Van Hollen ready to arrest County Clerks over Gay and Lesbian Marriage Licenses. Police state not far behind....

Is it just a frustrated J.B. Van Hollen throwing out empty threats, or is he setting up his tea party credits to run for office?  If anything, it's one hell of a way to defend the constitution...lock 'em up? 

Even knowing fear and intimidation is part of the GOP’s planned takeover of the country, AG. Van Hollen’s threat to arrest county clerks seems wildly over the top. What a way to leave office:

jsonline: Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Thursday that same-sex couples who have wed in recent days are not married in the eyes of the law and that county clerks issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples could be prosecuted.

"You do have many people in Wisconsin basically taking the law into their own hands and there can be legal repercussions for that.  So, depending on who believes they're married under the law and who doesn't believe they're married under the law may cause them to get themselves in some legal problems that I think are going to take years for them and the courts to work out."

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell called Van Hollen's claim of possible charges ridiculous. "He needs to call off the dogs and turn off the fire hoses," he said … County clerks can be jailed for up to nine months and fined up to $10,000 for issuing marriage licenses that aren't allowed, under state law.

That's a lot of jail time…

Sixty-three of Wisconsin's 72 counties are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

My favorite AG candidate DA Susan Happ was on top of this:

Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ released a statement calling the idea of charging clerks "offensive." "Attorney General Van Hollen's choice of action is through the appellate process, not threatening criminal prosecution of the clerks who are doing their jobs," her statement said.

WKOW's Greg Neumann hit this story from a number of different angles, including how Republicans are using their silence on the issue as deceptive way to straddle the middle. And there's no middle with these guys: