Lawmaker, victim rights groups outraged over DA's texts to crime victim
Looks like this guy took a lesson from Lefty's book on hooking up in the courthouse!
Text messages that Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth R. Kratz sent to a domestic violence victim while prosecuting the woman's ex-boyfriend "could be construed as sexual harassment," a state Department of Justice official told Kratz in an e-mail.
The series of e-mails, released late Wednesday, show that Kratz told state officials his text messages were not sexual in nature, that he hoped the situation would not be made public and that he argued with officials who suggested he resign as chairman of the state Crime Victims Rights Board.
Outrage about Kratz's conduct continued to spread Thursday, with Rep. Terese Berceau (D-Madison) calling for him to resign and several victims' rights groups sharply criticizing his actions.
Kratz, a Republican who is up for re-election in 2012, said in a statement Wednesday that he would not resign. An aide to Kratz said Thursday he would not offer any additional comments about the situation.
In an e-mail to state officials in November, Kratz described the 30 texts he sent over three days in October to Stephanie L. Van Groll as "a series of respectful messages."
"Other than providing a few compliments to this young lady, it does not appear to be sexual at all," Kratz, 50, wrote of his texts to the 26-year-old woman.
Kevin Potter, administrator of the state's Division of Legal Services, disagreed with Kratz's characterization of the texts and said the messages could have compromised the prosecution of Van Groll's ex-boyfriend.
"Contrary to these assertions," Potter wrote in a reply e-mail, "your comments go well beyond mere compliments and cross the line into what could be construed as sexual harassment."
"Telling (Van Groll) she is pretty is complimentary," Potter continued. "Telling her several times she is 'hot' or referring to her as a 'tall, young hot nymph' certainly has sexual overtones as do your comments that 'You are beautiful and would make a great young partner someday' or 'I would want you to be so hot and treat me so well that you'd be THE woman! R U that good?' "
Potter wrote that Kratz's desire to keep news of the texts out of the media and his text messages to Van Groll in which he told her to keep quiet about the communication showed he knew his actions were wrong.