Look for more on this from Folkbum or MAL Contends or ben masel or other Wisconsin folk who diary here at Daily Kos, but in the meantime here are a few lines about what happened last night in the land of the cheesheads. (OK, Madison Guy has now written about this, blaming the lack of progressive voter turnout; fair enough, but the sleaze must be mentioned too.)
In the traditionally low-turnout spring election -- mostly local races such as county boards, village trustees, and school boards.....oh, and a supreme court race -- a distinquished sitting justice, the Honorable Louis Butler lost his bid for reelection to a light-weight, hand-picked, bought-and-paid for Republican "empty suit."
Meet the buyer of this supreme court seat after the jump.
The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce a self-proclaimed "business association" have been a powerful force, playing a role in numerous setbacks for progressive causes here for years now.
It was they who worked so hard and successfully to help Tommy Thompson occupy the governor’s mansion for nearly four terms.
When Thompson happily skipped out of Madison to head Bush’s Health & Human Services Dept. back in 2001, the WMC members failed in their efforts to help Thompsons’s LtGov Scott McCallum hold on to the governor’s office he had inherited. But they’ve made plenty of trouble for Governor Jim Doyle (who won Madison back for Democrats in ’02) ever since. And their latest campaign has set a new low for sleaze, helping fund Willie-Horton style ads which link – by lies – Justice Butler to early release of sexual predators.
Judge Butler, by all accounts including this one, has been a well-respected lawyer and jurist. His appointment, by Doyle in August 2004, to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court was greetd with enthusiasm because of the quality of the apointment; it was historic, as well (the first African American on the WI Supreme Court). The decisions Judge Butler has participated in on the court since then are examples of an independent and thoughtful legal mind at work.
They are also seen to create a 4/3 split on the court in favor of more "liberal" decisions. Therein of course is the problem for the right-leaning members of the WMC.
The narrowly-elected, new Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman (for the next 10 years!) has practiced law in a rural northern Wisconsin county for only half the time and experience that Butler can claim. Gableman was appointed to the circuit court bench in 2002 by Acting Governor Scott McCallum; his appointment came after the Gableman family participated in fundraisers, and wrote some large checks to McCallum's (failed) bid for governor.
If you recognize any CEOs or patronize any of the products offered by the WMC companies (link is above) write to them and protest the sleaze and the lies they have funded. Remind them that its deeply insulting to all of us, themselves included.