Corrupt Gableman Update

One Wisco Now is still trying to get someone to do the right thing concerning the completely corrupt Wisco Supreme Court Justice-elect Gableman. They have now filed a complaint with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. So far, the present Ashland Co. DA, Sean Duffy refused to investigate, guess which party he belongs to? J.B. Van Hollen, the Wisco Attorney General, the one who is afraid to attend the ReThug convention in St. Paul, MN, without armed body guards, refused to investigate. Yep, ReThug as well. Let's hope this complaint to the OLR finally results in some accountability. One Wisco Now put together this excellent chart to show the alleged criminal acts committed by Gableman.

Vote For Louis Butler Tomorrow

This is a crucial judicial election in Wisco. Those of us with brains & ethics lost last time to someone who was unable to separate her family's interests from the interests of the law. This time, it may be worse. Please, loyal four readers, & those of you who live in Wisco, Vote for Louis Butler for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Here's a letter I just received from Sen. Feingold:

On Tuesday, we have an opportunity to reelect a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice who has both the experience and integrity Wisconsin deserves. That person is Justice Louis Butler.

Justice Butler's 15-year record of fair and impartial judgments is something we can all be proud of as he has worked to make our state safer and stronger. With outside interest groups spending millions of dollars in advertising in an effort to buy the court, it's imperative that we protect the integrity of our State Supreme Court.

I'm proud to support Justice Louis Butler for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and I hope you will join me in voting to reelect him tomorrow, April 1.

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.