Van Hollen: Hard on Voters, Soft on Hookers?

MADISON, Wis. — Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen continues to waste taxpayers funds on his partisan witch hunt against voters accessing the ballot box, while at the same time refusing to join nearly half the nation’s attorneys general in a joint action to reduce online prostitution and child trafficking.

“JB Van Hollen has decided it’s more important serve his partisan political interests in the Republican Party of Wisconsin than join Republican and Democratic attorneys general in stopping online prostitution and child trafficking,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “You can tell a lot about JB Van Hollen by the choices he makes.”

Van Hollen refused to sign on to a letter authored by 17 state attorneys general calling for Craigslist to voluntarily remove its adult services section, which law enforcement authorities say “cannot adequately block potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution and child trafficking.”

Instead of joining his fellow attorneys general in this important call, Van Hollen has wasted scarce Wisconsin Department of Justice resources pursuing what he calls rampant “voter fraud.” To date, Van Hollen has been able to document just 11 potentially-improper votes cast out of 3 million Wisconsinites who went to the polls in November 2008 – a infinitesimal four-ten thousandths of one percent of the votes cast in Wisconsin.

Just yesterday, Van Hollen used his Wisconsin DOJ resources to send out press releases blaring about his success in obtaining a settlement against one part-time voter registration worker, whose misconduct could not be shown to have cause one improper vote to have been cast.

What’s most alarming, according to One Wisconsin, is that Van Hollen previously supported an agreement with Craigslist in late 2008, joining 42 attorneys general in this action.

“It looks like Van Hollen has other things on his mind than protecting kids and keeping our street safe,” said Ross. “But then again, real crime prevention has never been Van Hollen’s strong suit.”

More information about Van Hollen’s past voter suppression efforts is available at www.SaveWisconsinsVote.org. One Wisconsin Now’s partner organization, One Wisconsin Institute, also maintains a voter rights website, available at www.ProtectWisconsinsVote.org.