State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager urged for public hearings on two bills to discuss granting the Department of Justice civil rights enforcement authority in a letter to state lawmakers Thursday.
According to state Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, both Senate Bill 274 and its companion Assembly Bill 514 were introduced to help ensure equal protection against civil rights violators. He said 26 other states currently grant civil rights enforcement authority to their attorney generals.
'The reason I think it's important is because in Milwaukee ?? if the DA were to decline prosecuting somebody because they violated someone's civil rights, the state attorney general cannot currently step in,' Coggs said. 'What this bill does is correct that inequality.'
Coggs named lawsuits against Ford and Honda motor companies for unequal payments aimed at black consumers as an example of the necessity of granting civil rights prosecution rights to the state attorney general.
'African Americans are routinely profiled to pay higher interest rates on car loans, and Wisconsin has the highest disparity,' he said. 'On average, African Americans spend something like $568 more than their white counterparts in similar circumstances.'
In Lautenschlager's letter to state Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, and state Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, she wrote SB 274/AB 514 had been sitting in both the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees for months without proper action. Through granting civil rights prosecution rights, the attorney general would have great ability to help curb the number of civil rights violations and better protect the people of Wisconsin, the letter read.
Kelly Kennedy, spokesperson for Lautenschlager, said politics should not have been a deciding factor in whether or not to hold a public hearing.
'The authority of the attorney general to enforce civil rights for all shouldn't be a partisan issue, and the two bills that were introduced ?? have languished in committee without even a public hearing,' he said.
Gundrum, chair of the Assembly Committee on Judiciary, said there was a valid reason for not holding a public hearing in a more timely fashion.
'A public hearing would probably prove to be quite embarrassing to Attorney General Lautenschlager,' he said. 'She really has proven herself over the last few years to be one of the least professional elected officials ever encountered. It's very hard to envision trusting somebody like her with more power and authority.'
