Justice System

State’s Two Largest Newspapers Change Grover Norquist from a “Zealot” to an “Advocate,” “Activist”

Apparently, some editing gremlins at both the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel feel confident that anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist is not an ‘€œanti-tax zealot.’€ So much so they edited the description of ‘€œzealot’€ from Saturday’€™s Associated Press story from this weekend’€™s round-up of the teabaggers’€™ latest ‘€œRepublican Rally for Failure’€ held in […]

Shameless, WPRI prepares new poll

Just days from embarrassing national media exposure questioning its ethics and credibility, WPRI is back with another poll, coming your way soon. WPRI is the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, although some suggest it is We Push Republilcan Ideas, like school choice, which didn’t look as good in the last poll as the numbers WPRI decided […]

“Justice” Alito has his own Joe Wilson moment

One of the more rousing cheers during the State of the Union last night came after President Obama called out the ridiculous ruling from the Supreme Court last week that threw open the door to a new flood of corporate cash into campaigns. The Bush boys, Justices Roberts and Alito, swore up and down during […]

Meet the Corporation

Meet the Corporation I had always heard of these faceless corporations so I thought it wouldn’€™t be very much fun to meet one. But now that the Supreme Court has officially made them persons (sorta like they did with George Bush) I thought maybe I’€™d do what I’€™d wanted to for a long time ‘€“ […]

Progressive Alert: MacIver Institute’s Phony ‘Reporting’

Over the past months, a staffer from the conservative MacIver Institute has been attending press conferences in Madison and Milwaukee, armed with a camera to take footage and attempt to get interviews with legislators and other elected public officials. Be warned: The MacIver Institute is a not a news service. It is not a member […]

What the voters thought of Louis Butler — and why

The Obama administration is going to renominate Louis Butler for appointment as a federal judge. The Senate returned the nomination to the White House, along with several others, when it recessed at Christmas. A GOP flack offers this negative comment on Butler: “Voters across the state decided not to elect him to continue serving on […]

2009: The Best and Worst

As is the tradition, a tour through the best and worst of the year. The Best The year started off on the high note that was watching the Worst President Ever leaving the White House for the last time, which brought with it another yearly best: the endless video compiliations of the worst Bush moments. […]

The Irony of Who’s Behind the Latest Attack on Louis Butler

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler is under attack from a septic tank full of conservative slags. Among them, unindicted Jack Abramoff cohort Grover “Bipartisanship is a form of date rape” Norquist and, Family Research Council President Tony “I paid David Duke $82,500” Perkins, who authored a letter objecting to Butler’s nomination to the […]

Expanding our rights

We hold these truths to be self evident … Rights, that among these are lying, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What’s that? You don’t remember the right to lie being enumerated? A panel of three Wisconsin judges took care of that oversight today. Candidates for public office — specifically one Michael Gableman — have […]

Wisconsins Supreme Court is now officially up for sale

Fellow citizens ” did you hear the good news? The Wisconsin Supreme Court is up for sale! So come now, fellow peasants! Let us pool our unemployment checks and the couple extra dollars those of us lucky enough to have a job can afford and try to outbid Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and buy ourselves […]

GAB Gums ACM

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has shown a total lack of teeth in its pathetic determination to fine All Children Matter a measly $500.

Sensenbrenner’s outrage over Butler appointment?

“Where was Sensenbrenner’s outrage when George Bush made John Ashcroft the Attorney General immediately after Ashcroft lost a statewide election to someone who had died? How about after Bush made Spencer Abraham the Energy Secretary immediately after he lost reelection to his Senate seat? This is another example of the Republicans’ willingness to stop at […]

Harsdorf, Hraychuck propose bill to collect +400k DNA samples a year

According to this Office of Justice Assistance report, 415,543 arrests were made in 2008, equivalent to roughly 7% of Wisconsin’s 5.6 million population. About 100,000 of those arrests were of juveniles. Based on legislation proposed by Reps. Sheila Harsdorf and Ann Hraychuck, law enforcement officials would be required to collect DNA at every one of […]

Wisconsin Judicial Commission Head to Gableman: You Lie

At today’€™s hearing before the three-judge ethics panel convened to determine whether Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman should be disciplined over a false (and racist) campaign ad he launched against then-Justice Louis Butler, the head of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission summed up Gableman’€™s notorious ad: ”Let’s say what it is – it’s a lie,” James […]

ABC Tells Wausau Media Stossel “Doesn’t Endorse Organizations” Week Before He Endorses Americans (read: Republicans) for Prosperity

Corporate-accountability foe and GOP darling ABC News 20/20 Host John Stossel has been slithering around our great state with a traveling rumba of rattlesnakes from Republicans for Prosperity. One Wisconsin Now has dubbed these ‘€œRepublican Rallies for Failure,’€ as part of a Republican strategy, financed by Republican special interests to defeat Democratic President Obama no […]

Domestic Partner Foe Appling: Lying to Us Then, Or Now?

Appling: “If the state Legislature wants to take up adoption and inheritance rights, it can do that” if the amendment becomes law, Appling said. “Nothing in the second sentence prohibits that.” [Associated Press, 12/8/05] Appling: “Contrary to the message being given by opponents of the amendment, the second phrase does not ‘ban civil unions.’” [Daily […]

A judge with poor judgment? Isnt that, like, kind of against the point?

Serially ethical recidivist Supreme Court ‘€˜Justice’€™ Mike Gableman has made headlines again. This time, he escapes by the skin of his now-perfectly aligned teeth to avoid reprimand from the Office of Lawyer Regulation for making illegal fundraising phone calls from his Burnett County District Attorney office phone. Paul Schwarzenbart, lawyer for OLR wrote “for lack […]

The Quickening Descent to Corporate-Owned Hell

If there was any debate about the rising influence of corporate interests like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce before the State’€™s highest court, the last two weeks have ended the discussion. It now appears the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wisconsin’€™s corporate crooks. Those of you following One WI Now’€™s reporting on […]

The GOP’s Chief Judicial Racist

Here’s a link to the story about rank(ing) Judiciary Committee Member Sen. Jeff Session (R-Asshole, er…Alabama) that lays out his long career of racism. In fact, he was such a known racist that he was rejected by the U.S. Senate for a judgeship that Ronald Reagan nominted him for. http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8dd230f6-355f-4362-89cc-2c756b9d8102 Just a couple of the […]

Gableman and Ziegler: The Corporate Lap-Dog Bloc of the WI Supreme Court

Once again, the dependable corporate lapdogs on the Wisconsin Supreme Court bought and paid for by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce come through in the clutch for corporate interests. Justices Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler, beneficiaries of millions of dollars in spending from WMC during their run for the Supreme Court, ruled yesterday that owners of […]

Why Wouldn’t Sean Duffy Investigate Gableman?

In April 2008, One Wisconsin Now requested Ashland County District Attorney Sean Duffy investigate allegations that Mike Gableman, while serving as Ashland District Attorney, made illegal fundraising calls from his state office for then-Gov. Scott McCallum. As the DA where the alleged violations took place, Duffy’s office would be the most logical place for the […]

US Supreme Court speaks; Are Ziegler and Gableman Listening?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Wisconsin Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman must disqualify themselves from hearing any cases involving Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. That is an oversimplification, but not by much. Here is how the NY Times summarized the decision in a front page story today: Elected judges must disqualify themselves from […]

WMC: Union Busters, Liars

Maybe pressure from the public kept Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on the sidelines in the spring Supreme Court race. Perhaps a new progressive majority at the Capitol forced WMC to ‘€œreassess’€ its pro-corporate, anti-worker lobbying efforts. Or maybe the corporate titans at WMC were just biding time, saving their money, energy and whatever modicum of […]

Koschnick Ad Full of Distortions; Breaks Clean Campaign Pledge

MADISON, Wis. — The judicial ethics of Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick are under fire after breaking his own clean campaign pledge by attacking Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in a television advertisement with several dubious claims. “It’s telling about his ethics that Randy Koschnick has broken his own clean campaign pledge,” said Scot […]

Source of Koschnick’s funny numbers revealed

Ever wonder where Randy Koschnick’s campaign gets the funny numbers it uses in its bogus claims about Shirley Abrahamson’s record? Now it can be told, thanks to the latest campaign finance report Koschnick filed with the Government Accountability Board. Koshnick has gone to Ms. New Math herself — Jessica McBride Bucher. She can be relied […]

Facts Behind the Koschnick Ad Farce

Randy Koschnick today broke his clean campaign pledge in rip-roarin’ style, attacking Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in a 30 second TV ad, that for now, is only available on the “internets.” Judicial integrity and ethics are critical for Wisconsin’€™s courts and Koschnick’s ad is the latest in a series of half-truths and distortions […]

With Koschnick on the bench, leggies would rule

The last debate is over, and you have to say one thing for Randy Koschnick: He’s consistent. There’s another thing you can say, too. With him on the Supreme Court, you can forget about those pesky checks and balances. What the legislature wants, the legislature gets. His message in the final debate had a familiar […]

Supreme Court Numbers Debunk Koschnick Distortions about Crime Rulings

MADISON, Wis. — A painstaking analysis by One Wisconsin Now of more than 4,000 decisions made by the Wisconsin Supreme Court during the current term of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson proves Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick has misrepresented Abrahamson’s record. A full accounting of her decision making shows the Chief Justice has supported the state’s […]

No Surprise: Koschnick Caught Distorting AGAIN

If Randy Koschnick is one thing, he’€™s consistent. Time and time again, he has grossly distorted Chief Justice Abrahamson’€™s record. Fortunately, we here at OWN are willing to do the due diligence and research that Koschnick has no interest in doing. Randy Koschnick has claimed over and over again that Chief Justice Abrahamson ‘€œsides with […]

Over time, garbage smells better to Bucher

Judge Randy Koschnick, would-be Supreme Court member, defends his willingness to try to get killer Ted Oswald off, while working as a public defender, by saying that Paul Bucher, then Waukesha County DA, who prosecuted the case, said Koschnick did a great job and has endorsed him. That’s certainly not what Bucher said at the […]

Randy Koschnicks Phantom 60 Percent Number “- Where is the Proof?

Judicial ethics are essential in Wisconsin. Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick has made the claim Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson sides with criminals 60 percent of the time. While a number of media outlets have reported this phantom figure, Koschnick has refused to adequately explain what this number represents or how he arrived […]

Standing up for workers…the Employee Wage Protection Act

A critical piece of legislation that would protect workers all across the state is up for a vote in the WI State Senate, and we need your help. The Employee Wage Protection Act, Senate Bill 2, would put workers first in the event a business closes or goes bankrupt. In these tough times, it’€™s more […]

Is Koschnick’€™s defense of cop killer an issue? Right-wing hypocrisy sure is

As an organization that believes everybody has a right to their day in court, One Wisconsin Now is keenly aware that Wisconsin conservatives have championed the smearing of defense attorneys and the erosion of the rights of the accused. Ask former Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, the subject of millions of dollars worth of attacks […]

Koschnick’s Seamus Flaherty is Shameless…

After the first Supreme Court debate, Randy Koschnick’s right-hand-sleaze-man Seamus Flaherty set the tone for the coming public debate on the Supreme Court: more lies, more mistruths, more distortions. During the debate, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson pointed out the Judge Koschnick was incorrect in stating the Wisconsin was the only state in which a decision […]

Hypocrisy Alert: What Koschnick is Hiding about ‘Bloody Shoes’ Case

MADISON, Wis. — Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick’s criticism of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for overruling him on evidence in the murder trial of Matthew J. Knapp, conveniently ignores that Koschnick ruled in the same case to exclude an essential piece of evidence which subsequently convicted Knapp – two pairs of the murderer’s shoes stained […]

Judge Koshnick wears bloody shoes

There’s an old political term you may have heard, called “waving the bloody shirt.” There are multiple theories about its origins, but it usually refers to a politician using images of past violence to stir up the electorate’s prejudices and win support. The word demagogue is often used in connection with it. Which brings us […]

Wisconsinites Demand Gableman, Ziegler Recusal; OWN Delivers 2,400 Petitions

MADISON, Wis. — Citizens from across Wisconsin are calling for state Supreme Court Justices Annette Ziegler and Mike Gableman to recuse themselves from a case favored by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the big-business lobby which spent over $4 million during their campaigns. Today, One Wisconsin Now delivered 1,200 petitions to both Justices, signed by citizens […]

Nass: Hypocrite, Law Breaker?

University of Wisconsin-obsessed Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) launched a laughable attack yesterday against the UW and Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson because an internship with Abrahamson’s campaign was on the UW Law School website. Nass said this was misuse of taxpayer funds and by god, he wants justice. He wants answers. Funny, but we […]

Gableman was the offender, not the victim

Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign isn’t one to let the facts spoil a good story when he’s on a crusade for his version of clean politics. Case in point: The Badger Herald’s upbeat story, headlined, “Candidates to run cleaner Supreme Court race,” which says: After the negative tone of last election, during which […]

UPDATE: Petitions Pour In Demanding Gableman, Ziegler Recuse

Less than 12 hours after OWN asked concerned citizens to demand WMC-backed Justices Gableman and Ziegler recuse from the Virnich and Moores case, over 700 petitioners saw the obvious conflict of interest and signed the OWN petition. (If you haven’t signed the petition yet, join the party here!) Having previously been part of the Virnich […]

Koschnick Courts the Gun Lobby

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s opponent, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick, had barely filed his nomination petitions when he began pressing the flesh — at a gun show in LaCrosse. Koschnick told WXOW-TV the gun show gave him a chance to meet voters. It was such a good chance he campaigned there two days in […]

Take Action Today: Tell WMC’s Hand-Picked Justices to Recuse

The headline reads “Case could rewrite corporate law in Wisconsin” and arguments before the Wisconsin State Supreme Court begin this week. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has already made it known how it would like the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule. And who can forget the millions of dollars WMC spent supporting corporate-friendly and ethically-challenged judges […]

Non-Judge Esenberg’s decision reaffirmed as correct

Yesterday, in this space, we took a very tiny poke at Rick Esenberg, Esquire, after WisPolitics announced Atty. Essenberg was not a candidate for the State Supreme Court. We observed that for someone to get elected to the high court some time on the bench, somewhere, has been almost mandatory. And Esenberg has never been […]

A judicious decision

From WisPolitics: Marquette University law professor Rick Esenberg has decided not to jump into this spring’s state Supreme Court race. Esenberg, who also writes the blog “Shark and Shepherd,” said he was approached about a run but decided against it. Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick is the only candidate to announce that he will challenge […]

The Koschnick Train Wreck in Jefferson County

Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick wants to take a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court but does he plan to bring the same dissension to Madison that he has fostered in Jefferson? A report in the Captial Times Tuesday reveals a lot about Randy Koschnick. It is based on the comments of his fellow Jefferson […]

Koschnick Full of Schmitz

The slime machine behind the infamous and racist Mike Gableman ‘€œWillie Horton’€ ad has a new benefactor ‘€“ Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick. Darrin Schmitz, who continues to serve as a Gableman mouthpiece on the numerous on-going ethics investigations of the newest Supreme Court Justice, was the first to let reporters know Koschnick was gearing […]

Gableman just needs an editor

That slimy commercial that Michael Gableman ran against Louis Butler in the Supreme Court race — the one roundly condemned as false and racist? It was simply a matter of the script being “poorly worded.” That’s what Jessica McBride says, and she should know. More here.