed to prevent other back log. It’s passed the State Senate. A majority of the members of the State Assembly support it. Unfortunately, Representative Joe Sanfelippo, the chair of the Health Committee still hasn’t held a hearing on it but I’m hopeful that he will soon and that that legislation will become law.

Frederica Freyberg:

On the lame duck laws that mean you have to get approval from the Republican-held Joint Finance Committee on settlements, is there yet agreement on how to handle confidential settlement agreements before that panel?

Josh Kaul:

We haven’t, unfortunately. The Republicans in the legislature took action during that lame duck session to change the way that settlements work in Wisconsin from the way that it had worked for decades previously. I think they have a responsibility to come up with a solution that’s going to help us resolve cases. We’ve made suggestions as to how we can move forward. The Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee have not agreed to those. But I’m hopeful that they will step up and come forward with a solution soon so that we can move cases forward. These are cases that could involve environmental violations or consumer protection violations. And we need to make sure we’ve got a process in place for resolving those cases because that’s what’s in the best interest of Wisconsinites.

Frederica Freyberg:

So virtually no movement on how to deal with that issue of confidentiality?

Josh Kaul:

Unfortunately not. The Joint Finance Committee has only approved one settlement so far pursuant to that new legislation. We are going to continue encouraging them to move forward but every day that goes by, the risk increases or continues at least that we’re going to have an opportunity to settle some case that we won’t be able to settle because the Joint Finance Committee hasn’t come up with a process. You know, I really think they need to acknowledge at this point that the law is not working, that we need to reform it and at the very least, put a process in place that’s going to help us move forward.

Frederica Freyberg:

How was it that that one settlement was able to go forward? Was that because there wasn’t anything confidential about it?

Josh Kaul:

There we had a proposed settlement agreement and the other side didn’t object to having that agreement shared with the Joint Finance Committee. That was a somewhat unique scenario. That happens sometimes but in a lot of cases, a party doesn’t want to make its settlement offers public, so that makes it very difficult to figure out a way to settle those cases with the Joint Finance Committee, which right now has not come up with a process that maintains confidentiality. The other thing about that resolution we had is the Joint Finance Committee didn’t get any input from my office on the pros and the cons of that settlement, the legal merits of the case. That’s information that would be kept confidential. They just moved forward with it. So if we’re going to have significant cases that are going to get resolved, we’re going to need to get a process in place.

Frederica Freyberg:

Speaking of significant cases, Wisconsin has sued opioid manufacturers. Where does that case stand after you refused to enter into a settlement with Purdue Pharma?

Josh Kaul:

That’s right. We filed suit earlier this year against two Purdue Pharma entities and Richard Sackler, the former president and co-chair of the board of Purdue Pharma. That case is in the bankruptcy process right now. Purdue Pharma has declared bankruptcy. We are involved in those processes, that process and we’re continuing to work to hold Purdue Pharma accountable. We also joined multistate investigations into opioid distributors earlier this year. Our goal is to make sure we get accountability to the extent that companies engaged in false and deceptive practices that contributed to this epidemic and to get funds that we can get to our communities in Wisconsin so that they can have additional funding to support treatment, prevention and enforcement efforts.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is there kind of a bottom line in terms of the dollar figure for any settlement that you’d be looking at so that you could put those back into the communities?

Josh Kaul:

Part of the goal here is to make sure we maximize our financial recovery. I certainly don’t want to give away our negotiating position, but we’re going to work to maximize what we can recover for communities. I also think it’s important that we hold these companies accountable and that we send a clear message that the kind of false and deceptive practices that contributed to this epidemic are harmful and they have caused real devastation in communities across Wisconsin. So we’re going to keep working to get the best resolution on these cases that we can.

Frederica Freyberg:

Attorney General Josh Kaul, thanks for joining us.

Josh Kaul:

Thanks for having me.