Wis. Supreme Court Candidates Debate Civility

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg
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The candidates in the April 5 Wisconsin state Supreme Court met Monday for a debate at Marquette University Law School. And the race between incumbent Justice David Prosser and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg is quickly becoming a political proxy fight for controversies that have recently rocked the state.

As we’ve noted, a state Supreme Court election would not normally be major news. But in the wake of Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s new anti-public employee union law, and the political protests that gripped the state and attracted national attention, the court race has quickly turned into a proxy political battle. Conservatives are supporting Prosser, a former Republican state Assembly Speaker, and liberals backing Kloppenburg.

Prosser has also been embroiled in a controversy over recent revelations about internal squabbles on the court: Last year he had called Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson “a total bitch.” “I probably overreacted,” Prosser recently told reporters. “But I think it was entirely warranted…They (Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley) are masters at deliberately goading people into perhaps incautious statements. This is bullying and abuse of very, very long standing.”

And of course, questions about these incidents came up at the debate.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

In response to a question from former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske about what he would do to boost collegiality on the Supreme Court, Prosser said getting re-elected to another 10-year term would lessen the animosity among the deeply divided court.

“Some people on the court don’t want me elected,” Prosser said.

Kloppenburg said it would be difficult for the Supreme Court to come together if Prosser was re-elected because he has “publicly castigated” other justices.

“Losing your temper does not solve problems,” Kloppenburg said.

As WisPolitics reports, Prosser attacked Kloppenburg for comments that fans of her campaign Facebook account had posted there, attacking him:

Prosser called the postings a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary and was particularly disturbed by one post.

“It says, ‘Stop the turd, vote Kloppenburg,'” he said. “Am I the turd or is the governor the turd?”

Kloppenburg defended the Facebook page, saying she was not responsible for what others post there.

“What people say on my Facebook page is what they say and there’s nothing untrue about what they are posting on my Facebook,” she said. “They are disturbed and alarmed by my opponent’s expressions of his partisan background and his partisan conduct on the court and his campaign’s expressions of his partisan approach to cases that may reach the court.”

All in all, the race serves to illustrate how the political repercussions of Walker’s anti-union bill have gone beyond just the potential recalls for the legislature and the governorship, spreading throughout the whole state’s political culture. This race is also probably yet another piece of evidence that judgeships should not be elected at all — but that’s another story.

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