jsonline: Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (is) calling on Gov. Scott Walker to veto a budget provision that would allow those accused of crimes to post bail through commercial bondsmen and let bounty hunters track down those who don't show up for court.
"I'm opposed to it, always have been … If it's not broken, why are we passing legislation to fix it?"
Van Hollen said he also opposes changes GOP lawmakers made to a plan to take DNA from those accused of felonies when they are arrested, rather than when they are convicted. That would create difficulties for law enforcement officials as they try to determine when samples can be analyzed, Van Hollen said.
Republican Rep. Robin Vos smarted off this way:
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he had not heard from Van Hollen about his concerns during the budget process. "Considering the fact that it's a Monday, it sounds like he's attempting to play Monday morning quarterback."
Another money loser passed by Republicans for purely ideological reasons, again:
Van Hollen said the current system works well and he is concerned about letting offenders get out of jail more easily by having them post one-tenth as much bail as they do now. What's more, the courts and victims could lose out on millions of dollars a year, he said. That totaled $9.5 million in 2012, according to court records. "It's money in the hand that doesn't have to be collected," Van Hollen said.
Under a commercial bail bond system, counties would have to seek money … time consuming and yield unsatisfactory results, according to opponents of commercial bail bond.
An unintended consequence of the DNA legislation is that people arrested for what would normally be a misdemeanor, will be initially over-charged with a felony so as to trigger a DNA collection. Once the sample is taken and in the database, charges will then be reduced to misdemeanors. In fact many people are already charged with felonies for the sole reason of forcing a guilty plea to a lesser charge. The truth is, if there is a way for the authoritarians to abuse a law, they will always do it. I predict that people arrested at political demonstrations in Wisconsin will be routinely charged as felons.
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