Judgment call
The spring election season is upon, us and I’d like readers to know more about Marilyn Townsend, who is running for a Dane County Circuit Court judgeship (“Townsend v. Karofsky,” 1/5/2016). In her long legal career, she has chosen to represent people who have been aggrieved by powerful institutions, people who need help in dealing with those in power who have vast resources. She’s appeared in courts of all levels: county courts, state appellate courts, federal courts and, most recently, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, representing an employee in a wrongful termination case. Experienced in all kinds of cases, she hasn’t limited herself to only one speciality and has often appeared in Dane County in juvenile court cases. That’s where I first met her, as we worked on cases together, frequently as lawyers for opposing parties. I was always impressed by how hard she worked and how sensitive she was to all parties’ concerns, and her ability to calm things down in often-emotional settings.
In addition, she is now in her third term as municipal court judge, elected by her community, by people who know her, who respect her judgment and temperament and who appreciate her knowledge and fairness in their courtroom. She is known for her ability to listen carefully to both sides in a dispute, an important quality in a judge.
Marilyn has the breadth and depth of experience to be an outstanding judge for us, to bring her sense of fairness, her integrity and values to our court.
Betsy Stampe (via email)
Voter suppression
Thank you for publishing my “Open Letter from a Poll Worker to the UW Student Who Tried to Vote yesterday” (2/17/2016). I’m amazed that a short, heartfelt letter from one of your readers became the No. 1 Isthmus.com story of 2016 (Isthmus.com, 12/26/2016), and I’m glad my letter had ripple effects nationwide.
Attorneys who were preparing to challenge Wisconsin’s restrictive voting laws spotted it and contacted me immediately. I agreed to be a witness in the federal trial and told U.S. District Judge Peterson about the student I addressed in my open letter. That student heard the Republicans who passed our voter ID law promise that “All you need is the same type of ID you use for buying booze, getting into a bar and getting prescriptions.” As a registered voter, he was understandably distressed when the out-of-state driver’s license that identified him for all those purposes was not good enough for voting.
Judge Peterson ruled that parts of our voter ID and other voting laws are unconstitutional, stating “Wisconsin’s strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease.” In-person voter fraud is effectively nonexistent, yet as of 2014 when the law was passed, 300,000 of Wisconsin’s registered voters, disproportionately minorities, faced what the court deemed to be undue burdens obtaining the necessary identification to vote. The margin of victory in Wisconsin’s presidential election was about 22,000 votes.
Todd Allbaugh’s testimony in the same trial described a 2011 closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers who are willing to turn voters away. I challenge Republican lawmakers to justify their “giddiness” because they saw the voter identification law as an opportunity to drive down Democratic turnout.
Gov. Scott Walker has defended voter ID, declaring that “it doesn’t matter” if there is only one incident of voter fraud in each election. Really? It doesn’t matter? On Nov. 8, I had to tell eligible voters their votes could not be counted. It mattered to them.
I challenge Gov. Walker to work the polls with me during our next election so he can be the one who turns eligible voters away.
Carrie Scherpelz (via email)
Many of us who are married or in committed relationships have a health care power of attorney for our spouses or other loved ones. It gives us the ability to make life-and-death decisions for them if they are sick or incapacitated.
The current voting laws in Wisconsin do not allow spouses to legally vouch for the identity or residence of each other when voting (“The End of Voter Registration Drives,” 1/5/2017). You can be empowered to turn off a loved one’s life support but you cannot swear to their identity or residence for voting purposes!
This is never talked about in the voter ID or other discussions. It should be, as a lot of politicians who call themselves pro-family actually are backing anti-family policies.
George Hagenauer (via email)
The earth is flat!
Re: “State’s Revised Climate Change Statement ‘Simply Incorrect,’ Say UW Scientists” (Isthmus.com, 1/9/2017): There are still a few people who think the earth is flat, so let’s only have maps but not globes till we get this issue sorted out.
Steven C. Schaefer (via comments)
Yep, we live in the land that thinks scientists are heretics again.
Francisco Hernandez (via comments)