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Both Forest County District Attorney hopefuls, Charles “Chuck” Simino, Forest County Potawatomi (FCP) in-house counsel and staff attorney, and Scott Moller, Assistant District Attorney of Langlade County, are planning to run for the office regardless of who is appointed by Governor Doyle to fill the position being vacated by Leon Stenz.

Stenz will become Florence and Forest County Circuit Court Judge in August.

Simino and Moller each applied to fill the vacant position and Governor Doyle is expected to appoint one of the two to complete Stenz’ term. An election for district attorney will be held once that term is completed.

Both Simino and Moller plan to be on the ballot for that election.

Simino graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1997 after earning degrees in Sociology and Behavioral Science & Law from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Simino has served in his position as in-house counsel for the FCP for the past 10 years and is a resident of Forest County. Before taking his current position, Simino enlisted in the Army and received an Honorable Medical Discharge.

See DA, Page 3A

He is married to Mary (Gilligan) Simino and together they have four dogs.

“I know the community. I know the issues that are important to people around here. I care about this community,” said Simino. “I care about what happens to the people and businesses here.”

Simino’s position has given him a great deal of experience in courtrooms all over the state, working mainly on criminal cases, although he said he has had experience with civil, family cases and intergovernmental work as well. He said his work also involves trying to improve relations between the tribes and townships. When asked to estimate how many cases he’s worked on in his career, he said somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 cases, although most are settled out of court.

Simino said he believes that his relationship with the FCP as well as Mole Lake and other neighboring tribes will help him “bring a unique understanding of the cultures and bring a balanced perspective to the courtroom.”

“I’m going to be fair to everyone,” said Simino. “Everyone will be treated the same, everyone’s equal.”

He went on to say that his goal was not to put people in jail but to help people get the services they need. In that regard, Simino said that some of the biggest problems facing the county are the growing drug problem, gang issues (which in combination increase weapons problems in the area), alcohol abuse and people writing bad checks and not getting the proper response.

Simino said he will make the office more accessible to the public.

“I’m from here. I want to make sure we have a safe place to live,” he said.

Moller is a 1995 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. He is a self described “career prosecutor,” having served as Assistant District Attorney in Langlade County and St. Croix County, a special prosecutor handling criminal cases across Wisconsin and as an attorney with Eckert & Stingl, SC, where he conducted civil litigation practice. In addition to his many legal positions over the years, Moller has taken attended several seminars on illegal drugs, protecting children online, obtaining and presenting electronic evidence and technology related crimes such as identity theft.

“I’ve got a background that provides the training to be a DA,” said Moller. “I’m looking forward to getting to know people and am interested in getting suggestions (from the public).”

Moller said he plans to be in Forest County on Fridays to get to know the people of the area and find out what issues are important to them. If you would like to arrange a meeting with him, call (715) 367-6975 or e-mail him at votemoller@gmail.com.

Moller is married to a CRNA (Certified Nurse) who works in Rhinelander and they have two children, Morgan, 17, and Sara, 9. The family currently lives in Oneida County, but if appointed to the position, Moller said he would move to Forest County.

“I live in Oneida (County) and work in Langlade (County). They’re all very close. I’ve spent my whole life in Wisconsin and spent most of my life in a small towns. It (Forest County) would be a good fit,” he said.

Throughout his career, Moller said he has dealt with cases involving violent crimes, drugs, white collar crimes, technology, child and elder abuse, traffic cases and alcohol related crimes. He said the reason he wanted to be a prosecutor when he was first getting into law was that you get to seek justice.

“You get to do what’s right all the time. It’s a great job,” he said. “You seek justice as a prosecutor, and you look at beyond reasonable doubt when charging.”

Moller also said he has a great deal of respect for soon-to-be judge, Leon Stenz.

“I have the background to hopefully follow in Leon’s footsteps. I think I could continue to work with him as judge,” said Moller.

He also remarked that his experience as an Assistant District Attorney has given him an understanding of many of the problems he might face in the DA office, such as under-staffing and state budget cuts, in addition to his experience with the types of cases he would have to oversee as DA.

Both Simino and Moller are democratic candidates, meaning that if they both receive the 200 plus signatures to get their names on the ballot, a primary will be held Sept. 9. The winner of the primary would be the democratic candidate for District Attorney in the general election Nov. 4.

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