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Justice Louis Butler seems to have a press release a day on Wispolitics touting a new endorsement by a labor union. These unions include major public employees unions: Madison Teachers, Inc., American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Retired Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Education Association Council, American Federation of Teachers, Teamsters, Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association, Wisconsin AFL-CIO, etc.

In addition to endorsements, they have showered down cash upon his campaign as well: AFT Wisconsin, $8,625.00, Madison Teachers Inc, $8,625.00, AFSCME 40 & 48, $8,625.00, WI AFL-CIO $5,000.00, Winnebagoland Uniserv PAC (teachers) $3,000.00, American Federation of Teachers #212 $2,500.00, Capital Area Uniserv North (teachers) $2,000.00, United Northeast Educators $2,000.00, Southwest Education Association $1,500.00, Kettle Moraine Uniserv Co (teachers) $1,000.00, Lakewood Uniserv Council (teachers) $1,000.00, Northern Tier UniServ-PAC (teachers) $1,000.00, UW-Madison Teacher Assistants $1,000.00, Kenosha Education Association $500.00, Milwaukee Professional Firefighters 215 $500.00.

It’s fair to ask what’s at stake for public employee labor unions in this election, that they come down so heavily for Justice Butler. Here are four Court of Appeals decisions from the last six months that would draw intense interest from the unions if they went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

Madison Metropolitan School Dist. v. Madison Teachers, Inc., 2008 WL 249087:

Debra Tichenor is employed by the District as a special education teacher. During a previous disciplinary proceeding, Tichenor provided her union-appointed attorney with a copy of an individualized education program (IEP) for a student. The District issued Tichenor a written reprimand for releasing a student record to an unauthorized third party without written consent or authorization alleging the action was a violation of two board policies. Tichenor’s union, Madison Teachers, Inc., filed a grievance, which eventually went to arbitration. The arbitrator concluded that Tichenor was permitted to provide her union representative with the IEP during the grievance process, and therefore the District violated the collective bargaining agreement by imposing discipline without just cause.

Loth v. City of Milwaukee, 2007 WL 4530816:

Albert Loth appeals from the circuit court order granting the City of Milwaukee summary judgment, dismissing his complaint, and denying his motion for summary judgment declaring the City had breached its contract with him when it adopted a resolution reducing the retirement benefits to which he would have been entitled at retirement under the earlier resolution. … [Reversed] Loth is entitled to summary judgment based on the City’s breach of its obligation to pay his health insurance premiums according to the terms of the 1973 ordinance and related City publications referred to herein, after he retired until he reached age sixty-five.

Brown County v. WI Employment Relations Com’n 742 N.W.2d 916:

The County argues it had sole discretion, notwithstanding its collective bargaining agreement, to decide whether to terminate Vetter for commission of a crime “substantially related to the care of a client.” See Wis. Stat. § 50.065(5m).FN1 It also argues the Commission lacks authority to resolve the dispute. We conclude that the County’s discretion is limited by its collective bargaining agreement, and the Commission has authority to resolve the matter subject to the usual judicial review.

Helgeland v. State of Wisconsin, ongoing
Does it violate equal protection for the state to deny health care benefits to the domestic partners of homosexual state employees when it provides those benefits to the married spouses of heterosexual state employees?

In addition to the cases that could be before the Court soon, the public employee labor unions know that Justice Butler has been their friend on past cases as well, such as Solie v. Employee Trust Funds Board, 2005 WI 42. In a case brought by WEAC, Justice Butler wrote for the majority that “creditable service” by teachers is equivalent to a monetary deposit in a retirement fund. In dissent, Justice Wilcox says the decision “is in contravention of both common sense and the definition of the words” at issue (58). “[T]he majority cites no statute, administrative rule, or case for the proposition that the retirement deposit fund may contain something other than money. It simply declares it to be so” (64). This assertion is nothing more than “judicial fiat” in Justice Wilcox’s view (70). Perhaps it is no wonder, then, that WEAC is up with a TV ad supporting Justice Butler.

Obviously unions support Butler, and obviously the business community is generally supporting Judge Gableman. My point is simply this: these cases have a major impact on the taxpayers of the State of Wisconsin. Look at the parties in the 4 Court of Appeals cases above - Madison Schools, City of Milwaukee, Brown County, State of Wisconsin: If the union wins in each of those cases, it will cost the taxpayers of this state more money. We already have out of control fringe benefits for public employees - do we really want a justice hand-picked by the public employee unions deciding statutory interpretation cases like Solie on the scope of those benefits?

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