Who is Alec Ballo?
Who is Alec Ballo?
My family rooted itself in Green Bay in 2009. In 2014, I graduated from Roger Williams University and in 2018, I graduated as a Badger from our beautiful state’s premier law school. While attending law school at UW-Madison, I organized my schedule so I could go home to Green Bay for my last year of law school and also work in the Brown County DA’s Office as a student prosecutor. After law school, I went on to work as an Assistant District Attorney in Brown County. I settled in the DA’s Office for Shawano and Menominee Counties from 2018 to 2021 as a Assistant District Attorney.
Currently, I am an Assistant District Attorney for St. Croix County, out in the western part of the state. My wife, Natalie, and I have a two-year-old son, Teddy, and we live in Hammond, Wisconsin. My wife and I met and fell in love in Shawano, where we both lived at the time. My mother and father live right down 29, in Green Bay. They have a cabin up north in Three Lakes that they call their forever home.
While in Shawano County, I developed bonds that will last me a lifetime and I found my calling in prosecution. I became a student of the profession. I found a sense of purpose. Being a prosecutor has become something of a 24/7 job but when you love what you do as much as I love prosecution, you do not always feel like you are working.
As a professional, I have always looked to push myself. Prosecution at a basic level is about taking a problem and solving it through the criminal justice system; and it’s not easy. For the last five years of my life, I have worked thousands of cases and helped fix many problems in various communities. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have touched as many lives as I have in what I hope is a positive way.
But now, I have watched bigger problems unfold in the Shawano and Menominee County DA’s Office. I still keep ties with various current actors within that criminal justice system, I read the news, and I have come to learn that there is a bigger problem facing our community. Our criminal justice system in Shawano County is faltering, and I think I have the solutions to some of its issues.
I am running for District Attorney for a few reasons: 1) I have friends in the criminal justice system and in law enforcement in Shawano County and Menominee County who could have a better life under proper leadership. They deserve a leader who will put his heart and soul into this work.
2) I want to give back to the Wisconsin and the communities that have given so much to me. I went to UW-Madison on in-state tuition, getting an amazing education at a discount because the State of Wisconsin believed in me. I owe the wonderful family I have started in the last two years to Shawano County, and I have friendships here that will never die. I have always been encouraged by friends living in Shawano County to return here. People tell me I don’t owe anyone anything, but I feel like I owe this community a favor and then some. My favorite years were in Shawano County. I want to return the favor it did for me and rise up to the task people know I can do.
3) I see a problem that needs fixing, and I am a fixer. I have had the privilege of working in various DA’s offices and connecting with prosecutors in many more offices. I have learned what works and what does not work, and I love implementing great and new ideas where I can. I feel like I learn from one of the best when I say that I currently work alongside one of the best DA’s in Wisconsin. I work in a fully-functioning office where it allows me to focus on certain challenges. But an office like the one in Shawano, presents bigger, different challenges. I need to push myself, and if The People of Shawano County and Menominee County choose me as their District Attorney, I can take on that bigger challenge and I can fulfill a bigger purpose. I am not looking to change much, but I am looking to do much better.
As a philosophy major in college, I came to the conclusion that my ultimate happiness will be found in impacting as many lives as I can in the most significant way that I can. I found that in being a prosecutor where I represent the State of Wisconsin in every case. But in Shawano County, representing the State is a little more personal for me. I found a particular place where I can make an impact like no other and find meaning in my work like nowhere else. I can do all that while bringing my son closer to his grandparents. It is a no-brainer decision for my family and everything we want to stand for.
This is Maple, who Teddy knows as “Bapple.”
“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.”
-Various attributions
This is a phrase that I have always abided by. What it means to me is that if you like the status quo, you can maintain it. If you don’t like the status quo, it is time to do something new.
I like new ideas and thinking a little outside the box as much as one can in a profession rooted in legal precedent. The beauty of plea negotiations is that it is a rather “non-traditional” aspect of our legal system. You can be creative. You can be efficient. And you can come up with unique solutions to unique problems to leave victims, defendants, and the community in a better place than you found them if you do it right.
Shawano County is simply not a place to just tread water. It is a place where you can grow as an individual and as a family. The people here deserve a criminal justice system that gets results and grows more effective over time. It can and should be an asset to our community. Failing to hold our elected official accountable is what led to situations we saw in the news where victims are not getting swift justice. Law enforcement here cares about their community, and there is a reason why our deputies and officers come to this county and stay here. They deserve a well-educated, qualified District Attorney to serve them. Doing what has always been done is not working anymore, and I want to give The People more.
