Legislation for O’Reilly, by O’Reilly

It once was that conservatives wrote legislation the old fashioned way - by getting model legislative drafts from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a corporate-driven organization which fronts as a conservative policy think tank, with members from big business and state legislatures. Their corporate masters write the legislation; conservatives introduce it. A simple business transaction.

However, now we find there is a new conservative legislative powerhouse in the making - FOX (or is it Faux?) News’ Bill O’Reilly. Yup, he's the “no-spin” blowhard who is always spinning Republican lies.

Case in point: Assembly Bill 784, otherwise known as “Jessica’s Law”. The State Assembly passed it on November 8th by a vote of 82-13; I was one of the thirteen. The bill makes a mandatory term of confinement for certain child sex offenses of 25 years. Sound good to you? Who likes sex offenders anyway? There’s no line building on that one.

But when you go deeper into the law, the problems are overflowing. First, the bill is opposed by prosecutors. Milwaukee District Attorney E. Michael McCann told me in detail in October why it was a bad bill. Mandatory minimums don’t work in cases like this. It is harder to get a plea deal with an offender which would expedite their getting help and getting off the street. The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Criminal Law Section agreed and voted unanimously to oppose the bill, citing additional court costs and trials as well. And, even worse, these cases often happen within a family. When “Uncle John” violates a child, the family wants him to pay a price, but 25 years is too much so they may not report the crime. The result is the family deals with it internally, and “Uncle John” is still on the prowl.

Second, the bill has the largest fiscal note of any criminal justice bill I can recall seeing. Get this, it could cost $632,744,500 by year 25, requiring the state to add 2,900 staff and build 9 new prisons, according to the Department of Corrections. You got it. This bill alone costs over $630 million dollars and reduces public safety.

So why would “conservatives” (and unfortunately a lot of Democrats) vote for this budget busting, crime enhancer? Because Bill O’Reilly says so.

Yup, back in November I did a Google search on “Jessica’s Law” and the number one response was Bill O’Reilly’s web page. Now it got bumped to number two. On Bill’s page, you can even buy a “Jessica’s Law” bumper sticker.

Some legislators like Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) LOVE getting media attention and are positively ecstatic about national coverage. O’Reilly is their modern day media messiah. And his disciple, Suder, introduced the bumper sticker bill.

So next time you see a really bad piece of legislation, it may not just be another dumb idea from a Wisconsin legislator. It may be another dumb idea from Bill O’Reilly.