Contact:
Sarah Pearson
Co-Founder and State Co-Chair
414.366.5403
sarah@womensmarchwi.com

The Wisconsin GOP enthusiastically criticized former Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Matt Flynn after Women’s March Wisconsin called on him to drop out of the race for his role in the clergy sex abuse and coverup scandal, but their actions have not suggested they would be an ally to survivors. In fact, they have suggested just the opposite. Attorney General Schimel stated he would not “use the power of a prosecutor to destroy people’s lives if we don’t have the evidence to make that case.” The evidence exists. When confronted about over 60,000 pages of publicly available documents that contain direct victim reports which name 48 priests in alleged acts of child sex abuse, Schimel said he had not read them although he has had eight years to do so. It’s clear Brad Schimel has chosen to be a rape apologist rather than an ally to survivors. And for that, he must be held accountable on November 6th.

According to the Journal Sentinel, four sexually abusive former Milwaukee-area priests were granted professional licenses under Republican Governor Scott Walker’s Department of Safety and Professional Services.

These are just more examples in a long line of failures by the Walker administration and Brad Schimel’s Department of Justice to protect Wisconsin’s children from predators.

In recent weeks, Brad Schimel has been asked several times if he would open an investigation into the child sex abuse and cover up scandal within Wisconsin dioceses. His reply was that he would not “indict by headline.” In addition to the 60,000 publicly available documents, another set of documents that remains sealed names an additional 100 clergy members who have been accused of child sex abuse. The information available to Schimel’s Wisconsin Justice Department is more substantial than that available to many of the other fourteen states that have opened Grand Jury investigations, six of them led by Republican attorneys general.

Schimel was not asked to “indict by headline,” he was asked to open an investigation. Survivors of child sex abuse have waited far too long for justice, and it appears Schimel is unwilling to take action to deliver it.

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