Well this is more than a little awkward for Republican Attorney General candidate Brad Schimel, considering how hard his campaign and its right-wing allies have worked to paint Democratic AG candidate Susan Happ as “soft on crime.”

Robert R. Turk, 37, a juvenile counselor at an adolescent center, originally was charged with five felony counts of possession of child pornography, each carrying a mandatory minimum prison term of three years and a maximum of 25 years. He could have been sentenced to 125 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. Instead, Schimel agreed to a plea bargain that let Turk off with no jail time but three years of probation with nine months of work release. The deal also allowed him to avoid registering as a sex offender and to continue working at the center and have “incidental” contact with minors.

After the deal was made allowing Turk to avoid any prison time for his possession of child pornography, in the understatement of the century Turk’s defense attorney called the sweetheart deal “very favorable to my client.”