Be Very Scared, Liberals
Written by Daniel on March 15, 2007 – 1:39 pm - Welcome, if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to our email newsletter. Thanks for visiting!
The vast right wing conspiracy is fully engaged in the ongoing battle for Wisconsin’s judicial system.
We have reports that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend up to $2 million on the race. “Larry Akey, a spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform said the race is ‘very important to the business community,’ but declined to say whether his group is involved in the race or how much it would spend.”
We have reports that Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce plans to spend up to $2 million on the race. “WMC officials have also refused to say how much they are spending, but FCC records show they have reserved more than $250,000 worth of TV air time in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Wausau over the next three weeks.”
There’s Wisconsin Club for Growth, Inc., modeled on the national Club for Growth. The Club reportedly spent $250,000 on the primary for Ziegler and could spend that or more on the general as well.
We have Wisconsin Right to Life getting involved: “Sue Armacost of Wisconsin Right to Life said it will spend money on ads and mailings advocating a vote for Ziegler as well as so-called “issue ads” that stop short of telling voters how to vote. She declined to give an estimate about how much the group would spend, but noted its strength lies with its membership, which numbers about 500,000.”
With all that advertising, the ideas sector of the Conservative Movement is on the move as well. A senior fellow from The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank, penned an aggressive op-ed in the Wall Street Journal attacking Clifford for her liberalism.
Now today the Federalist Society is wading into the fight. Not directly, of course, since the Society is a 501c3 think tank that only talks about ideas; it does not support or oppose candidates. It can, however, talk about issues.
To that end, today the Society released a poll of 500 likely Wisconsin voters conducted by the polling company earlier this month. The poll found that Wisconsinites, by huge majorities, prefer judicial restraint to judicial activism. The poll also found widespread disapproval for many of the Court’s most egregious acts of activism, including the lead paint and med mal caps decisions. The poll tracks similar results seen in the WMS/POS poll from last year.
The Society also released this week a major white paper by adjunct professor law at Marquette Rick Esenberg looking at the recent jurisprudence of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His conclusion is clear: “This is a critical juncture. The court is now more or less evenly divided between two groups of justices who have dramatically different notions of the role of the judiciary.” The White Paper closely tracks the Hallows Lecture delivered at Marquette Law last year by Judge Diane Sykes, formerly a Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and before that a WPRI column by radio talker Charlie Sykes. For more on specifically business liability, see WMC and WEDA.
The Society is taking this seriously, too, hiring a well-known Beltway public relations firm to pitch the report to journalists around the state.
The only wing of the movement yet to get into this race in any serious way is the pro-family values (distinct from the Right to Lifers) groups. The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin has rechristened itself the Wisconsin Family Council, Inc., as of today. It remains a 501c3 educational organization. It is affiliated with Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. Even though technically a 501c3, as Heartland and the Federalist Society show, they can still weigh into the race in a limited but important way. We know that Fair Wisconsin, the state’s leading LGBT rights group, is out there spending and organizing on this race; I would appreciate it if WFC didn’t rely on the business groups to carry its water and got involved in this race as well.
This race also points out one thing the Wisconsin Conservative Movement is lacking - a dedicated message machine. One Wisconsin Now (OWN) Action has taken a leading role in pushing out press releases hounding Ziegler with some basic opposition research stuff. OWN Action is the group that got going on Ziegler’s Republican political connections, and the group that keeps up this current ethics broohaha. Its research has been cited by the Wisconsin State Journal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Racine Journal Times, and Greater Milwaukee Today, among others.
Wisconsin Conservatives are great- we’ve got WMC, WRTL, the newly named WFC, and a number of other conservative leaning groups. But we’ve got no one group that pushes the message, that collates it all, like the liberals have in OWN (and to a lesser extent in Citizen Action of Wisconsin).
That’s okay. The vast right wing conspiracy is still alive and well. And even if one small part of the grand coalition may be missing, we’ve still got enough firepower to win this race rather handily.
Last 5 posts by Daniel- Why Van's the Man - January 5th, 2009
- 9th Cir. Screws up Scouts' Case - January 5th, 2009
- Favorite Moment in the Final Days - December 29th, 2008
- Over on MULS Faculty Blog - December 29th, 2008
- The Race for DPI Superintendent - December 29th, 2008
Posted in Ministry of Strategery |
March 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Wow. You’re seriously proud to announce that the conservatives are buying the race for Supreme Court? After buying the AG race, I guess there is no lower ground for you to stoop to. Well, at least Ziegler is about to lose her license to practice law, so we’ll still have a majority. Cheers!
March 15th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
You’re crazy man… don’t declare victory too soon. We need someone like Zeigler in there, but lets not start boasting our few groups compared to the gorillas on the other side. Right now they are sleeping…
March 15th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Daniel -
Why should “liberals” be scared about this particular race? The retiring Justice is perhaps the most conservateive member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Conservatives have to win this race just to stay in place. It’s the conservatives who are running scared — as demonstrated by the frantic effort by WMC and others to prop up a candidate who looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
Wouldn’t you have thought that Rick Esenberg or one of the other “adjunct” professors at your fourth-tier law school would have taught her better?
March 15th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
I take offense to that Wally… I met Annette and she’s a very wise person knowledgeable about the law and constitution. She will base all her decisions based on the constitution and not rewrite what it says with a political agenda. Isn’t that who you’d like on the courts?
The fact that others have jumped into the endorsement pattern is what Dan is talking about, not her character or qualifications.
March 16th, 2007 at 6:59 am
SPET3R- I too have met Ziegler in professional settings and she is so far from wise it is not funny! Her character is obviously flawed and her qualifications are questionable. The ethical rules she violated are simple, basic, and mandatory. And she repeatedly violated them. It is either extraordinary ignorance (read: stupidity) or extraordinary arrogance (read: rules don;t apply to me).
March 16th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Voice of reason, please elaborate on your personal experience with Ziegler. Why is she stupid and arrogant? And I don’t want your party line answer, just your specific experience. I am NOT a Republican, but it seems to me Democrats are so stupidly FOR activist judges it boggles my mind. Constitutionally, and in my opinion ethically, activist judges are in the wrong. It is not their right, prerogative, duty, or within any sensible definition of their purview to make policy. It is their duty to judge policy only insofar as it relates to constitutionality. On that alone I could never support Clifford. It also seems to me significantly more egregious the judgements she has(and will) mete out in favor of trial lawyers, than Ziegler’s faulted deeds. What I want to know is, on first hand experience what are Ziegler’s problems?
March 16th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
We can archive this posting.
The Club for Growth is under FBI and FEC indictment, not an investigation…an actual indictment for fraud, for money laundering and for violating the elections laws in several states.
Be very proud you support a terrorist organization like the Club for Growth.
The last two weeks are no going to fare well for Ziegler, the media is covering her unethical conduct, the blogs are flourishing with her scams, and the outside money is getting attention.
Wisconsinites do not like outsiders in their elections.
Remember Nov 2006? Green had such a lead, and he lost.
Now he lost his lawsuit. HE CANNOT KEEP ANY OF THE $478,000 he tried to weasel by our state laws.
Who masterminded that moronic stunt?
Mark Graul, the guy running Ziegler’s campaign!
So you are accepting election can be bought, to heel with the voters of Wisconsin. If they are stupid enough to let the outside money run more TV ads, that’s tough?
We’ll see young Republican.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Since the writer of this post seems concerned about morals I would think he might employ those thoughts on the Court Race. Are her actions on the Circuit court moral, and is buying an election as he described a moral way to run a democracy? Big thoughts for sure, but his writing in the past that makes him sound downright virginal makes me think he may not be sincere about his past writings.
Having said that I think Annette woudl serve her State best by leaving the race.
Ziegler has crossed the boundaries of ethics, and the judicial conduct rules. There is clear evidence that improper conduct has taken place. It is a most troubling story since the last recourse for any of us is the legal system. To read of the unprincipled manner in which the law was meted out leaves a bad image in many citizen’s minds. To pretend nothing tainted and unprofessional did not happen, or to parse the meaning of the judicial rules is just unseemly. It makes a mockery of the court system, and has now extended to the political process as we seek a replacement to Judge Wilcox on the Supreme Court.
Annette Ziegler can do one thing in this campaign that is truly honorable, and that is to end her race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She can show her fellow citizens that the system of law is more important than the personal ambitions of one person. She can show our young children that we are accountable for every action, and responsible for all our decisions, be they good or bad. She can instill some sense of honor in the political process that is often sadly lacking.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:22 am
thanks to all of you for your comments. a few thoughts in response:
1. No one is stopping the liberals from buying this race. Look at the way that WEAC spends on april elections when the Superintendent of DPI is on the ballot. Political spending by outside groups is dependent on the winnability of the race, the ideological pureness of the candidate, and the priority of the office sought compared to other offices.
conservative groups recognized that the AG’s office was more winnable than the governorship last november, that they could get more bang for their buck because of the principle of diminishing marginal returns, and spent accordingly.
No one is stopping the AFL-CIO or other liberal groups from spending on the Supreme Court race. it’s not my fault that they’re choosing not to.
2. Wally, you are right that conservatives need a win here just to maintain the current 3-1-3 general factionalization of the Court. I’m more saying liberals should be scared because within the last decade nationwide and within the last few years in Wisconsin, conservatives have decided to make the judiciary a priority, and are investing resources accordingly.
3. Whatever you say about Annette Ziegler’s ethics, and we can have that debate, I think she is clearly qualified for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. She is a circuit court judge, regional deputy chief judge, and former private practice attorney and Assistant United States Attorney. Say what you will, but I think she’s quite qualified. And not only I - three former Justices and 132 circuit court judges say she’s qualified as well.
4. Goof, you are wrong on multiple counts. First off, Wisconsin Club for Growth, Inc. is a separate corporate entity from the national Club for Growth which you reference. Also not sure where terrorism comes into the discussion. The money in this election is largely from Wisconsin corporate and individual citizens - WMC, WI Club for Growth, WI Right to Life… It’s hardly outsiders. Mark Green never had a lead of more than a point or two in any poll, and certainly never a lead in the final months of the campaign. Green CAN keep all the money contested by the State Board; he simply cannot spend it on another race of his own. He CAN give it all to other Republican candidates. And I’m NOT saying elections can be bought (ask Senators Russ Darrow or Joe Chocola), but I am saying that conservatives are recognizing the importance of investing in judicial elections.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
“Having said that I think Annette woudl serve her State best by leaving the race.”
So you would surrender to liberals? You would put a liberal ACLU judge on the court? This is dangerous… If you like your home you want a Conservative as judge to protect your property. If you like your job… you want a conservative judge to uphold the law that your employer follows. Whatever church you go to, you want a conservative judge to protect your freedom to worship, host events, and publicly advertise Christianity. An ACLU judge would screw with the law and screw with Wisconsin.
If Annette Ziegler is so rotten… what has she violated? … Spin the table– did you support Governor Doyle if you say Annette is so unethical? Gov. Doyle is definitely unethical… and he has ties to this race. There are double standards here and some don’t want Annette Ziegler in the Supreme Court and they’ll do everything they can to prevent it because they can’t defeat her on a fair playing field– they can’t match her experience, endorsements, and overwhelming support.
March 19th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
If Annette Ziegler is such a bad choice, look at the (even worse) alternative: Linda Clifford, a person with no judicial experience and little legal courtroom experience. BUT, she represents and advises the ACLU which makes Clifford the darling of Leftist WisKonsin. It is more accurate to call this dangerous organization the UACLU for Un-American Civil Liberties Union. Clifford’s association with this group is enough to disqualify her.
Linda Clifford, please step down from this race if you place fairness above your leftist agenda and politics!! Anyone from Madison is good for Madison leftists, but is not good for the rest of honest, fair-minded Wisconsin.
Don’t let ANYONE fool you my fellow Wisconsin citizen-voters, this is about the future of our Great State. The Left will resort to ANY tactic to win this election by stealth and subterfuge. If the Left’s intentions were so pure, they would have “exposed” Judge Ziegler during the primary–not when she was the final candidate. Ziegler has been on the Washington Cty Circ Ct for TEN years.
The Left’s agenda is to gain a solid liberal state supreme court to validate their decrepid agenda that includes gay marriage and a godless society. They conveniently forget that an activist judiciary encroachs on the constitutionally defined legislative branch by making law. A fair judiciary ONLY interprets the law.
Mark from Germantown, Washington County
March 19th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Clifford’s request to disclose 3 million in loans from a bank… I think thats ridiculous. Clifford should disclose all her ties with the Doyle Campaign… and how Doyle attempted to put Clifford on the bench but failed.
March 19th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
“Clifford should disclose all her ties with the Doyle Campaign… and how Doyle attempted to put Clifford on the bench but failed.”
What are you talking about? There has only been one vacancy on the Supreme Court since Doyle became Governor and he appointed someone else — Louis Butler — to fill that vacancy. When did the Governoer “attempt to put Clifford on the bench but fail”?
Some of you people are filled with such blind hatred that you make absolutely no sense. This is one of those times.
March 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Irrelevent, I know…but seeing Charlie and Diane Sykes together in one sentence made me laugh. Their identical last names aren’t a coincidence; Diane is Charlie’s ex-wife, whom he cheated on openly before divorcing! What a spokesperson for family values, that Charlie Sykes…
“Do not, as some ungracious preachers do,
Show me the steep and thorny path to heaven,
While he the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own rede.”~~Ophelia to Laertes
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:37 am
My name is Rocco DeFilippis, I am the media coordinator for Wisconsin Family Council Inc., (formerly The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin.)
I read with great interest this post, and I thought you all might be interested in the educational piece The Wisconsin Family Council, Inc. did on the supreme court race. Here is the link to our Web site where we have posted our original educational piece for the public: http://www.fri-wi.org/Supreme%20Court%20Election.htm. This educational piece has been widely distributed throughout the state to roughly 5,000 churches and to our supporters, many of whom have distributed them to their circles of influence.
Thank you for your interest in our organization and the role we play in furthering pro-family values. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. rocco@fri-wi.org
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
[...] in the next week and let those results out. Because frankly for all the hype, which I happily bought into, there should be way more money being spent on TV and radio for Ziegler by WMC/Club/US Chamber et [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 12:23 am
It is always interesting how hypocritical right-wingers can be. They profess to believe in moral values, yet rush to defend a judge who has repeatedly violated rules of ethics that every first year law student has to know. Is it, as one commentor noted, ignorance or arrogance? There really is no other choice. Clifford has broken no rules, yet the right-wingers have to try to place her in the same filth as their own candidate. Shame on you.
If you want to talk relevant experience, on the other hand, Clifford wins hands down. Being a trial level judge is virtually irrelevant to whether someone will make a good appellate judge. What is relevant is experience is practicing law in the appellate courts, something that Clifford has done a lot but, to my knowledge, Ziegler has not.
The “judicial activism” label is another clear example of right-wing hypocracy. The biggest judicial activists on either the Wisconsin or U.S. Supreme Courts are the right-wingers, pursuing their agendas. Ms. Ziegler and those seeking to buy the election on her behalf do not intend to just “follow the law.” They want to change the law in their own image.
“Conservative” also is a false label for what they, and this blog, profess. You are not trying to conserve anything. You are trying to impose on everyone else your own cramped politics from an imaginary “golden era” that never existed, except perhaps in the “Gilded Age” when corporations and the wealthy controlled everything and the other 99% of us got screwed.
Freedom, my friends, is the ability to do what you chose with your own body when it doesn’t harm anyone else. It is not the ability to impose your own viewpoints on others, and it certainly isn’t the ability to take advantage of others just because they are not as rich or well-connected as you are.