Wisconsin Justice Prosser Keeps Controversy Alive

Incumbent Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser could have assertively distanced himself from an outrageous and just plain politically incomprehensible statement by Brian Nemoir, the political operative who is also the justice's campaign director, but failing to do so has left Prosser vulnerable to attack as a Scott Walker water-carrier.

Which is not where you want to necessarily be this election season.

When hired in December, Nemoir suggested in a release that a Prosser victory would help align the Court with Walker and the new Republican legislative majorities.

"Our campaign efforts will include building an organization that will return Justice Prosser to the bench, protecting the conservative judicial majority and acting as a common sense complement to both the new administration and Legislature," Nemoir said.

Now Prosser finds himself under assault for Nemoir's statement, which you'd think Prosser would have disowned by sending Nemoir packing, or at least to the woodshed.

Oddly, however, Prosser barely laid a glove on Nemoir, keeping the controversy alive, as the Justice told columnist Mike Nichols:

"Prosser, for his part, has said he wouldn’t personally have used the word “complement” and describes himself as being in the middle of the court."

And barely picked up another opportunity offered by Bill Lueders in Isthmus to scream "independence."

I'm not an attorney, but I'd think that Prosser would have to recuse himself from hearing an inevitable appeal of the Friday court ruling in Madison that found the legislature violated the Open Meetings law when Republicans pushed through the budget-repair (sic) bill - - assuming that case works its way to the Supreme Court.

Which is why Prosser should have had zero association with Nemoir's statement.