Bail group touts job potential

By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker promised he would create more jobs in Wisconsin.

The American Bail Coalition says it can help, with a privately run bail bonds system it says will create 1,500 jobs.

Last week, the budget the Senate handed Walker included a provision that would set up a system of bail bondsmen in Wisconsin. It was inserted in the budget over the objections of law enforcement and the state's chief judges, who feel the current system is better.

Wisconsin hasn't had a bail bondsmen system since 1979. And judges say they want no part of bail bondsmen.

John R. Storck, chief judge of the 6th Judicial District and chair of the Committee of Chief Judges in Wisconsin, has urged Walker to veto the measure and said all of the chief judges in the state felt the same way.

"Anytime you place profit-driven organizations in control of an individual's liberty, corruption must be a major concern," wrote Storck. "The bail system unfairly penalizes low-income defendants who can't afford the unrefundable fee. It subverts the justice system, because defendants who can afford to buy their freedom - even those that may pose a relatively greater risk - are free to go at a much lower cost than under the current system."

Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, said the bail bondsmen issue was one of many budget provisions Walker will be evaluating over the next two weeks.

Dennis Bartlett, the executive director of the American Bail Coalition, says he was told Walker is supporting the legislation.

He also said that the industry is a job creator. He said that, once the system is in place in Wisconsin, it would create 1,500 jobs around the state. The state will also get revenue in the form of licensing fees, which Bartlett said would be $1,000 a person.

Bartlett also is a member of the Private Sector Committee of ALEC, or American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a free-market, limited government group that, among other things, develops policies that legislators around the country can employ in their states.

Some people opposed to Walker's collective-bargaining legislation say the idea to move in that direction came from ALEC. ALEC has vigorously denied that allegation.

In the case of the bail bondsmen idea, Bartlett said ALEC had nothing to do with the Wisconsin legislation. There was no model bondsmen legislation ALEC had in hand for Wisconsin, he said.

"We didn't use them," he said of ALEC.

For advocates of private enterprise, the bail bondsmen are viewed as a legitimate business that can handle the thorny problem of letting defendants out on bail better than the government.

Michael Hough, a resident fellow in public safety for ALEC, writes in the June issue of Inside ALEC about the industry: "Across the nation, a number of states are grappling with the question of how to safely and affordably release individuals on bail pending their trial. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits 'excessive bail,' which has generally been interpreted to mean, in most cases, when individuals are arrested they will be given the opportunity to post bail. Should taxpayers be responsible for criminal defendants that can afford to post their own bail? When the government posts bail and the defendant fails to show up for court, does the government have the resources to find the fugitive or front the bill for the forfeited bonds?

"The ultimate question for states is how much should the government be involved in the bail process? In some areas the private sector is used exclusively to release people, in other areas the private sector is prohibited and the government runs its own bail operation. With many states facing deficits, some state lawmakers are looking at reforming this process."