What to know about Eric Toney, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin attorney general

MADISON - Eric Toney, the Fond du Lac County district attorney, narrowly emerged out of the Aug. 9 Republican primary for the GOP nomination for attorney general to take on incumbent Josh Kaul.

Toney captured the primary by a little under 3,000 votes over rival Adam Jarchow. Karen Mueller pulled in a quarter of the Republican vote in finishing third. Jarchow immediately backed Toney in the general.

"It's time to unite behind @EricJToney and ensure he has the resources and support needed to fire Josh Kaul. Eric Toney has my full support."

Here is what you need to know about Toney, 38, as voters head into the general election. 

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Eric Toney is the son of a retired sheriff's sergeant from Fond du Lac

Toney is the son of a retired sheriff's sergeant who grew up in Fond du Lac. He says that growing up in a law enforcement family drove his ambitions in the criminal justice field. 

"This is personal to me, that our law enforcement has earned the right to have an attorney general that stands with and supports them," he said in an interview. 

He was first elected as Fond du Lac County's district attorney in 2012 and is serving his third term. During his time as district attorney, the office added specialized prosecutors to handle juvenile, domestic violence and sexual assault cases that previously bounced through an assortment of attorneys in the court system. Toney also helped lead a successful effort to bring a drug court to Fond du Lac County. 

Toney on supporting law enforcement, election laws and enforcing Wisconsin abortion bans

Most importantly, Toney says he will support law enforcement in the state if he wins the November election. He also wants to ensure that counties around the state have enough prosecutors to handle cases. 

Elections are also important, and Toney said he wants Wisconsin to have uniform rules applied to each county, and expects litigation to continue as long as state agencies have the ability to make rules outside of the legislature. 

He also opposes red flag laws for guns and would support victims' rights. 

As for abortion, Toney said he would enforce whatever law Wisconsin has regarding the procedure, including prosecuting doctors who an 1849 law that restricted most abortions. 

He criticized Kaul for saying he would not devote Department of Justice resources to enforcing the 1849 abortion law.

"I will enforce the law as passed by our legislature. If they pass additional exceptions, I will defend them as the Attorney General," he said. "Whether it agrees with my personal pro-life beliefs or not, because I'm going to enforce the rule of law."  

He criticized Kaul for saying he would not devote Department of Justice resources to enforcing an 1849 abortion law that was reinstated by the June Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Toney says public safety in Milwaukee is his top focus 

Public safety is Toney's top priority, and in particular, he wants to ensure that Milwaukee is protected.

"I would like our legislature to work with the Attorney General's office to obtain prosecution authority over Milwaukee County so we can take on the cases that they're unable or unwilling to prosecute in Milwaukee," he said. "It's the state's largest city and driver of economics in our state. And that's why I announced my campaign in Milwaukee last spring, because we must protect Milwaukee."

What about Toney's ongoing faith leader inquiry? 

When asked about whether or not he would continue the faith leader investigation launched by Kaul last year, Toney said it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment on what he would do without seeing what type of evidence has been collected so far. 

Toney also said he worried that Kaul was "playing politics" with the inquiry because no report has yet been issued by the Department of Justice with its findings. 

"I've sat across from survivors of sexual assault and I don't care who the defendant or perpetrator is we must hold them accountable regardless of who they are," he said. "But we shouldn't have an attorney general that could be playing politics with those issues."

Toney has faced criticism as Fond du Lac district attorney

Though Toney doesn't have a record as attorney general, he has faced criticism. 

In 2021, Republicans questioned his choice to file 10 criminal complaints related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Though all of the cases were later dropped, they had to do with violations of Gov. Tony Evers' safer-at-home order that shut down schools and closed non-essential businesses during the height of the pandemic. Republicans were highly critical of the Evers order.

In response to the claims, Toney has emphasized that no charges were brought against anyone regarding the state's mask mandate, and said that no one was locked up and no businesses were shut down because of the 10 COVID-19 cases. 

Toney has also been accused of botching a case in which a man with nine previous convictions —for crimes such as robbery with a dangerous weapon, being a felon with a firearm and heroin possession. The man was released on $500 bail and less than two weeks later shot and killed an Appleton firefighter in a shootout with police. 

Toney acknowledged that his office had not checked the man's federal record and also that his office was not aware of the man's name change, which he said allowed the man to essentially hide his criminal past from police and the public. 

“This was a tragic constellation of events and a failure of the system that must be fixed to ensure it never happens again," Toney said in a statement.

What is Eric Toney's stance on environmental enforcement? 

Toney said environmental enforcement is an important component of the attorney general's office, and that he plans to work with first-time violators of regulations to ensure that further violations do not occur. 

"The sooner that somebody is held accountable — if you don't have to go through the court process, the quicker that can happen and the quicker we can have remediation and take care of those issues," he said. 

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How to contact Eric Toney

Toney can be reached at the Fond du Lac district attorney's office at 920-929-3048, ext. 2. 

Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.