Brad Schimel Withholding Rape Kit Release Documents

MADISON, Wis. — Attorney General Brad Schimel is stalling an open records request by One Wisconsin Now to find out how a right-wing organization posted a 2,400-word propaganda article about the rape kit testing backlog on Schimel’s watch before the AG held a Monday morning press conference on the same topic.

“Brad Schimel is a desperate and incompetent Attorney General who is trying to cover his tracks,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “Schimel admitted at his own press conference he was only concerned about the November election and not the victims of these crimes and preventing future crimes.”

On September 10, One Wisconsin Now requested communications from September 4 to 9 between as few as a dozen easily identified staff and the MacIver Institute. In response, DOJ said, “The volume of emails required to be searched and the staff time and resources necessary for location and review will likely result in a longer response time than for a simpler request.”

The request was to determine how MacIver had access to information prior to Schimel’s hastily called Monday press conference in Milwaukee, the day after an explosive story appeared in the Milwaukee media about a judge drastically reducing the bail in a double homicide case because of unacceptable delays in Schimel’s crime lab getting test results back to the court.

The incident echoed the tragic case documented last year by the Associated Press where a repeat drunken driver, who was out on the street while Schimel’s crime lab failed to complete blood tests for man’s case, struck and killed a good Samaritan who was helping a family changing a flat tire on a Wisconsin interstate. According to police, the man was operating while intoxicated.

At that time, a top Schimel aide, who is now his campaign manager, said of Schimel’s failure, “There is nothing unusual about this case.”

“Brad Schimel is partisan hack who will do anything to keep the public in the dark about his utter mismanagement of the Wisconsin Department of Justice,” said Ross. “Brad Schimel’s incompetence is why experienced prosecutors have fled the DOJ on his watch and why Schimel spent more than $80,000 on promotional swag while rape kits went untested.”