Van Hollen Decries Use Of Attack Ads In Race For Attorney General

Outgoing Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has decried the use of attack ads in the race to determine his successor.

Van Hollen, who will be stepping down in January, said that the ads in the race for attorney general are both unfortunate and inevitable.

“I don’t believe you should build yourself up by standing on other people,” said Van Hollen. “You should be able to stand on your own footing. But that’s what politics have evolved to. It’s horribly unfortunate and it’s certainly one of the things I’m not going to miss.”

Van Hollen has endorsed Waukesha District Attorney General Brad Schimel in the race. He said that unlike Democratic candidate Susan Happ, Schimel is committed to defending all state laws regardless of his personal or political ideology.

“I think that’s tremendously important in this job,” Van Hollen said. “And Susan Happ has said in debates and otherwise already that she would take positions on the rightness or wrongness in her mind of certain laws. Well, we’re not policymakers as AG.”

Former Democratic Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, who is backing Democrat Susan Happ in the race, agreed that attack ads are inevitable but said that they ought to be based on facts. She said the Schimel campaign’s attacks on the way Happ handled a child sexual assault case haven’t been factual.

“An attorney general above all needs to be truthful and exercise good judgment, and if you use political forum to mischaracterize people’s records and mischaracterize the truth, I’m not sure you’re up to the task,” said Lautenschlager.

Happ and Schimel will met for their final debate on Wednesday night in Madison.