Can anyone really believe that the criminal complaint filed today by the Wisconsin Department of Justice against former Winnebago County rogue DA Joe Paulus will bring closure to this sordid episode? After an investigation of multiple years, the DOJ essentially repeated the federal case against Paulus. There is nothing new here. The DOJ press release says that "charges are not expected against any other individuals based upon the evidence available." They claim the investigation will remain open, but today's filing sure has the look of sweeping the matter under the rug.
For me, and I suspect for many others, the issue is not about how many years Paulus spends in jail. The issue is whether citizens of Winnebago County can believe that the 4 years worth of local, state, and federal investigations of the Paulus years have provided us with confidence that the culture of corruption has been removed from the county justice system. Sadly, today's criminal complaint filing, like the federal case earlier, does not provide that confidence.
There is one amusing part to the complaint. Paulus' partner in crime, former defense attorney, former assistant DA, and former Winnebago County Republican Party chair Mitch Schierland, told the DOJ that he decided to cooperate with federal investigators "for multiple reasons, including his religious faith . . ." Funny how he got religion AFTER the federal investigation began.
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I sent a letter to the editor on this very same topic. How can Winnebago Cty trust that this will not happen again? What flags have been put into place to warn the judges, other attorneys, the public that something fishy has happened? Who do county employees/citizens go to if there is a problem in the future. None of those issues, at least from what I see, has been answered for the public. They haven't even been addressed.
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