WI to receive opioid settlement $$; former GOP AG refused to sue

When we acknowledge this good work by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul - 

Kaul

- on behalf of Wisconsin families hurt by the callous greed of opioid manufacturers -

State Receives $10 million in Opioid Crisis Settlement  

The state Department of Health Services will receive more than $10.3 million — over five years — from the agreement, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice....

Thursday’s resolution is the latest action Kaul and the DOJ has taken to combat the opioid epidemic. In March 2019, the DOJ joined a multistate investigation of opioid distributors, and in May 2019, Kaul announced lawsuits filed against two Purdue Pharma entities and Richard S. Sackler for false marketing practices.

- let's not forget the Republican administration's malfeasance that preceded it, as I'd noted:

Absentee Schimel ducks opioid fight, counties step in

How crazy is it that dozens of Wisconsin counties are separately filing lawsuits or teaming up with others while state corporate bellhops like Schimel and fellow Republican-and-electioneering Scott Walker won't use their powerful and effective legal tools to fight the opioid nightmare at its well-heeled, anything-for-profits source?

Is is a coincidence that Schimel, Walker and other GOP campaign entities took opioid and drug company donations, as reported by Wisconsin Democracy Campaign? 

The top recipients of the contributions were:

• Republican Gov. Scott Walker, $20,800
• Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, $6,750
• Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, $4,500
• State Senate Democratic Committee, $3,000
• GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel, $1,025

The largest single contribution – $10,000 – went to Walker from Purdue Pharma board member Mortimer Sackler, of Stamford, Conn.

Two more things:

1. Don't forget how hard Wisconsin was hit by the opioid epidemic:

WI leads nation in increased opiod hospitalizations 

For Walker and Wisconsin, this new ranking is worse than second-worst roads in the country. Worse than placing last - - repeatedly - - in business start-up activity. 

This is his worst, our shame, his shame.

Of the 16 states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, 10 saw significant increases in hospitalizations for overdoses. The largest increase — 109 percent — was in Wisconsin. 

2. And then there was this quick, post-election GOP gubernatorial back-scratch:

Gov. Scott Walker passed over more than a dozen candidates to appoint outgoing Attorney General Brad Schimel to a Waukesha County judgeship, according to records released by the governor’s administration.

Walker handed Schimel the job on Nov. 20, a day after the Republican attorney general conceded defeat to Democrat Josh Kaul.