A chat with Evan Goyke, Milwaukee's new city attorney

By Alexandria Staubach

Evan Goyke is being sworn in as Milwaukee city attorney today during a ceremony at City Hall. Goyke recently won election to the position after challenging incumbent Spencer Tearman.
 
Tearman’s administration has been embroiled in controversy since his election in 2020, with accusations ranging from sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment to, most recently, an inspector general report that found that Tearman’s deputy city attorney, Odalo Ohiku, may have continued to do private legal work while serving as deputy.
 
Readers in Wisconsin’s 18th Assembly district are likely familiar with Goyke. He has served as the district’s representative in the state Legislature since 2012. A longtime supporter of criminal justice reform, Goyke advocated to relax Wisconsin’s pardon and expungement laws, among other things.
 
WJI’s Alexandria Staubach spoke with Goyke last week, during a break between briefing sessions bringing Goyke up to speed on the inner workings of Milwaukee’s municipal government.
 
Staubach: How do you view the role of city attorney?
 
Goyke: I view the firm (the city attorney’s office) as having two functions. I look at it as internal and external. Some of the internal roles, like defending and evaluating liability during litigation, contribute to the internal workings of the city. This most basic function of the firm occurs largely behind the scenes. This is the part that the public doesn’t engage with but is a core function for the firm to be in working order before the office can accomplish any public facing objectives.
 
Its other role is external, in that the office is directly engaging with the public. The most basic example is municipal court, but we also have a really important role in economic development protections and public safety initiatives.
 
I think over the last few years the city has failed to meet the demands of the office’s internal functions and you can’t do those external jobs well if the internal functions aren’t working properly.
 
The goal for the office will be first to meet those essential internal functions and then rebuild its external functions.
 
You’ve long been an advocate for criminal justice reform. How will that intersect with your new role as city attorney?
 
My experience in criminal justice certainly informs how I want to approach the prosecutorial roles of the city attorney. We have to ask ourselves, “What do real people and real people’s lives look like in Milwaukee?” I think sometimes people allow municipal courts to go unexamined because jail is not really an available penalty. In my time advocating for justice reform, if we go back and look at people’s records, it often starts in municipal court. Unpaid citations and license suspensions have a huge impact on people’s lives and often that’s where a criminal record begins to accumulate. Municipal court is often the seed.
 
Then of course I hope to bring transparency to the office and to make sure we’re administering equitable outcomes for Milwaukee.
 
I can’t snap my fingers here but I want to be a partner in getting to “yes” and making changes that will lead to equitable outcomes — we will need judges though, and we will need city counsel in order to deliver better outcomes.
 
The city attorney’s office has a reputation for being understaffed. What will you be looking for when filling vacancies?
 
I’m going to be looking for experience given the enormous turnover recently. The firm has lost a lot of its institutional knowledge. But I will also be looking for mission driven people. People with a passion for the public sector and a passion for our community, who care about the city — staffing with people who want to be an important part of the city’s future.
 
What is the biggest challenge the city attorney’s office currently faces?
 
For three years it’s been in crisis management mode. The biggest challenge will be getting out of that and charting a course forward for 2024. We can’t achieve any of the greater responsibilities of the office if we’re missing court dates or not fulfilling the internal functions of the firm. 
 
Can you forecast any special projects for the office?
 
I definitely want to explore options to mitigate the punitive nature of fees and fines in municipal court. Where appropriate I think we can focus on community service rather than payment. While license suspension for failure to pay is warranted in some situations, I also think there are some situations where it will only make things worse for that individual. If a person’s background and behavior doesn’t warrant suspension,  why are we doing it? I want to be part of offering alternative options.
 
After we’ve addressed the internal and external functions of the firm, I also want to implement a program directed at housing and building code violations. There are a lot of people paying good money for problem property. One of my central objectives will be implementing new strategies to enforce building and housing codes and hold problem property owners accountable.
 
But again, these things only come as we put the fires out and push forward.

Milwaukee City Hall. Photograph by Alexandria Staubach.