J'Accuse!
- I accuse Madame Brenda of harboring asian beetles in her woodpile.
- I accuse One Scot Ross of sleeping with a Ronald Reagan nightlight.
- I accuse State Rep. Mark Pocan of egregious acts so nefarious they defy description except by unnamed sources speaking on conditions of anonymity so as to preserve their professional relationships.
- I accuse Ann Walsh Bradley, justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, of going all choppy socky with her flying fists of fury on Justice David Prosser. HEE-YAH!
Prove it? Let them deny it!
No, I will not make a formal complaint to the police. That may require that I give sworn testimony. Been pretty busy.
Instead, I will try my case in the news media -- including the "new media." Make my accusation so that you can rush to judgment. Let it go viral!
Oh, I may lodge one or more of these complaints with some board or commission, the more obscure the better. Dane County has a Tree Board, Brenda. The Ethics Board is a favorite dumping ground for spurious complaints.
Needn't be true, just salacious enough to get public notice. The wheels of justice grind slowly; by the time your victim is exonerated the election will be over, the damage done, and the news will be buried on page 19 if it is reported at all.
Accuse first, exonerate later
State Sen. Dan Kapanke knows what I am talking about. For his temerity in running against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin accused the Republican challenger of "accepting money from lobbyists for personal use."
Not good! The party lodged the complaint before the Government Accountability Board two months before the November 2010 election. This sentence in gives away the game:
The complaint provided by the Democratic Party to The Associated Press was expected to be filed ...
Not until April, five months after the election, , "Kapanke cleared of charges." But the harm had already been done. Kapanke lost a close race in a Republican surge year by only 3 percentage points.
(Thanks to the Divine Miss Vicki for the concept, which she first developed on her radio show Monday.)
The lynch mob don't need no proof
Now the liberals on the Dane County Board are circulating a letter urging Justice Prosser to take a leave of absence, .
The Capital Times is wringing its hands about "." (Sounds like something for a urologist.) A more dishonest, cynical Orwellian editorial is hard to imagine. It could not even bear to give Prosser even one sentence of self-defense without truncating it so that it lost all meaning.
Prosser, after initially refusing to comment, now claims that a review of the "facts surrounding (the incident)" will offer him some measure of exoneration.
"Some measure?" That is NOT what he said. That is dishonest. Prosser said clearly and succinctly that, "Once there's a proper review of the matter and the facts surrounding it are made clear, the anonymous claim made to the media will be proven false."
Bradley, meanwhile, is "a veteran jurist known as the court's most congenial member." Who named Ann Walsh Bradley as Miss Congeniality? The Capital Times just did. Weren't you paying attention?
This editorial was published today, on June 29, well after other news sources, led by Christian Schneider, , and followed by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, describe eye-witness accounts that had Bradley charging Prosser and shaking a fist within inches of his nose, of having to be pulled away, of being chastised by other justices. "This is not like you, Ann," said one of them.
Not a word in the CT editorial.
The Capital Times is like Greece with a new MasterCard. Or Democrats back in control of Joint Finance.
It is busy spending down its credibility after laughably calling Dave Mahoney, "." Except that the Dane County sheriff, a partisan Democrat (who I admire in many ways), decided he was not the right lawman to investigate, after all. Not when it was revealed that he endorsed Prosser's opponent in the Spring election and appeared in an Abrahamson TV commercial in 2008. (Along with Judge Sumi. Hmmm.)
I'm also not thrilled that the outlet that originally reported the story somehow failed to check with the three other conservative judges who, reading between the lines, are pretty clearly backing Prosser's account.
Did the world end today?
Sometimes, the news is what didn't happen. Yes, Act 10, the Wisconsin budget and its collective bargaining restrictions, went into effect today. And no public employee got laid off in Wisconsin, that is.
But in Connecticut, "Gov. Daniel P. Malloy proposed nearly 5,500 layoffs and the elimination of another 1,000 unfilled positions Tuesday at a time when the state's unemployment rate is 9.1 percent," .
In California, "universities, courts and the poor would be among those losing funding in the new California budget. Officials admit the plan would not restore the state to fiscal health." .
The Wisconsin government employees unions' federal lawsuit alleges, among other things, financial harm -- to the unions if they lose automatic payroll deduction. that:
No provision of Act 10 precludes [the union's] members from making dues payments or otherwise financially supporting [the unions'] activities. Thus, any reduction in dues income that Plaintiffs experience will be a direct result of their respective members making individual choices to forego paying their union dues. Furthermore, any resulting "harm" to Plaintiffs will be offset by the financial benefits to those members, if any, that choose to refrain from paying their union dues.
Is WEAC the Mafia? The Dems' Senate recall candidate !
Our liberal acquaintances (for they ARE ...) are dee-lighted that some "millionaire Republicans" donated big time to legalize gay marriage in New York. Kind of puts Citizens United v F.E.C. into a new light, doesn't it? Liberals support unlimited political donations - if the cause is theirs, .
Good luck to Dan Moeser, just retired as Dane County Circuit Court judge. Had to put up with all kinds of nonsense from The Kathleen when she tried to micromanage the judiciary. A truly wise and gentle man. Would you consider doing the supreme court, Dan?