WisPolitics Budget Blog

A sure sign that Democrat Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager is looking over her shoulder at potential primary challengers, is her press release announcing DOJ will sue a Walworth County town for dredging a pond.

Nothing like bringing a tank to a play-ground dust-up.

Three town board supervisors are being sued for lack of proper DNR permits – although DNR ok’ed dredging 2-3 inches without a permit, not the 10-12 inches that was requested and evidently, completed by the town.

How many levels of transparent political positioning can we find with this maneuver?

1. Incumbent Lautenschlager will face a primary opponent. It’s a done deal;
2. Democrat primary voters are tree-huggers and acorn-eaters;
3. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk wants to run (again) statewide;
4. Years back, Falk was the last to serve as Public Intervener;
5. Public Interveners are loved by tree-huggers and acorn-eaters;
6. Top Cop Lautenschlager drove a car into a ditch;
7. Top Cop Lautenschlager had too many pops before the ditch stopped her;
8. Top Cop Lautenschlager was uninjured, but the state-owned car was not;
9. The incumbent AG needs help from tree-huggers and acorn-eaters;
10. Walworth County is too GOP for Democrat Primary candidates to care about;

As a former town board supervisor, I can say the only loser in this legal charade are Wisconsin taxpayers – we will end-up paying on both ends; paying to defend the town board and paying the Attorney General and DOJ staff to prosecute the town board.

And about a year from now, tree-huggers and acorn-eaters will have a brochure urging them to support Peg Lautenschlager over Kathleen Falk – citing Peg’s tireless energy to protect our state’s natural resources, such as a pond in Walworth County.