Here & Now

Ryan Owens on 2022 Attorney General Run

Frederica Freyberg:

Another statewide race on the docket in 2022 is for Wisconsin attorney general. Two Republican candidates will face off in the primary set in the spring of next year, including UW-Madison political science professor Ryan Owens. After completing his undergrad and law degree at UW-Madison, Owens got his Ph.D. in political science at Washington University in St. Louis. He went on to be an assistant professor at Harvard University. He then went on to work in the legal office of former Governor Tommy Thompson. Last week we heard from the Democratic incumbent. We will hear from both Republican candidates on our program. Tonight it’s Ryan Owens and he joins us from Washington and, professor, thanks very much for being here.

Ryan Owens:

Happy to be here. Thanks.

Frederica Freyberg:

So our first question is why should voters elect you as Wisconsin attorney general?

Ryan Owens:

Well, for me, as I take a look at what’s going on in Washington– in Wisconsin right now, excuse me. I’m in Washington. But as I look at what’s going on in Wisconsin right now I see a tremendous leadership deficit. I think our leaders over the last year and a half have showed us basically failures on numerous levels. So what I’m doing is going around asking people in the state of Wisconsin are you freer today than you were two years ago? Are you safer than you were two years ago? And are you more prosperous today than you were two years ago? I think the vast majority of people that I’ve spoken to, almost all of them, have said that they’re not. I think we can tie the answers that they give to bad policies by this administration.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to get to some of that in more detail, but if you could just give us a thumbnail of your platform.

Ryan Owens:

Take a look at safety, for example. In Madison, Wisconsin, crime is up, homicides are up 100% than they were a year ago. In Milwaukee they’re up 85% higher than they were. And in Green Bay they are doubled from what they were two years ago. This is a tremendous problem and I think it’s tied directly to the attorney general’s leadership.

Frederica Freyberg:

Also you believe the sitting AG did not do enough during last summer’s protests. What should he have done?

Ryan Owens:

Well, honestly, that’s one of the major reasons why I got into this, was just to see the leadership deficit there, when we had protestors tearing down statues in Madison. Decapitating them and dumping them in the lakes. Our leadership did nothing about it. Kenosha, when it was burning, literally on fire, and our sheriffs were asking the attorney general for assistance, you know, he told them I can’t do that because it will look like I’m taking sides.

Frederica Freyberg:

Where do you stand on police reform?

Ryan Owens:

I think the vast majority of our law enforcement officers in this state wake up every morning thinking how they can help out, how they can be good stewards of the public’s trust. I don’t like a narrative developing that says they are all racist or somehow opposed to a certain sector of the population.

Frederica Freyberg:

Speaking with Josh Kaul last week, he stated his top priority has been public safety. He has experience prosecuting violent criminals. How do you see your work as a legal scholar translating to the job of being the state’s top cop?

Ryan Owens:

Sure. This is about principles, not position. I think we need to have people with the right principles in this office. The attorney general in his past was a prosecutor and I don’t think that’s gotten us very far. He has failed to do the hard work, to work with law enforcement on the ground. The other thing that people need to know about this position is yes, it is substantially criminal, but there is also a substantial amount of civil work. Who is going to defend Wisconsin’s interest at the federal level right now? Josh Kaul is not doing that. I will. We need someone who will ride herd over the administrative branch in the state of Wisconsin. That is a very, very important position for the attorney general.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to get to this. You believe that government’s response, public health’s response to the pandemic represents, “government overreach and undue restrictions.” But as the nation now grapples with the Delta variant, do you believe that individual freedoms extend to the right to potentially infect other people with a potentially deadly virus?

Ryan Owens:

Well, I think that what we saw over the last year and a half was tremendous overreach at multiple dimensions. And I think that’s a problem. Certainly here in Wisconsin if you take a look at what this attorney general did not do, he did not check the governor’s office when the governor was seeking unconstitutional [inaudible] restrictions on people. Our state Supreme Court struck that down. The attorney general was silent on the matter. He ought to have stood up for our rights and liberties but he failed to do that. I think we need to have an attorney general who will say if you believe in the science, put your money where your mouth is and don’t bow to leftwing interests. I think we need to have an attorney general that will tell the governor if you want to do what you’re talking about doing, you have to show us where you have the authority to do that and it has to pass the test. This attorney general allowed the governor to proceed with powers that were unconstitutional and did nothing to check them.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about that question, though? Do you believe that individual freedoms extend to the right to potentially infect other people with a potentially deadly virus by not being vaccinated or not masking?

Ryan Owens:

I think we’ve got to have an attorney general involved in those communications to figure out what’s legal and what’s not and make sure that we proceed in an adult version here that recognizes our freedoms, our safety and our prosperity without going knee-jerk at locking everything down.

Frederica Freyberg:

We leave it there. Ryan Owens, thanks very much for joining us.

Ryan Owens:

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.