Near the end of an hour-long debate Sunday between the two candidates for Wisconsin attorney general, moderator Mike Gousha asked if either wanted to bring up something that hasn\u2019t gotten enough attention during the campaign.<\/p>\n
Democrat Susan Happ, the district attorney of Jefferson County, answered first and talked about consumer protection.
\nRepublican Brad Schimel, district attorney of Waukesha County, answered that the entire race hadn\u2019t gotten enough attention. It\u2019s an important race, he said, and there should be more awareness of it.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the race has not sparked widespread public attention. A Marquette Law School Poll released on Oct 1 found that about four out of five of those polled did not have an opinion of either Schimel or Happ. Overall, the race was close, according to the poll, but people expressed an opinion on who they would vote for only in response to a question that identified each candidate by party.<\/p>\n
With a little over three weeks to go until the Nov. 4 election, the debate Sunday, in the Appellate Courtroom of Eckstein Hall, may have helped give awareness of the race a boost. The debate, co-sponsored by Marquette Law School and WISN-TV, was broadcast live across Wisconsin. The candidates are scheduled to take part in two more debates.<\/p>\n
Gousha, the Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, drew out the candidates on major issues involved in the race, as well as several issues that have gotten little attention.<\/p>\n
Schimel and Happ presented differing views of how they would handle the attorney general\u2019s job, starting with their approach to whether there could be cases in which they would refuse to defend a Wisconsin law in court.<\/p>\n
Happ said, \u201cThe attorney general is not a robot\u201d and has latitude to analyze a law and decide if it would not pass constitutional muster. She has said she would not have defended Wisconsin\u2019s laws banning same sex marriage. She said the three most recent attorneys general, both Republicans and Democrats, have declined to defend selected Wisconsin laws.<\/p>\n
Schimel said he would defend Wisconsin\u2019s laws \u201cunless there is a definitive decision from a court that says that law is not constitutional.\u201d He added, \u201cWhen you take that oath, you don\u2019t cross a couple of your fingers and say, except for these ones I don\u2019t like or I don\u2019t agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two expressed different ideas on what they would do in dealing with environmental controversies, including federal carbon emission regulation and mining in northern Wisconsin. Both said they would make it a priority to work on stemming heroin use in Wisconsin and providing treatment to users, and both said they were not in favor of criminalizing first offenses for driving under the influence of alcohol, even though Wisconsin is the only state in the nation that does not do that.<\/p>\n
And both took sharp jabs at the other for the handling of specific cases in their roles as district attorneys. Each said the other would pursue a partisan agenda as attorney general.<\/p>\n
Neither Schimel or Happ appeared to make a significant flub and neither appeared to score major new points in arguing against the other. But for those who watched, it was a chance to see each of them discuss the issues in the campaign and the approach they would take as the state\u2019s \u201ctop cop.\u201d It was a chance to raise the profile of what has been a low-profile race so far.<\/p>\n