MADISON, Wis. — As right-wing politician Brad Schimel heads for the debate stage this week, it’s worth reviewing how Backlog Brad failed sexual assault survivors in Wisconsin. As Attorney General, Brad Schimel’s years-long delay in testing thousands of sexual assault kits denied justice for thousands of victims.
With Brad Schimel’s lack of urgency to deliver justice for sexual assault victims, we cannot trust that he will be the common sense justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that Wisconsinites deserve.
Here’s more on Brad Schimel’s history of failing sexual assault victims:
- Delayed justice for survivors of sexual assault: During his first two years as Attorney General, Brad Schimel tested only nine out of over 6,000 untested rape kits, allowing violent offenders to walk free. But Schimel’s failures go back even further. As Waukesha County District Attorney, Schimel allowed 26 rape kits to remain untested.
- Blamed survivors of sexual assault: Brad Schimel blamed sexual assault victims for their own “bad judgement,” suggesting that their choices were at fault for the rape kit backlog.
- Falsely claimed there was no backlog: Brad Schimel later lied about the rape kit backlog, falsely claiming that “a few hundred” backlogged kits had been tested when only nine had actually been processed.
- “Wait for a bargain price”: As untested rape kits piled up, Brad Schimel chose not to utilize in-state resources to test rape kits and instead searched for a bargain price from private, out-of-state labs.
- Splurging taxpayer funds on commemorative coins: While searching for a discount on testing the backlogged rape kits, Brad Schimel then spent $10,000 in taxpayer funds on commemorative coins emblazoned with his motto: Kick Ass Every Day.
