Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - The incoming Democratic attorney general said legislation Republican lawmakers plan to take up Tuesday to strip him of many of his powers is designed to reverse the results of last month’s election and if passed is sure to wind up in court.

“This is just not the process we should have in an advanced democracy,” Josh Kaul said in an interview late Sunday. “This is an attempt to undermine the election we had less than a month ago by fundamentally changing the way our state government operates.”

Kaul narrowly defeated Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel in last month’s election and is to be sworn in Jan. 7.

RELATED:Tony Evers says he will 'take any steps possible' to prevent GOP plan to take away his power

In response, Republicans who kept their control of the Legislature are seeking to pass sweeping legislation they unveiled late Friday that would allow lawmakers to replace the attorney general with private attorneys of their choosing for key cases; require lawmakers to sign off on court settlements; give lawmakers instead of the attorney general control of how to spend court settlements; and eliminate the solicitor general’s office that oversees high-profile litigation.

The legislation would also take powers from incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, limit early voting to two weeks and move the 2020 presidential primary at a cost of $7 million to taxpayers to make it easier for conservative state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly to win his election that year.

A hearing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Monday in the state Capitol. If passed by lawmakers, outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker would have to sign it for it to become law.

“If it does pass, it’s certain to end up in court,” Kaul said.

RELATED:GOP seeks to limit Wisconsin early voting, strip powers from Tony Evers and Josh Kaul in lame-duck session

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Kaul would not say whether he would bring such a lawsuit himself or whether he expected others to do so. He declined to spell out his views on what aspects of the legislation he believes could be illegal, saying no one has had a chance to fully analyze it and lawmakers could drop or amend it.

“My focus right now is on encouraging them as a Legislature not to pass this bill. My hope is we won’t get to the point where we have to look at the legality of the legislation,” he said.

The bill would be expensive for taxpayers because lawmakers could pick private attorneys to conduct the most complicated, costly litigation, Kaul said. The legislation would also give lawmakers a chance to more easily use private lawyers at taxpayer expense when they themselves are sued.

“That’s great if you’re a highly connected attorney, but it’s bad if you’re a taxpayer,” Kaul said.

Schimel has not said what he thinks of the legislation that limits the power of the office he is leaving. A Schimel aide did not respond to questions Sunday. Walker has said he will appoint Schimel as a Waukesha County circuit court judge before he and Schimel leave office next month.

Republican lawmakers have not explained why they want to curb what the attorney general can do, other than to say they believe power in the state needs to be rebalanced.

Another element of the bill would give lawmakers, rather than the governor, control of state litigation, such as a lawsuit authorized by Walker to challenge the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Evers and Kaul campaigned on ending that Obamacare lawsuit, but GOP lawmakers who support it could keep lawsuit alive if the bill passes.

The provision that would require a legislative committee to approve court settlements would make it harder to resolve cases, Kaul said. Opposing attorneys may not want to make public details of settlement talks if they aren’t sure the state would go for them. Legislators would have to get up to speed on a raft of mundane cases.

“Is that committee really going to come in and meet every time there’s an environmental case the (Department of Justice) wants to settle?” Kaul said. “It’s another illustration of how the bad the process is here.”

Over the weekend, an attorney for the liberal group One Wisconsin Institute said it would bring a legal challenge to the limit on early voting if it passes. The group successfully struck down a similar limit in 2016.

As a private attorney, Kaul helped the group with that case. He declined to say whether he thought a new challenge would succeed and said he would recuse himself from the issue as attorney general because of his past work for the group.

How To Contact Top State Officials

Gov. Scott Walker:

(608) 266-1212, govgeneral@wisconsin.gov, walker.wi.gov/contact-us.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester):

(608) 266-9171, rep.vos@legis.wisconsin.gov.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau):

(608) 266-5660, sen.fitzgerald@legis.wisconsin.gov.

Meg Jones of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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