In a nearly unprecedented move last fall, Democrat Kathleen Falk announced she was throwing her hat in the ring for the state attorney general's post, effectively dividing the Democratic Party by running against incumbent Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager.
During her kickoff speech, Ms. Falk said she felt she could "do better" than Ms. Lautenschlager, and we think she can too.
Though Ms. Falk's actual in-court experience has been called paltry, she spent 14 years as an assistant attorney general and 12 years as public intervener before being elected Dane County Executive for three consecutive terms.
Ms. Falk has a solid history of working to protect the environment and families, and she also bolstered the Dane County Sheriff's Department by adding more than 100 positions to the force.
And despite initially remaining tight-lipped on the issue during her kick-off, Ms. Falk has recently cited Ms. Lautenschlager's drunken driving conviction as a major roadblock in ensuring the office stays under Democratic control and thus, further justification for challenging the incumbent.
Ms. Lautenschlager has recently committed herself to rectifying the DNA crime lab backlog, but it seems she only took action to do so after the problem drew widespread media attention.
While we applaud Ms. Lautenschlager for her work in challenging the Food and Drug Administration's stonewalling of the approval of the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sales, we feel her career as AG has been too heavy handed in bringing about civil litigations. This distracted her from dealing with issues more pertinent to the state of Wisconsin, such as rising crime rates in the state's two biggest cities.
Additionally, her grandstanding during the murder trial of Chai Sou Vang in Sawyer County was clearly an attempt to improve her public image.
Ms. Lautenschlager's rap sheet will inevitably be at the forefront of many voters' minds. Because of this, we feel Ms. Falk would be the better candidate, if the Democrats want to keep the office in their hands.
