Republicans and Attorney General at a Standstill Over a Pending Settlement
Wednesday, August 28th, 2019 -- 10:40 AM
(WRN) -Legislative Republicans and Attorney General Josh Kaul are at a standstill on a pending settlement.Kaul is required to come to the Joint Finance Committee to settle cases under the lame duck laws, but the J F C refused to sign confidentiality agreements to hear about the case. Democrat Representative Chris Taylor says the conflict just shows why the law is cumbersome.
"If you want to settle cases, go to law school and run for attorney general. That is not our role, it never has been our role."
Taylor says forcing Kaul to come to Joint Finance is out of order.
"They did not elect the members of this committee to settle cases."
Co-Chair John Nygren grilled Kaul about why he needed to get NDAs from the committee.
"Had there been any attempt to go back and have conversations regarding that settlement and modify that settlement so that it actually fit the parameters of the law that was legally passed by this body?"
"If your question is whether we asked for a Wisconsin specific exemption to the agreement so we could be treated differently from every other state, the answer is no."
Nygren said that Republicans had already said they didn't want to sign the agreements.
"I guess we'd already thought that point had been made clear."
"I can't stress this enough. There has to be some sort of confidentiality guarantee to move forward with negotiations, and any lawyer who litigates a case will tell you that."
Kaul says he needs to act by Friday or else Wisconsin will be losing out on the possible settlement.
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