Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Vote today for a Wisconsin Supreme Court progressive

If you want a more progressive Wisconsin Supreme Court
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than the special-interest body currently serving Walker and the WMC, vote in today's primary election for either of the progressive candidates - - Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet or Dane County Atty. Tim Burns.

I have friends supporting both Burns and Dallet, so rather than take sides I'm just urging a strong turnout - - and then all-in cooperation after the votes are counted so a progressive prevails in the April runoff should either Burns or Dallet finish third.

Here is a Q & A with the candidates, and sample answers from Dallet and Burns:
What is the biggest challenge facing the Wisconsin Supreme Court?
Burns: Let’s be honest. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is not facing big challenges. Working families face big challenges. People of color, who are subjected to inequitable school and community funding and a system of mass incarceration, face big challenges. Our small businesses and small farms, who all compete against massive, subsidized corporations, face big challenges. The Supreme Court needs to level the playing field instead of tilting it in favor of wealthy special interests and big business.
Dallet: We must restore the Court to one that upholds the law, the U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions, and the values Wisconsinites hold dear. Partisans have run amok up there, doing favors for their political allies and big-money special interests. They short-circuited the John Doe investigation, closed some hearings to the public, and have become a rubber-stamp for the current administration, rather than properly doing their job to independently uphold the Constitution and our shared values.
The designated far-right bot stamped out by the GOP/WMC talk radio and money machine for this election is Sauk County District Court Judge Screnok.

He's been endorsed by the NRA, so 'nuf said.

OK - - there's more.

The Walkerites settled on Screnok - - no competition, please - - to replace the retiring far-right Justice Michael Gableman whom big business and Republicans fronted similarly in 2008 to take down a liberal African-American incumbent, then-Justice Louis Butler.

The one Screnok TV ad I've seen features a white mom in a nice house reading a bedtime story to her child while a figure in a hoodie is lurking - - maybe he's headed to the house! - - an echo of an infamously-controversial fear-mongering, low-road Gableman ad.

The ad voice over emphasizes Screnok's throwing the book at rapists and pornographers as if he were running for DA or local judge and not for a seat on the state's highest court of review.

The ad was, no doubt, helped along by the receipt of more that $142,000 from state GOP outlets, including a recent $31,000 donation.

Prior to his judgeship appointment by Walker in 2015, Screnok worked as a private attorney who helped the GOP successfully gerrymander the legislature and win Act 10 in court, the Journal Sentinel reports.

From private attorney to the circuit bench to the Supreme Court. That's the way the Wisconsin GOP works, and it's time to break that mold.

There are two solid, attractive alternatives in today's primary to the Walkerite offered up by the far right - - so pick one and support either Dallet or Burns in the April general election just six short weeks from today.

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