Milwaukee public officials call upon Governor Evers to fire DA John Chisholm

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CBS 58) - Tuesday morning, some Milwaukee-area public officials held a Zoom press conference calling upon Governor Tony Evers to fire Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm. 

Matt Kittle, executive director of Empower Wisconsin, ran the meeting. He was joined by former Milwaukee alderman and mayoral candidate Bob Donovan, state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-New Berlin) and Milwaukee County Supervisor Patti Logsdon.

Those in the meeting claim Chisholm is failing to protect the public from violent repeat offenders, including Darrell Brooks, the suspect in the deadly Waukesha Christmas parade who was released on bail just a few days prior to the attack. 

"More stunning that the man accused of the heinous crimes, a career violent criminal, had been released just days before on a scant $1,000 bail. That was the recommendation of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's office. Chisholm had predicted years ago that his progressive criminal justice policies could set killers free; unfortunately he was right. The Milwaukee-area leaders assembled here today want to make sure John Chisholm's deadly prediction doesn't come true again," said Kittle.

Logsdon was personally touched by the tragedy. Her granddaughter was critically injured and has a long road to recovery. 

"We do need accountability, we cannot forget these victims. These victims are going through a lot of therapy. My granddaughter is actually in surgery right now as we have this conference. So, it's ongoing and we can't drop it and we have to make them accountable. We can't drop it," said Logsdon. 

Kittle says 16 lawmakers signed two letters to Governor Evers asking him to remove Chisholm from office but have yet to hear from Evers.

Empower Wisconsin also created an ad calling for Governor Evers to remove Chisholm from office. That ad started running on Monday in Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. 

This isn't the only effort in an attempt to remove Chisholm from office. In December of 2021, we reported a group let by Orville Seymer, filed a petition to Governor Evers requesting the removal of Chisholm from his position. 

Governor Evers' office released the following statement to CBS 58 regarding the petition: 

"Given the horrific tragedy that occurred in Waukesha and the severity of the claims in the petition, outside counsel was retained to give the petition fair and impartial review and make a recommendation based on that review." 

Outside counsel was retained on Dec. 23, 2021. 

Based on the findings from outside counsel's review of the petition, the Dec. 20, 2021 petition from Mr. Seymer "fails to meet the statutory standards necessary for Governor Evers to commence the process by removing Mr. Chisholm from office." 

Governor Evers' office says Seymer is being notified of this memo's findings. 

On Dec. 1, 2021, Gov. Evers sent a letter to Mr. Chisholm outlining several factors for both the internal review Mr. Chisholm previously indicated he would be conducting and the subsequent outcomes and changes necessary to help ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. 

The statement went on to say that in the event of new, additional facts, concerns or complaints raised, the governor will give that information full consideration and review to protect public safety and keep our communities safe.