WASHINGTON, DC – Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes – a leading candidate in the Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary – proposed eliminating cash bail as part of a bill he introduced in the Wisconsin legislature.
The bill – and Barnes’ position – is receiving renewed scrutiny after the case of Darrell Brooks, the alleged perpetrator in the Christmas parade attack that killed six people. Brooks had been arrested just weeks earlier on a domestic violence charge, then released on just $1,000 bail days before the incident. Milwaukee County district attorney John Chisholm conceded that he had set an “inappropriately low” bail amount for Brooks.
Barnes also notably traveled to San Francisco to raise money with radical district attorney Chesa Boudin, who has been criticized for lenient enforcement policies that have riddled his city with crime. And Barnes has headlined campaign events for the Center for Popular Democracy, a radical activist organization at the heart of the defund the police movement, lauding the group for its “amazing work… in states all across the country.”
What’s clear is that Mandela Barnes’ radical anti-law enforcement views are clearly out of step with the Wisconsin mainstream. Fond du Lac County district attorney Eric Toney agrees, saying: “These liberal proposals take tools away from prosecutors and allow dangerous criminals to remain free, making Wisconsin more dangerous. Violent criminals must be kept behind bars, period.”
