DA HOPEFULS SQUARE OFF, TACKLE RACE

Raemisch, Blanchard Debate

The two candidates for Dane County district attorney addressed racial
justice head-on Wednesday night, with both saying they have goals of
treating everybody who comes through the criminal justice system equally
without regard to race.

District Attorney Brian Blanchard and challenger Rick Raemisch spoke before
a crowd of about 40 at a debate sponsored by the Task Force on Money,
Education and Prisons along with The Capital Times at Edgewood College.

Bill Greer, director of operations for the Dane County Mental Health Center
and one of the panel members, told the candidates the war on crime has been
a war on young African-American men. Wisconsin and Dane County are
particularly bad, he added, with the state having the highest percentage of
black inmates and the county having the highest percentage in the state.
How would they stem the tide?

"Quite frankly, one could say I was part of the problem," Raemisch said,
alluding to his years as Dane County sheriff. "When we had a gang problem,
the public demanded high visibility by law enforcement, so people got
arrested quite easily. We solved one problem but we created another problem.

"Black kids want the same as white kids; above all, they want opportunity.
We need to form coalitions in our community so instead of prison being seen
as the first resort, use it as the last resort."

Blanchard said racial profiling is "intolerable," and he pointed to many
programs within the justice system that are designed to keep people out of
jail. But he added that offenders need to take advantage of the programs.

"We give help in housing, work, medication," Blanchard said. "Otherwise,
they'll just be back in the system."

Another panel member asked the candidates how they would react to police
engaging in profiling, such as making traffic stops based solely on a
driver's race.

Blanchard said police officers need to exercise proper judgment at the
scene and added that it's up to the district attorney's office to
investigate arrests to see if charges should or shouldn't be brought
against an alleged offender. He said Dane County doesn't have a racial
profiling problem.

"There is a range of conduct police operate in," Blanchard said. "At the
most extreme end, overt discrimination, it doesn't happen in Dane County."

Raemisch said the police need to be held to a higher standard than the rest
of the public, and he also said Dane County does not have a problem with
profiling.

"I can't think of a time when I saw officers make up evidence to get a
conviction," Raemisch said.

On another topic, Raemisch said marijuana and drug use shouldn't be treated
as criminal cases but rather as ordinance violations throughout Dane
County; Blanchard said marijuana use shouldn't be viewed as a criminal event.

"Should we go after someone for simple possession of marijuana? No,"
Raemisch said. "You can be arrested and charged in Dane County, compared to
it being an ordinance violation inside the city, and that's not right.
Something like that shouldn't follow you around forever."

Blanchard said Dane County has a sensible drug enforcement policy. "It
doesn't target marijuana use as a criminal event," he said.

The racial inequality in the county jail, with the number of blacks in jail
disproportionately higher than the general population, was one issue both
candidates would want to work on in the next term.

"I cannot promise you discrimination will end," Blanchard said. "I can't
promise the ratio (of inmates) will change in jail. But I can promise we
will focus on the ways to make change come about. That is a goal, and it
will never end."

Raemisch said it's time to give lost opportunity back to the kids in
disadvantaged neighborhoods of Dane County.

"This community, for as liberal as it tries to be, has a lot of problems,"
he said. "We all want to be safe. It's just: How do we get there? You'll
get justice out of the district attorney's office if I'm elected, and not
just prosecution."