Former state legislator and Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes — who has now launched a bid to be the next Democrat Governor of Wisconsin — was caught in video calling the release of prisoners “sexy.”
“Reducing prison population is now sexy,” Barnes said.
Barnes has historically championed the reduction of corrections spending and the slashing of prison populations.
“[We will] cut our prison population in half, make our communities safer, and save money in the process,” Barnes said in a campaign event. “We have a responsibility to reduce our prison population,” Barnes said in a separate incident. (RELATED: Underfunded and Under Fire: Council Overrides Johnson’s MFD Cuts)
Early in his career, Barness focused on criminal justice reform as an organizer for the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH).
During his failed senate bid, his opponent Sen. Ron Johnson exposed Barnes of deterring law enforcement through his radical anti-prison agenda.
“The dispiriting nature of attempting to cut or use the code words of ‘reallocate,’ ‘over bloated budgets,’ – my opponent says that it pains him to see a fully funded police budget. I mean, that type of rhetoric,” Johnson said, “Those types of policies are very dispiriting for police.”
As a state legislator in 2013, Barnes introduced legislation to ban assault weapons in the state, which critics say could leave citizens defenseless in the face of criminals.
That same year, he introduced another bill that would direct massive amounts of taxpayer money to develop a gun buy back program in the city of Milwaukee.
Other bills he introduced include AB243, which would have directed taxpayer funding to inmates to hire private attorneys, despite being assigned one by the court, and AB886, which would facilitate those convicted of felonies to vote.
Barnes record on prison inmates and against the rule of law has sparked wide controversy. However, Barnes is not the only candidate in the crowded Democratic primary to be surrounded by controversies.
His primary opponent, current assembly member Francesca Hong, is a staunch advocate against federal law enforcement and self proclaimed socialist.
Hong commonly uses vulgar language to describe her deep hatred for President Donald Trump and the federal government’s enforcement of the rule of law.
“Please note that the corrupt, crooked, cunts at The Tavern League do not represent the interests of all bars and restaurants.,” Hong wrote on social media in 2020 to express her disgust of the Tavern League Trade Association. “Since March I have pleaded that we need united messaging, a plan and policy in place to protect public health and the local economy. We still have neither.”
In another post, Hong compared Trump’s consideration of nursing not being a professional career to an attack on women. (RELATED: Mequon Sees Spike In Crime And Break Ins As Gangs With South American Ties Are To Blame)
“The Trump administration has so much disdain for women in the workforce. Like, who the fuck does this help?,” Hong wrote. “Downgrading professions historically filled by women makes it harder to get student loans and it makes future career advancement more difficult.”