APNewsBreak: ‘Sexting’ Wis. DA rejects calls to resign, says he’s victim of ’smear campaign’

APNewsBreak: ‘Sexting’ DA rejects calls to resign

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin prosecutor caught sending sexually tinged text messages to a domestic abuse victim rejected growing calls to resign Friday and said he’s the victim of a “smear campaign.”

Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz said he only cares about the opinion of voters, who will decide whether he should stay in office when he runs for re-election in November 2012.

“If the citizens of this county would like a different individual as district attorney, they’ll have that option,” he told The Associated Press Friday morning.

Hours later, a more contrite Kratz said he was holding a news conference Friday afternoon to discuss his plans. Asked whether he would resign, Kratz said only he would address that question.

Gov. Jim Doyle, a former district attorney and state attorney general, was “surprised and shocked by these deeply troubling accounts,” spokesman Adam Collins said Friday. He said Doyle would meet with Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen to consider “all options” against Kratz, which would include starting the process to remove him from office.

Kratz acknowledged this week he had a “lapse of judgment” when he sent 30 text messages in three days last October to a woman whose ex-boyfriend he was prosecuting on strangulation charges. In the messages, he tried to spark an affair and called her a “hot young nymph.” She went to police to complain about the harassment and said she felt pressured to start a relationship.

The prosecutor stepped away from the case but tried to keep the matter quiet. In e-mail exchanges with state officials, Kratz played down the nature of texts, calling them “a series of respectful messages” and sought to keep them from the public, his peers and state regulators.

Under pressure, he reported himself to regulators and resigned as chairman of the Wisconsin Crime Victims’ Rights Board in December. The board has the power to reprimand public officials who mistreat crime victims; Kratz helped create it and had been its only chairman since 1998.

The board of the Wisconsin District Attorneys’ Association on Friday called Kratz’s behavior repugnant and “inconsistent with the standards of our profession.” In a letter being sent to Kratz, the group said such behavior would get anyone in their offices fired, and Kratz should reflect and take the appropriate action.

Otherwise, the group warned it will ask Doyle to consider removing him from office.

“He’s somebody who doesn’t appreciate the gravity of what he did and we need to convey that,” said Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol, who drafted the letter.

Kratz had no immediate comment on the letter. Earlier Friday, Kratz said the association had no authority to sanction him and he would be surprised if it got involved. He noted he was president of the association in 1996, and has never seen the group take a similar action against anyone else.

Meanwhile, attorney Michael Fox said Friday he is representing the victim, Stephanie Van Groll, of Merrill. He said he is trying to control “a media frenzy” on her behalf and investigating whether she has a legal claim against Kratz.

Fox said he believes he may be able to argue the text messages violated her civil rights and discriminated against her because of her gender. He said he has been surprised by Kratz’s lack of remorse.

“You would have to have a lapse of brain function in order to believe this could in any way be construed as innocent behavior,” he said. He added, “It doesn’t take a lot to text ‘I’m sorry’.”

Kratz said he has shown remorse, but the media coverage has been unfair given that he did not commit a crime and the Office of Lawyer Regulation found he did not commit misconduct. An investigator found in March that Kratz’s behavior was inappropriate but technically not a violation of rules governing attorney conduct.

“It’s just this kind of smear campaign that they try to avoid” by keeping misconduct investigations confidential, he said. Other Wisconsin attorneys have done far worse, he said, and “haven’t received near the attention or scrutiny that I have.”

State Rep. Fred Kessler of Milwaukee called on Doyle to appoint an investigator to review the matter and remove Kratz if his behavior in news reports is true.

Wisconsin’s largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, called on Kratz to resign in an editorial published Friday. Otherwise, the paper said voters should petition to recall him from office, a difficult step in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, American Indians Against Abuse and dozens of other advocates also joined the chorus calling for Kratz’s resignation.

Ralph Prescott, chairman of the Calumet County Republican Party, said residents have been very proud of Kratz’s record as the top prosecutor there since 1992. He noted that Kratz successfully handled cases against two men charged in the high-profile 2005 slaying of a photographer “professionally and with compassion.”

But Prescott said he is troubled by what he’s heard in news reports, and he’s trying to find out more details about what happened.

“It was kind of unavoidable on the radio the last two or three days,” he said. “It’s something that’s been nagging at me.”

Associated Press Writer Todd Richmond in Madison contributed to this report.