What you need to know about Josh Kaul, the Democratic Wisconsin attorney general running for another term in 2022
Laura SchulteMADISON - Josh Kaul, the state's current top law enforcement official, is hoping to win a second term as Wisconsin's attorney general after running unopposed in the Aug. 9 Democratic primary.
Kaul, 41, is asking for a second term in the office and facing a challenge from Republican Eric Toney, who is currently the Fond du Lac County District Attorney.
Here is what to know about Kaul, a Democrat, as voters head into the general election.
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Kaul prosecuted federal crimes in another state before returning to Wisconsin
From 2010 to 2014, Kaul worked as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, handling cases dealing with murderers, gang members and drug traffickers.
After moving back to Wisconsin, he also worked at the Perkins Coie law firm, focusing on voting rights and other election-related litigation, according to his LinkedIn profile. He tried cases in federal courts in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia challenging restrictive voting measures.
Where is Josh Kaul from?
Josh Kaul grew up in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. Kaul is the son of former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager and Indian immigrant Raj Kaul.
Until early 2017, when Kaul first announced his bid for AG, his mother also served on the state's Ethics Commission, but she stepped down to help clear the way for her son's path to the AG's office.
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What Kaul counts as accomplishments as Wisconsin attorney general
Kaul has overseen a number of actions as attorney general, including speeding up the process of testing sexual assault evidence. His agency completed testing for 300 evidence kits and reviewed all cases where there was a DNA match.
"That's led to criminal investigations and in some cases prosecutions," Kaul said.
His office also advocated for a statewide tracking system, as well as worked on legislation to prevent another backlog in the future.
Kaul also withdrew Wisconsin from a lawsuit seeking the end of the Affordable Care Act and worked to go after pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid epidemic, securing over $400 million for the state from settlements.
During his term, Kaul also launched an inquiry into abuse perpetrated by faith leaders, which has garnered over 200 reports of abuse, and resulted in the charges being filed against two individuals.
What is Josh Kaul's stance on Wisconsin's abortion laws?
Kaul has also posed a legal challenge to the state's 1849 abortion ban, calling it unenforceable. He said he believes the challenge will be successful, despite the conservative makeup of the state's Supreme Court, because it is "right on the law."
He has also pledged to not assist with the enforcement of any abortion ban enacted by the state.
"I believe that our investigative and prosecutorial resources in Wisconsin should investigate and prosecute things like violent crime and drug trafficking and not be diverted from those investigative and prosecutorial needs to be used to go after people for abortions," Kaul said in a previous interview.
Toney criticized that stance.
"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."
Kaul has faced criticisms while serving as Wisconsin attorney general
Kaul has also faced criticisms, including internally as his Department of Justice faced a claim of race and sex discrimination from a top official who says she was underpaid and mistreated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is considering the complaint, but separate outside investigators could not corroborate claims that administrators discriminated against racial minorities.
The claim was settled in May, with the Department agreeing to pay $46,276.
Also, while Kaul counts improvements in the pace of processing sexual assault kits as an accomplishment, Republicans have criticized him over a slowdown in processing times during the pandemic. Kaul had criticized then-Attorney General Brad Schimel over the same issue in the 2018 election.
The crime labs on average processed DNA samples in 128 days in 2021, up from 94 days in 2020 and 97 days in 2019, according to the labs' annual report. The median processing time last year was 115 days, up from 79 days in 2020 and 65 days in 2019, according to a Justice Department report released earlier this year.
The report showed the number of cases DOJ handled came down significantly after Kaul was elected but began to creep up in late 2019 and accelerated during the pandemic before starting to trend down.
Kaul said the pandemic was a main reason for increased processing times with fewer analysts working in the lab.
At the time of the report Toney described Kaul's handling of the crime labs an "abysmal failure."
"Kaul is testing significantly less items than former AG Brad Schimel and is still taking longer to test many categories of key items in comparison to Schimel, including DNA," he said in a statement.
What are Josh Kaul's beliefs?
Kaul said he has emphasized upholding Wisconsin's environmental laws, pursuing and settling cases with polluting farms. Last year, the state Supreme Court agreed with his decision that the Department of Natural Resources has broad authority to regulate dairy farms and high-capacity wells that have the potential to impact water levels.
Kaul also filed a suit against Tyco Fire Products in Marinette earlier this year, saying the company for years violated the state's spills law when it did not notify the DNR about discharges of toxic forever chemicals into the environment.
"Fighting to make sure that we are protecting clean air and clean water is about protecting the safety and the health of Wisconsinites and the strength of our economy," Kaul said in a recent interview. "I believe that the cleanup should be paid for by the companies that polluted our water and not by the taxpayers. And by holding polluters accountable, we can do a lot to make sure that that's the way those cases are resolved."
Such prosecutions declined under Schimel.
What is Josh Kaul's phone number?
Kaul can be reached at the attorney general's office by calling 608-266-1221.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.