A Test for Torinus

 *UPDATE* I learned after posting this item that John Torinus decided not to serve on the WJCIC after all.  I am only aware of one news source that reported this change in his status and missed the development.

The Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee made a few late additions to their ranks, both of which were clear political conservatives. The more questionable addition seemed to be Serigraph CEO and frequent columnist John Torinus. His addition was not questionable because he is a conservative or a business executive, but because he also is a long-time board member of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). Everyone that has a television in Wisconsin should know that WMC totally saturates the airwaves with slick, poll tested, ads to prop up their chosen rubber stamp. So are we really expecting Torinus to objectively analyze what are essentially his own ads?

I bring up this dilemma in waiting because WMC has just launched their statewide campaign of negative attack ads against incumbent Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler. Although this and probably every other WMC attack ad will be about crime and punishment, a check of years of press releases show that they only care about this issue during election cycles. Setting that very obvious point aside for the moment, the attack ad covers some of the same topics used in other third party ads that were soundly criticized by WJCIC. So what will Torinus do when they analyze this first wave of attack ads from WMC? Will he recuse himself from those discussions? How can we trust him to judge the ads produced from his own organization? After all, his judgment wasn’€™t great when he tried to belittle the ethical violations of the last WMC backed candidate.