J.B. Van Hollen calls on Scott Walker to veto bounty hunters from state budget

Remind me again why Republicans in the legislature think re-instituting bail bondsmen in Wisconsin is a good idea?

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen joined other law enforcement officials Monday in 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,” Van Hollen said in an interview. “If it’s not broken, why are we passing legislation to fix it?”

In response to Van Hollen publicly expressing his opposition to the bounty hunter provisions in the state budget, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he had not heard from Van Hollen about his concerns during the budget process, adding, “Considering the fact that it’s a Monday, it sounds like he’s attempting to play Monday morning quarterback.”

Keep in mind that unlike J.B. Van Hollen, Robin Vos has absolutely no experience working in law enforcement or the criminal justice field. Instead, Vos has spent his adulthood selling popcorn and an absentee landlord.

Who the hell does Robin Vos think he is to assert that he knows better than all the judges, prosecutors, elected sheriffs, and the state Attorney General when it comes to bail bondsmen in the state of Wisconsin? The fact is, our state’s current bail/bond system works fine, and bringing back bail bondsmen won’t improve the system, but it may make it worse.

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2 thoughts on “J.B. Van Hollen calls on Scott Walker to veto bounty hunters from state budget

  1. I’d be fine if they wanted to debate the merits of allowing them – I don’t know enough either way & not sure that my image of those guys are unfairly biased towards the TV guys or not.

    But like a number of other things, get it the hell out of the budget.

    It’s not a budget issue, and if it can’t stand on it’s own with an up or down vote on it, the legislators shouldn’t be wasting their time on it.

    1. No kidding…that and 100 other non-fiscal items…if they are worth doing they are worth talking about and taking a real vote on.

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