MILWAUKEE — Parole has become a big issue in Republican Tim Michels' campaign against Gov. Tony Evers. He is trying to accuse Evers of releasing violent offenders with this claim:
"You know how many convicted felons Scott Walker laid out during his eight years early on parole, zero. Tony Evers is approaching 1000 of these that he's let out early," said Greg Borowski with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says the first thing to keep in mind is that many of the paroles were required by law.
The governor gets to appoint a parole commission chair, but the other members are not political appointees.
"Once a person reaches a certain point in his or her sentence, as completed sort of requirements, they must be released," said Borowski, of releases that are mandatory.
Here's another key point - parole releases have been going on under Republican and Democratic governors.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says during Scott Walker's two terms as governor, the parole Commission released 1397 people through discretionary and mandatory parole.
After one term under Evers, the number is 895, not the 1,000 claimed by Michels.
How many were violent offenders? 744 under Walker and 593 under Evers.
About half of those released fell into the discretionary category for Evers.
"Those discretionary paroles amounted to 51.5% of the total," said Borowski. "Under Walker, the percentage was 47.5% - not very different."
What about pardons versus paroles? Pardons are issued after someone serves their sentence.
"Walker pointedly issued zero pardons as governor and Evers has issued hundreds of pardons," Borowski said.
On the parole issue - PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Michels claim 'Pants on Fire'.
Editor's Note: This report has been updated to show Borowski's comments were made in light of the releases being mandatory.