It is difficult to be more wrong than the WI State Journal was today when it editorialized against higher bail for repeat offenders.
“Higher bail for accused? Not so fast.”
After returning Darrell Brooks to the streets of Waukesha on low bail, the Milwaukee district attorney responded to legitimate outrage by throwing an underling under the bus for her supposed mistake. Our favorite Madison morning newspaper swallowed it whole.
Never mind that John Chisholm is one of that cadre of “prosecutors” who have been “reimagining policing” into record-setting crime waves. Progressive Democrats like Kim Foxx in Chicago (who wanted Jussie Smollett to walk), George Gascon in Los Angeles, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, and Chesa Boudin (godfather of San Francisco’s high-end merchandise smash & grabbers).
The only reason 16 Republican lawmakers are demanding that Chisholm be removed “is for partisan political advantage,” our daily newspaper alleges. How about, instead, to keep our streets safe for dancing grandmothers and parading children? Just maybe?
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne rides the same Woke crazy bus as Chisholm and the others.
How about some accountability?
The guy who rammed a stolen car at 91 mph on Mineral Point road into that of two young scholars, killing one of them and severely injuring the other 15 months ago, pleaded guilty today.
Our very own WI State Journal reports that Maurice M. Chandler, then 18, had been out on bail at the time of the 09-17-20 crash on charges including theft, identity theft, armed robbery, and stolen car. “Online court records show he had been released on signature or cash bonds ranging from $100 to $1,250.”
A former Dane County supervisor named Blaska is trying to persuade the Dane County Board to launch a program audit of bail in our criminal court system. Conducted by non-partisan outside experts, the audit would determine the relationship between low bail and repeat crime.
We noted that jumping bail in Dane County has increased 53% more than just two years ago. Over the last 10 years, six-fold! The county board resolution authorizing the program audit would read something like this:
A Resolution
Whereas, prosecutors in San Francisco, Milwaukee County, and here in Dane County are “reimagining law enforcement” by reducing or eliminating bail and by emptying jails — to the detriment of public safety. Therefore be it resolved: The Dane County Board conduct a program audit of bail granted in Dane County courts to determine:
• How many defendants granted bail subsequently were charged with additional felony crimes;
• Median average dollar amount of those bails;
• How many signature bonds and cash bails of $1,000 or less have been granted in felony charges during the last 12-months as compared to the same 12-month time period 10 years ago;
• The number of bail jumping charges issued for the most recent 12 months compared to same 12 month time period 10 years ago;
• The number of current defendants issued multiple signature bonds and/or bonds of $1,000 or less;
• Crime-to-population ratio in most recent period studied versus that 10 years ago for serious felonies.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Tell the entire county board HERE (members are up for election next April) you want an accounting of the relationship between low bail and repeat crime. Include a link to this blogge.
Who else will hold our courts accountable?
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
The link to the county board supervisors doesn’t work.
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Thanks! Fixed! I blame my North Korean coders.
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Your mistake is limiting this “audit” to only Dane Co. Do the whole state. That way you can go to Vos, get a million, rent offices, hire your friends and then after a year you can ask for more time and money. THINK BIG MAN; THINK BIG.
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But, but, why would he do that? He’s not a Democrat….
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are you sure? The article said “non-partisan” Do the whole state.
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Primrose Lane, life’s a holiday on Primrose Lane
Just a holiday on Primrose Lane with you
Can’t explain when we’re walkin’ down the Primrose Lane
Even roses bloomin’ in the rain with you…
Maurice Chandler, livin’ on Primrose Lane, plead guilty to Homicide by Vehicle while Using a Controlled Substance… In exchange for his plea, Dane Co. prosecutors dropped more than a DOZEN other charges, including a 1st Degree Reckless Homicide allegation.
A year earlier, at age 18, he was charged with Armed Robbery and bail was set… at $1,250 dollars…
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Have to get him one of those so called social justice warriors to protect him, and bail him out asap. It’s the right thing to do as there are more innocents out there for him to attack. get with it …let him out…let him out cries the social warriors.
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https://www.nbc15.com/2021/12/16/teen-convicted-homicide-madison-crash/
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Is it just me, or has the WSJ drifted leftward and away from a usually reasonable middle ground since the addition of some community activist types on their editorial board? I’ve been reading the WSJ for 20+ years and often viewed them as a voice of reason amidst all the noise from the usual suspects in Dane County, but lately they seem to be morphing into something different.
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It’s not just you.
If they wanted true diversity, they would have added conservatives and independent thinkers to their editorial board.
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They say that Black Lives Matter. Okay, so it is the “woke” thing to say that. But here in Dane County we have the case of David A. Hanaway who killed 68-year-old Mark A. Brylski and 66-year-old Kathy A. Brylski of Madison and himself as he drove at a high rate of speed down Cottage Grove Road and T-boned their car.
What about his Black Soul?
If you believe in life everlasting, he now most probably is going to serve an eternity in Hell for what he did.
When I was a young guy my family moved just north of Madison where I went to my last year of Jr. High and then High School. The guys that I went to school with all had an expression that they used to talk about when you screwed up, you got taken out behind the school and got “Tuned Up” by one of the male teachers. One of the Jim couches was a former Marine and he usually did the “Tuning UP”.
The Chief of Police in this, then little farming community was also an ex-Marine who either served in WWII or Korea, I can’t remember. You did not want to get on his bad side but there was no better friend to have when you needed one. He also knew how to “tune” someone up when they needed it.
BTW- At that time, everyone in that town was white. All the people that I knew that got “tuned up” were white. Just to set the record straight.
Yeah, most of us guys did screw up a time or two but just the threat of “getting tuned up” was enough to deter most of us from living a life of crime.
The catch and release program that Dane County has is a joke. The Police do their level best to catch the bad people but the judges let them go. This dude has a long record of breaking the law and should have never been out of jail: https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseSearchResults.html
To those judges I must ask: If Black lives really do matter, why do you continually let them go with low bail or no bail?
We have seen people who constantly break the law, get low bail or no bail time and time again.
Don’t you care about their souls?
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