Likely successor working as special prosecutor in DA’s office
By Vicky Wedig
SLN Staff
District Attorney Dan Necci resigned from the Walworth County DA’s office before the end of his tenure, and his likely replacement has been appointed as a special prosecutor in the office.
After deciding not to seek election to a second term as district attorney and losing a bid for judge in April, Necci submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Scott Walker on Aug. 23.
In the letter, Necci said he would resign his position as DA on Oct. 2 but cited no reason for his early departure.
Necci would have remained DA until January when a new district attorney elected in November would take over.
Former Walworth County court commissioner Zeke Wiedenfeld won the Aug. 9 Republican primary election in the race for DA and is running unopposed in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Necci’s last day in the district attorney’s office was Oct. 1, which left the operation of the office to Deputy District Attorney Haley Jo Johnson.
In an emailed statement, Johnson said a job opportunity came up for Necci before his term ended, and he chose to pursue that opportunity. She did not say what that opportunity was.
“DA Necci worked very hard to clear up as many cases and projects as he could before he left,” she wrote.
Johnson said she is handling the majority of the cases that made up Necci’s workload, but said caseloads of the three assistant district attorneys also have been modified since Necci’s departure.
“As deputy DA, I am in charge of the office until a district attorney is appointed by the governor or sworn in following the election,” she wrote.
Johnson asked Wiedenfeld to work as a special prosecutor in the office until he likely takes over as district attorney in January.
Wiedenfeld said he had to resign his non-partisan post as court commissioner to seek election to the partisan DA’s office. He resigned that post effective April 1. Johnson said she spoke to Wiedenfeld about his plans in the interim after he won the primary in August.
“He said he would be willing to volunteer as a special prosecutor in our office,” she said.
Johnson said she later learned Wiedenfeld could be paid as a special prosecutor, and he began working in the office Oct. 4 – three days after Necci’s departure.
“Part of the reason I’m here is because they’d be short an attorney,” Wiedenfeld said.
With Wiedenfeld prosecuting cases, the office retains the same staffing level it had before Necci’s resignation, Johnson said.
“With special prosecutor Wiedenfeld in the office, we have the same number of attorneys we will have once he takes over as DA in January, or if he receivers an early appointment by Gov. Walker,” she wrote. “So we do have sufficient personnel to handle all cases until he takes over as DA.”
