SEEKING THE DA'S JOB ATTORNEYS BLANCHARD, KARPE FACE OFF IN TUESDAY PRIMARY

Brian Blanchard would like you to see him as the most experienced candidate
for Dane County district attorney, while David Karpe is running as a
champion for social justice.

The two Democratic candidates largely stuck to their messages in a candidate
forum Thursday at the offices of Madison Newspapers Inc.

"I'm the best candidate for district attorney in Dane County on the
Democratic side because I've been a prosecutor,'' Blanchard said in his
opening remarks.

He works now for the Madison office of the Quarles & Brady law firm, but
Blanchard, 41, was an assistant U.S. attorney for seven years in Chicago.
There, he prosecuted firearms, drug, fraud and environmental cases.

Although never a prosecutor, Karpe, 46, has been an attorney for 16 years
and argued one case before the U.S. Supreme Court with some success in 1997.

He was defending a man named Steiney Richards who had been arrested by
Madison police on cocaine charges. At issue was whether police could use
deception and forced entry to carry out a search warrant.

The court ruled that police acted lawfully in their arrest of Richards, but
overturned a related Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that said police with
drug warrants could always enter buildings unannounced.

Karpe mentioned the Supreme Court case Thursday along with the fact that he
represented the 54 people who recently occupied UW-Madison Chancellor David
Ward's office to protest the university's connections to sweatshop labor.

"The district attorney does wield enormous power. I will wield it as a sword
and a shield for positive social change,'' Karpe said before an audience of
about 30 at the forum.

The winner of Tuesday's primary will face Republican Brian Brophy in the
Nov. 7 general election. Brophy is the incumbent, although he was appointed
to the office just two months ago after Diane Nicks became a Dane County
Circuit Court judge.

A third Democratic candidate, Reed Peterson, has dropped out of the race,
although his name will still appear on Tuesday's ballot.

The sponsor of the forum was Communities United, a coalition of primarily
minority organizations. The first question posed to the candidates asked
them how they would ensure that minorities are treated fairly by the legal
system.

Karpe said he would closely monitor how punishments are meted out on the
basis of race, and Blanchard said he would not tolerate racial profiling --
targeting people for criminal investigations on the basis of race.

"Good cops don't do it; there's no reason it should be allowed,'' Blanchard
said.

The candidates showed a difference of degree in their stances on marijuana
prosecutions.

"We should not be wasting money locking up people who smoke marijuana,''
Karpe said, adding that those who have a proven medical need for it should
not be prosecuted at all.

Blanchard said it would be inappropriate for him to say that he would not
prosecute certain kinds of cases, but he added that prosecuting simple
possession of marijuana by otherwise law-abiding citizens would be a low
priority for him.

Neither candidate mentioned their endorsements during the hour-long forum,
but the lists point to their different bases of support among Dane County's
Democratic voters.

Blanchard has the support of many of the area's high-profile Democrats,
including Attorney General Jim Doyle, state Reps. Terese Berceau and Mark
Pocan, former Gov. Tony Earl and County Board Supervisors Dave Gawenda, Tom
Powell and Judy Wilcox.

Karpe's list is more eclectic, including nods from famed drummer Clyde
Stubblefield and marijuana activist Ben Masel, along with Ald. Judy Olson
and maverick politicians like Ald. Barbara Vedder and County Board
Supervisors Echnaton Vedder and Regina Rhyne.