Prosser's Website Claims Endorsement By Paper Which Has Endorsed Kloppenburg

Let's sort out who's endorsed and when for State Supreme Court by the Wausau Daily Herald. The general election is Tuesday, April 5th.

Incumbent Justice David Prosser's website says "Wausau Daily Herald: Prosser Endorsement."

That link takes you to the what you will discover is the Wausau paper's February 7th primary endorsement - -  and it was a joint endorsement for Prosser and Kloppenburg among four candidates.

"Prosser deserves a chance to defend his record as a justice in the general election. Among the challengers, Kloppenburg has by far the strongest qualifications.

"We endorse David Prosser and JoAnne Kloppenburg."

Then I went to Kloppenburg's website, which says:

"We endorse ... For state Supreme Court: JoAnne Kloppenburg, Wausau Daily Herald 3/25/2011."

So I went to the paper's website and found that the Wausau Daily Herald narrowed the field to one by endorsing Kloppenburg for the general election on Tuesday.

You'd never know that by stopping your search for endorsement facts - - some of whciha are pretty stale - - at Prosser's site.

In part, the Daily Herald's general election endorsement editorial says:

"...we do have evidence that Prosser is an intemperate figure given to partisan rhetoric. This is troubling in a justice.


"There is no way to avoid it: We are deeply troubled by the incident, made public during this campaign, in which Prosser blew up at Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, calling her a "bitch" and threatening to "destroy her."


"What that indicates is an injudicious personality, plain and simple. It's unacceptable behavior in any circumstance -- and surely it's worst of all in a Supreme Court Justice, whose entire job is to make rational decisions without prejudice.


What's worse, Prosser's public statements indicate no ability whatsoever to take responsibility for his own actions. It's a very revealing episode, and frankly there is no defending it...

Lastly, we are troubled by Prosser's decision last year to vote in favor of an ethics rule, written by the Wisconsin Realtors Association, which stated that justices need not recuse themselves from cases involving campaign donors, no matter how large the contribution. For the judiciary to have credibility with the public, there must be some sort of recusal standard in place -- sometimes the appearance of a conflict of interest can be as damaging to the court as an actual conflict.


"We endorse Kloppenburg because she can act as an impartial, nonpartisan justice."

That makes the Daily Herald the third leading out-state paper - - all many miles from liberal Madison and its organic food stores - - to endorse Kloppenburg for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court seat currently held by Prosser - - the other papers being - - links here - - the Green Bay Press-Gazette and Prosser's home town Appleton Post-Crescent.

I'll note that the Prosser website still links only to a Journal Sentinel primary endorsement editorial, overlooking the paper's general election endorsement editorial that ran April 3rd.

And also posts an editorial from the Sun Prairie Star dated March 24th - - the same day as the Wausau Daily Herald posted its Kloppenburg endorsement.