Madison, WI – Today, the Senate Special Committee on Oversight of the Department of Justice (SCODOJ) met to approve a final report outlining the committee’s findings and recommendations following its investigation into outside influence in Wisconsin’s Department of Justice (DOJ).

Since 2019, DOJ has entered into arrangements with outside organizations where said organizations would pay either a stipend or the full salary and benefits of an attorney embedded within DOJ. These attorneys were given the title of Special Assistant Attorneys General (SAAGs) and the power to prosecute Wisconsin citizens, yet were considered “volunteers” at DOJ. The special interest groups funding these positions could fire them at any time.

SCODOJ has determined that these agreements were not authorized by Wisconsin statutes, not approved by the Legislature and that they opened DOJ up to influence from outside, partisan interests.

After taking two days of testimony, including from Attorney General Josh Kaul, and carefully reviewing of thousands of documents, SCODOJ made the following recommendations:

  1. The termination of any current SAAG arrangements under this framework.
  2. New legislation to reiterate that DOJ’s recent practices using privately-funded SAAGs are unauthorized and unlawful.
  3. Clarification and reinforcement of legislative oversight via the biennial budget and the Wis. Stat. § 13.10 process.
  4. New legislation to ensure that only state employees, approved and authorized through the legislative branch, can ever prosecute Wisconsin citizens.
  5. Corrective measures must be taken by DOJ to ensure that all Assistant Attorneys General are appointed in writing, properly licensed in Wisconsin, and take their oaths of office before beginning work.
  6. New legislation to establish timelines for resolution of formal ethics complaints.
  7. Follow up by the State Senate to ensure that DOJ conducts a proper search of the records SCODOJ requested in December of 2025 and that those records are turned over to the Senate.

A full copy of the report and recommendations can be found here.

Following SCODOJ’s approval of the report and recommendations, Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk), chair of the committee, issued the following statement:

Wisconsin’s DOJ is not for sale. It is clear that Attorney General Kaul is weaponizing the power vested in him by the people of Wisconsin to further partisan interests with the help of out-of-state billionaires. The Senate is not done looking into this matter.