August 11, 2006

Van Hollen Letter to Bucher

In an open letter to his opponent Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher GOP Attorney General candidate J.B. Van Hollen admits yesterday's radio debate was a disaster for both candidates. Van Hollen wants both of them to "stay united in our goal to restore focus and integrity to the office of attorney general." He wants the focus to be on what each GOP candidate can bring to the Attorney General's office instead of nit-picking about what each did or didn't do in their long law enforcement careers.

Here's the whole letter:

August 11, 2006

Paul Bucher c/o Bucher for Attorney General VIA EMAIL

Dear Paul, I think you and I can agree that yesterday’s debate did little to advance our shared goal of restoring responsible leadership to the office of the Attorney General. I know I did not appreciate being repeatedly spoken over, interrupted, and called "stupid," as I’m sure you did not appreciate my inappropriate use of the word "suck." I think its fair to say neither one of us should be proud of our performances. While we have some legitimate differences, we must stay united in our goal to restore focus and integrity to the office of attorney general. I write with the sincere hope that we can do that. We have now been together in more than 60 forums, almost all of which have allowed good, solid discussions of benefit to the voters. We will be together in several more forums and debates, including:

8/15/- Brookfield Rotary

8/15 . Marathon County forum

8/17 . Milwaukee Southwest Suburban GOP Picnic

8/27 . Dane Co. GOP Picnic

8/29 . Milwaukee County Bar Association Debate in Milwaukee

8/31 . WI Supplier & Development Council Debate in Madison

9/6 or 9/7 . Wis. Politics Debate

I propose some simple ground rules for our remaining joint forums and debates so that they can both be informative to the voters, and meet our shared goal of restoring effective leadership in the AG’s office. I propose the following for our remaining debates/formats:

1. We focus on why new leadership is needed in the AG’s office, and our own visions for what that leadership should be.

2. We agree to a fair allotment of times for exchanges, with no interruptions during the one another.s’ allotted times.

3. As we compare our respective experiences and backgrounds, we focus on what makes each of us prepared to fulfill the vision we are laying out for the office, not attacks on the preparedness of each other. We both have been in law enforcement for years, and there is plenty of good we can each say about our own varied experiences.

I hope you will join me in following these simple suggestions in our remaining discussions. I further hope our entire campaigns can be carried out in this spirit in these last days. I believe these suggestions will ultimately advance the issues we both care about, and most importantly help serve the interests of this great state. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

J.B. Van Hollen

Fellow Republican

Paid for by Van Hollen for Attorney General, Margaret Farrow, Treasurer www.vanhollenforag.com