Outsiders shift Wisconsin's Supreme Court to the right

[undeterred]

We are still reeling from the shock of what happened yesterday. Wisconsin's first African American Supreme Court Justice, who was highly qualified and had many endorsements, lost his seat to an underqualified right wing judge, largely because of spending by outside groups on advertising.

Gableman's victory shifts court to right
David Callender — 4/02/2008 10:43 am

Conservative groups are celebrating the defeat of the first sitting Supreme Court justice in more than 40 years, an outcome that is expected to tilt the balance of power on the high court to the right. In a bitter, expensive race in which both candidates were accused of being soft on crime -- and spent little time talking about the myriad other issues that occupy most of the high court's caseload -- Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman, 41, unseated Justice Louis Butler, 56, on Tuesday.

Butler, the first African-American to serve on the high court, was also the first Supreme Court justice to be defeated for re-election since Chief Justice George Currie, who was ousted in 1967 after he allowed the Milwaukee Braves baseball team to relocate to Atlanta. In a concession speech set for Milwaukee this morning, Butler decried the influence of outside groups that outspent the two candidates and were responsible for many of the most negative TV ads.

"I've said it throughout the race: This system is broken. Third-party issue groups who don't have to be accountable, don't have to follow campaign laws and don't have to disclose their donors siphoned huge amounts of money into this race," he said in prepared remarks. Pointing to the heavy spending by such groups and their caustic campaign messages in the last two Supreme Court races, he added, "We cannot continue to see elections like last year's and this year's and expect people to maintain faith in our judicial system. If we rob the people of their faith in that system, we've robbed them of justice."

Gov. Jim Doyle took a similar tone in a sharply worded statement today. Doyle, who appointed Butler to the court in 2004, said it was "tragedy that such a fine judge and a good human being was trashed during the campaign." Gableman ran as a "judicial conservative" who promised not to "legislate from the bench." He beat Butler by a 51-49 percent margin to win a 10-year term on the court. The unofficial statewide results were:

MICHAEL GABLEMAN: 411,272

Louis Butler: 391,549

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/279893

:cry:

[Sanity Claws]

1. Who were the funders of the RW winner?

Was it the US Chamber of Commerce? They tried it in Washington State, too.

[undeterred]

3. These three

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce http://www.wmc.org/
Represents business interests of large and small manufacturers, service companies, local chambers of commerce and specialized trade associations.

Club for Growth http://www.clubforgrowth.org/
Endorses Republican candidates who support limited government and lower taxes and pools club member's contributions to selected candidates.

Coalition for America's Families http://www.coalition4families.com/Home.aspx
The Coalition for America's Families has continually supported policies that defend the sanctity of life and set a strong example for our families.

[villager]

2. Welcome to California

RW special interest groups perfected these techniques when the ousted Rose Bird from our Supreme Court, ginning up a "lax on death penalty" horseshit campaign to mask their real agenda: She was too tough on corporate special interests...

[undeterred]

4. sucks