May 29, 2008

Poor Mike Gableman

It's been some time since we've encountered Daniel Suhr, the fresh young GOP fellow in the robin's egg sweater vest combo.

Now it seems that Master Suhr has taken special umbrage at Adam Liptak's description of renowned conservative Republican Mike Gableman as "a small-town judge with thin credentials" in the pages of the New York Times. "This East Coast elitism is just rancid," moans the young GOPer.

First of all, Siren, WI is a small town by any measure.

But it's simply not true, Suhr 'argues,' because Mike Gableman's "four years as a front-line prosecutor is more than [Wisconsin Supreme Court] Justices Abrahamson, Bradley, and Butler have combined." Naturally, young Daniel doesn't mention that Justice Butler has been a judge — on three different courts — for longer than Mike Gableman has been a lawyer.

And a highly effective front-line prosecutor Mike Gableman was. So effective that he sat on a homicide case for two years, one so cold blooded that the criminal complaint indicated the alleged perpetrator blew a hole in his wife's back with a shotgun as she fled away from him, and the county where Mike Gableman toiled as a prosecutor refused to elect him to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, despite every surrounding county's determination to the contrary.

Likely because Ashland County is where they know "front-line prosecutor" Mike Gableman the best. And by the time charges were filed by Gableman's successor in office, after Gableman high-tailed it to an administrative position at a 20k per annum pay cut thanks to his political connections with former Republican governor Scott McCallum, the defendant removed himself from the gene pool.

And Mike Gableman had the temerity to claim repeatedly, during one of the most disgraceful political campaigns in recent memory, that he was a righteous advocate for victims of crime.

"I was mad as hell," the victim's cousin, Jerry Bauch said. "I was frustrated because the case simply went nowhere during the three years that [Mike Gableman] was district attorney."

That's some quality victim advocatin' right there.

However, it is true that Gableman won Burnett County fairly handily, because after all, that is where Judge Mike Gableman "presided over" 9,000 uncontested traffic tickets.

And that is no thin credential. It's enough to wallpaper Siren, WI.

"There's no need to insult the man," sniffs college Republican Suhr, who, via some particularly laughable contortions, depicted Justice Butler as a clear and present danger to the "safety, prosperity, and health of the citizens of many states, especially Wisconsin."

No, there's no need to insult the man, he just earned the privilege.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What did Judge Butler "Earn" a position on the Wisconsin Supreme Court? I don't think so, twice the voters in Wisconsin rejected him as a supreme court justice. It took a special appointment from Jim Doyle to put him on the bench, and the first chance the people of Wisconsin had, they got him off the bench.

It would be nice if Liberals would let the election results speak for themselves, but they apparently are willing to do that if their side wins. Example: Florida 2000, Ohio 2004, Gableman 2008. Where is the outrage of disenfranchisment from the Left about Florida and Michigan now? The Democrats at this time are planning on not allowing the votes from the people of Florida and Michigan to count in their own Primary Election. But this is ok, because a LIbEral candidate is leading and expected to win.

Hypocracy, double standards, and a lot of whining are seemingly in great abundance for the Modern American Liberal.

Other Side said...

It would be nice, just once, if a conservative who had something dumb to write would include his/her name with the dumb thing written.

A few things: 1) The post was about Gableman. Hard for conservatives to keep focused, I guess.

2) If we were to just let election results speak for themselves, conservatives would win every race since not a one would be won fairly. It would be nice if conservatives would agree to clean elections.

3) This conservative obviously doesn't comprehend well. I'm still laughing at the "disenfranchise" comment from our cowardly friend. His/her name is obviously not Chad.

Oh, there was no problem with the decision by the DNC about Michigan and Florida when Ms. Clinton was in the drivers seat.

I can't wait until the November elections are over. It will be fun to pull out all the comments about whining from our cowardly conservative friends and throw them back at them.

Scot1and said...

Anon:

What Butler decision are you taking issue with? Have you read it? Didn't think so.

If you had read any of the Wisconsin supreme Court decisions, or watched an oral argument, you would realize that Butler is not that liberal. Butler is a competent to decide the most complex matters and is a fair justice who kept his integrity despite the personal attacks. That is more than I can say for Gableman and I'm a registered Republican.

I fully supported Butler as I was disgusted by Gableman's flippant references to judicial activism, and willingness to sacrifice his own integrity for WMC.

Let's face it, Gableman is no Scalia and we just traded an intelligent moderate for a dumb conservative. The WMC puppet is not competent as a supreme court justice as evidenced by his failure to understand simple insurance issues. I.e. Chute v. Amica Mut. Ins., or basic contract provisions: Pearson v. Cobb. Notably the WMC puppet was reversed in each case.

While I would prefer a conservative judiciary I would also prefer a competent one. But I think you will soon see that an unintelligent conservative majority will do more harm than good.

The fact that Gableman is now going to be reviewing complex contracts for the entire state scares the hell out of me. Frankly, I am mortified that he now gives a majority to Conservative Justice Roggensack doesn't even think that money is property. See oral arguments in Below v. Norton. How's that for judicial activism, Wisconsin law has held otherwise since the beginning of Statehood.

As an informed conservative I'm whining. The liberals such as IT have a right to be furious over this election.

illusory tenant said...

Glad you guys knew what she/he was talking about.

Anonymous said...

As a resident during Gableman's tenure as DA and tuned in to local politics, I can say it is true that Gableman did a lousy job on the murder. Everyone locally knew what the deal was. I am convinced that Gableman is very lazy and relies on family connections to get by. He will do very well in a spineless Supreme Court ala Ziegler.

Just imagine how our jucicial system would treat you if you committed the same "youthful indiscretion" a dozen times or so.