Fighting Bob’s favorite nominal Republican, Bill Kraus, raises a point that should be made more often:

In the current four-person race for Attorney General of Wisconsin there have been some disturbing suggestions that candidates for that office may opt in or out of cases based on what they consider the virtue of the laws on which the cases are based.

And the ongoing tainted John Doe controversy is partisan infected at the very least.

This isn’t the kind of partisanism and ideological bias that dominates the first and second estates, but it seems to me to be headed in that direction.

Contests in judicial elections elsewhere have been influenced, even decided, by something that looks like prejudging based on something other than the facts or the interpretation of legislation which are supposed to be the main or even the only criteria in play in these quarters.

A partial remedy or at least a treatment for these deleterious trends has been suggested for those members of the third estate who gain office through elections.

Their elections can, and I think should, be moved from the partisan fall to the non-partisan spring.

Judicial elections are already there in Wisconsin.

The rest of the offices whose reason for being is law enforcement should be as well.

Sheriffs, district attorneys, and even attorneys general are not in the policy business. They enforce laws others write, keep the peace, and punish the miscreants among us.

Politics is not a part of their jobs. Political affiliation is irrelevant to their job performance.

Moving them to the non-partisan election spring date would make that distinction more evident to the voters.

That would mean, of course, that county offices — sheriffs, district attorneys, clerks, treasurers, registers of deeds and coroners — be nonpartisan offices. The only reason for county offices to be partisan offices is because they’ve always been partisan offices since statehood. That doesn’t mean there has ever been a valid rationale for them to be partisan offices.

Some would argue those offices shouldn’t be elective offices. At a minimum, the services those county offices provide should not change based on whether the office-holder has a D or an R after his or her name. (See Milwaukee County District Attorney, John Doe investigation.) Democrats or Republicans are so entrenched in many counties of this state that there is no competition for those positions, since one way to get out of favor with the local party in power is to run against its incumbents. The accountability of elections diminishes greatly in such a situation except when the incumbent retires. (Including retirement by death, which sometimes happens.)

There is a long tradition in this nation of having elected county positions, particularly sheriffs, because the sheriffs of England were not elected and thus not accountable to the citizens. Sheriffs in this state are the top law enforcement authority of their county, over even the State Patrol or other state law enforcement. If, the argument goes, we elect people to create our laws, we should also elect people to enforce those laws, or at least those who manage those who enforce those laws, because those who are dissatisfied with their work can vote for a different sheriff next election.

The flip side is that sheriffs are politicians, and politicians do whatever they have to to keep their offices. (For that matter, while district attorneys are required to be attorneys, sheriffs are not required to have any law enforcement experience. Older readers may recall William Ferris, Dane County’s sheriff from 1972 to 1980, elected at 32 with no previous law enforcement experience, though he had six years of Dane County Board experience. Ferris, who was just 41 when he died of cancer in 1980, claimed to be an administrator, not a cop. Indeed, sheriffs may have been police officers or deputy sheriffs, but sheriffs don’t run radar or even investigate crimes, contrary to what you watch on A&E’s “Longmire.”)

You may think the answer is shorter terms or term limits. Wisconsin sheriffs used to have two-year terms until 2003, and they used to be limited to two terms until the 1960s. Proving that sheriffs are indeed politicians, sheriffs got around those laws (as politicians always find ways to get around laws designed to curb their power) by getting their wives (who often served as the county jail cook) or sons elected sheriff, and then having the new sheriff appoint the old sheriff as undersheriff, which was a non-civil service position. (That, however, resulted in at least one election pitting father against son for sheriff.)

I’m not a fan of the April elections. For consistency, the spring elections should be moved to November in odd-numbered years, to distinguish from the November even-numbered-year elections for president, governor, Congress and the Legislature, such as the one coming up in four months. On the other hand, April elections are closer to Tax Day; in fact, I’d like to see property and income taxes due to be paid on election days, to make clear the connection between your taxes and your vote.