Wisconsin Supreme Court

I haven't paid enough attention to the race in Wisco for a Supreme Court seat to be decided this fall. One of my loyal four readers, nonheroicvet, pointed me here. There are some pretty fishy things here. Back in March of 2002, there was a letter sent out concerning a breakfast with the then Gov. of WI, McCallum, a right wing ideologue who inherited the position when Tommy! went to be one of Bu$hCo's enablers. This letter indicates that a couple of folks connected to the Bad River Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Chair Mr. Bigboy & a lawyer for the tribe, Kevin Osterbauer were there. Also on the list were slum landlord Hank Martinson & his son Hank Jr., although rumor has it that he really isn't a Jr., another Martinson who may have distributed a racist joke via email, along with Gabelman, who was the DA of Ashland County at the time. This letter was sent out on official Ashland County stationary. There were a couple of other ReThugs present, including Shutterwi's pretty boy Sean Duffy, the present ReThug DA of Ashland County. Talk about a line-up & one can only hope that some day they all will be in a line-up. The gist of all this is that it appears Gableman got himself appointed a judge over in Burnett Co., without really being much of a judge, he was more like a real good ReThug. The goods. I've made the links workable in this passage.

Former Republican Governor Scott McCallum admitted Thursday he manipulated the judicial appointment process established by his own executive orders in order to appoint Republican Party official Mike Gableman, a McCallum donor and fundraiser, to the Burnett County Circuit Court.

“[A]s governor, the final decision to appoint a judge was mine alone…,” McCallum said through a Gableman campaign press release. The media has reported McCallum has refused press calls since an investigation by One Wisconsin Now released Wednesday showed Gableman was appointed judge after McCallum ignored established protocol for a candidate who neither applied in time, nor was a finalist recommended by McCallum’s own judicial advisory council.

The executive orders McCallum ignored, requiring a Judicial Advisory Panel screen potential judicial nominees and forward finalists for consideration to the Governor to ensure among other issues the “appointment of competent, public-minded lawyers of the highest integrity,” can be accessed here, page 2, page 3.

“Governor McCallum confirmed what we already knew, that Mike Gableman got his job as a judge because that’s what McCallum wanted for his donor and fundraiser,” said Scot Ross, Executive Director of One Wisconsin Now. “Why are there no state documents showing that Gableman ever formally applied for the job, that he was ever interviewed for the job, or that he ever answered the extensive questions designed to indicate his qualifications and competence to have the job?”

In his response, Gableman says his work on a couple of commissions provided McCallum with enough of an understanding of his (Gableman's) work to allow the appointment without going through the process. OneWisconsinNow found that on one of the commissions, Gableman missed 5 of 7 meetings. I guess he was Albert Einstein & Steven Hawking during those two meetings. This is how the ReThugs rule, by corruption. Give me money & I'll give you a judgeship. Jeez Louise, at least back when postmasters were "politically" appointed, they actually had to do the job. More or less.

So, while I'm not changing my vote, here's my recommendation: Vote Butler for crying out loud. We really don't need any more ReThug corruption. Plus, given this post, & 40 years of electing tough on crime types, how come we keep having crime? Apparently, they want to lock just about everyone up, except, of course, drunken drivers working for a ReThug State Attorney General.