Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he won't seek a third term as the state's highest law enforcement official.
In a written statement, Van Hollen said he plans to spend the next 15 months in office putting the finishing touches on initiatives he began eight years ago, such as eliminating a backlog in the processing of DNA samples at the state crime lab and restructuring the state's system for assisting crime victims.
The president of the Wisconsin District Attorney's Association, Adam Gerol of Ozaukee County, says Van Hollen's commitment to assisting county prosecutors will be missed.
“He's been an incredible friend to local district attorneys,” says Gerol. “He has transformed an agency into really the cutting edge of law enforcement and into one of the best prosecution shops I've ever known.”
In evaluating his own performance, Van Hollen says that he “put the law above politics and eliminated the all-too-common activism that grows government and contributes to political discord and dysfunction.”
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science professor Mordecai Lee characterizes Van Hollen as a quietly partisan Republican.
“He vociferously defended Republican positions and attacked Democratic positions,” says Lee. “But he did it in a way that didn't make him look like some highly partisan person who puts partisanship above the oath of office.”
Van Hollen's staff will be defending provisions of the GOP-backed law limiting the bargaining rights of public workers in a court hearing next week and again in November when the state Supreme Court hears arguments about its constitutionality.
