Gableman a Chip Off the Old Block?
Note to Mike Gableman: You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps.
Oft-overturned judge and Supreme Court candidate Mike Gableman made a questionable visit at this weekend’s Americans for Prosperity dittofest. The host organization, the big-oil funded Americans for Prosperity is run by Mark Block, who is no stranger to state Supreme Court races.
According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign:
Americans for Prosperity’s state director is Mark Block, a top fundraiser for President George W. Bush, who masterminded a plan to illegally funnel money into the 1997 reelection campaign of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox from wealthy, out-of-state backers of school voucher programs. Block was fined $15,000 and banned from consulting and volunteering on state campaigns until 2004.
The Democracy Campaign also notes Americans for Prosperity does business running issue ads with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce:
In February 2006, Americans for Prosperity first engaged in secret spending on issue ads in Wisconsin by teaming up with Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby, to air issue ads urging listeners to limit how much state and local governments and school districts can raise taxes without asking people to vote via a referendum.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which spent millions to get scandal magnet Annette Ziegler on the high court, could spend even more in its efforts to buy another seat on the court.
Only they can say whether they’ll be ‘teaming up’ again with Block’s group on this race. Either way, why would Supreme Court candidate Mike Gableman speak at this event knowing its host was fined and banned from politics for his illegal actions in a Supreme Court race?