Here & Now

Toney on 2022 Attorney General Run

Turning to the 2022 election, two candidates are currently in the Republican primary race for Wisconsin attorney general. Last week we introduced you to Ryan Owens. Tonight we speak with Eric Toney. Toney has been the Fond du Lac district attorney since 2013. He’s the president-elect of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. During the pandemic in 2020, Toney advised local officials that Governor Tony Evers exceeded his legal authority by extending the public health emergency beyond 60 days. Eric Toney joins us from Fond du Lac. Thanks for being here.

Eric Toney:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why should Wisconsin voters elect you to be attorney general?

Eric Toney:

What we’ve really seen from our current attorney general is leadership failure after leadership failure, whether it was Marsy’s Law when that came out last April and the failed guidance to law enforcement and district attorneys across Wisconsin to give concrete guidance where now we have so many different counties struggling to still adapt to Marsy’s Law. We then saw the failed guidance from the attorney general’s office during the pandemic. And then when we saw the “defund the police” movement and the chaos that ensued after the Jacob Blake shooting, again our attorney general was nowhere to be find. We need someone that is not afraid to lead and I’ve been leading as the district attorney in Fond du Lac County in my ninth year now, and as you noted, I’m the president-elect of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. And I have also prosecuted just about any type of case you can think of, from murderers, cold case homicides, sexual assaults, complex drug conspiracies, drunk driving, domestic violence, racketeering. I’ve utilized literally every resource that the Department of Justice has to offer for law enforcement. Our attorney general is our top cop and we need an attorney general that’s going to act like our top cop. I’m the son of a cop. My dad was in law enforcement for over 30 years and I grew up in that law enforcement family and they have earned our respect and our support. But I also recognize we don’t want bad cops out there either. But we have to make sure that they have due process just like everyone else. Because any bad cop out there is standing on my dad’s reputation and all our other wonderful law enforcement officers out there. As I’ve gotten across Wisconsin, that’s the same sentiment that our law enforcement have throughout this state. The leadership I have exhibited over my time as district attorney is evident by the law enforcement support that I have. Over 60 of our law enforcement professionals from all corners of Wisconsin have endorsed me. It’s bipartisan support from Republicans, Democrats and the unanimous endorsement from the Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what would you say would be your position on some of the prongs of police reform that people are calling for in light of circumstances like that of George Floyd?

Eric Toney:

Well, we have to — when we talk about police improvement, we’re not just talking about police, we have to talk about the criminal justice system as well, so prosecutors, public defenders and our courts. I’ve been on both sides of the coin. Before becoming the district attorney, I made my cop dad really proud and was a defense attorney for about two and a half years. So I would represent criminals, do mental health cases. I’ve really seen this issue from both sides and I’ve had those personal conversations with defendants to understand what some of their concerns are. That’s a unique perspective that nobody else in this race has. So we can all do better. But we can’t just focus on police. We have to look at the system as a whole and not pander to interest groups just because it sounds like a good idea. We have to look at improvements that will actually make people safe without compromising the safety of our law enforcement.

Frederica Freyberg:

You say you strongly support improving and defending Wisconsin election laws and say that as Wisconsin attorney general you would fight to ensure all ballots are treated equally throughout our state regardless what county they are cast in. What does that mean?

Eric Toney:

So what we’ve seen is some clerks when we look at for example absentee ballots, where someone is filling out a certificate, and whoever is filling that certificate out to verify that someone is who they say and they say forget to put their address on there, some clerks are filling in that address as the Election Commission guidance told them. Other clerks are not doing that. It’s so important to make sure that everybody is operating by the same rules to make sure that the law is applied equally across all of Wisconsin. That’s an area whether — frankly an attorney general’s opinion could give great guidance to our clerks and officials throughout Wisconsin because this isn’t an effort to say we don’t want people to vote. We do want people to vote but we want to make sure that everybody’s ballot is being treated equally throughout Wisconsin. And there’s nothing controversial about that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Just really quickly, do you believe that investigations into Wisconsin’s election are warranted?

Eric Toney:

Well, I think it depends on what you talk about as far as elections –investigations go. I’m more concerned, I think our Legislature has done a pretty good job of identifying some of these issues with our election laws to clarify some of those gaps and are working really hard on that. The bigger concern I have is our attorney general has cut the prosecution unit from the Department of Justice by about 25% and also allowed key DCI positions to go unfilled, effectively defunding the police when we’ve seen Milwaukee set an all-time record for homicides. Other communities, such as Green Bay and Madison, seeing surges in shootings and homicides. That’s not a record to be proud of as our attorney general said that he’s proud of that record when he’s reduced resources to law enforcement throughout Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

I need to leave it there, but thanks very much.

Eric Toney:

Thank you.