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August 5, 2014 was a fascinating summer night here in Milwaukee, WI.
Three candidates for Wisconsin’s race for attorney general – – D.A. Susan Happ, State Representative and Attorney Jon Richards, and D.A. Ismael Ozanne (pronounced OH-ZAN) – – came together at MATC’s Cooley Auditorium to discuss openly what they bring to the table, how they are unique, the changes they would make in the attorney general’s office and what they’d keep the same.
By definition, the role of attorney general is the chief legal officer of the states, commonwealths and territories of the United States. The Attorneys General serve as counselors to their legislatures and state agencies and also as the “People’s Lawyer” for all citizens.
The Attorney General Candidate Forum was hosted by Pastors United, The League of Women Voters, 9 to 5, MICAH, and the Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals. According to a representative from the Milwaukee Urban League’s Young Professionals President, Sean Lowe, said, “We are helping host the event because we like to provide the public knowledge of candidates so that they may make the best decision. All elected official races are important so that young voters in this city, including those members of ours who are new to the city, know their options.”
In one-on-one interviews with Ismael Ozanne and Jon Richards, they expressed the following when asked what exactly would you bring that’s unique to becoming the next attorney general.
D.A. Ozanne of Madison said: “Leadership and experience unmatched by anyone in the race. I’m the only one in the state that has experience running the day-to-day operations of our largest state agency, the Department of Corrections; I run the second largest county district attorney’s office, Dane County, I’ve been a prosecutor for 14 years, and I’m also a 6th generation Wisconsinite. You can trace that back to 1842.”
In addition, Ozanne said he would create a Division of Civil Rights, which Wisconsin currently does not have. In fact, Ozanne’s roots include fighting for civil rights for workers. His mom was the youngest staffer of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the freedom summer of 1964; and his grandfather was a union organizer, helped create the School for Workers, and taught labor history at UW-Madison, where Ozanne later attended.
