Campaign to recall district attorney in the works

From The Journal Times.com:

• ADAM ROGAN adam.rogan@journaltimes.com

Hanson

RACINE — A campaign to remove Racine County District Attorney Tricia Hanson from office is underway, following her decision, released Wednesday, not to charge Mount Pleasant Police Sgt. Eric Giese in the fatal shooting of Ty’ Rese West on June 15.

According to the declaration of recall posted online by Michael Burmeister, of Racine, 21,960 signatures would be necessary to initiate a recall election — or slightly more than 10% of the county’s cumulative population.

Burmeister plans to file the recall paperwork Friday through the group “Campaign for Confident Justice,” which was formed Thursday.

Burmeister told The Journal Times that the Campaign for Confident Justice “seeks to end the corruption in the city and county of Racine … through the official methods available to us as citizens.”

He plans to have circulators seeking signatures for the petition as soon as Saturday, during the Party on the Pavement event Downtown.

The declaration of recall states that “should a DA ever fail to live up to their duties and go on to become a force against the rights of the people, it is the unalienable right of the people to use whatever legitimate and peaceful means are necessary to remove that DA from office.

“We believe that the current District Attorney of Racine County, Tricia Hanson, has failed to live up to her duties, becoming a force against the rights of the people for which she was sworn in to fight, and therefore, it is our unalienable right to use whatever legitimate and peaceful means are necessary to remove her from office.”

In addition to the decision not to charge Giese, the declaration claims that there have been “repeated injuries and injustice” committed by Hanson, including allegations of cover-ups and “gross dishonesty” regarding the failed Machinery Row project, dismissal of charges against a convicted child abuser because he’d been disruptive in jail, not prosecuting a prior DA for operating while intoxicated, and not charging two Racine Police officers in the fatal shooting of Donte Shannon on Jan. 17, 2018.

The deadline to collect signatures, according to the declaration, would be 5 p.m. on Nov. 18.

Hanson was elected in November 2016, defeating Democrat Tom Binger 51,074 votes to 36,988. Her current term is scheduled to end in January 2021.

READ THE DECLARATION OF RECALL IN FULL: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/campaign-to-recall-district-attorney-in-the-works/article_da55ee17-33e8-5fd9-af67-0d919a140392.html#1