illusory tenant

Thanks for all the cheese

2012-01-18T12:59:00.002-06:00

It's been a pantload. See ya soon.

WISGOP: Incest is [Michael] best

2012-01-18T11:44:00.011-06:00

[Former U.S. Attorney Steven] Biskupic and his fellow attorneys based their complaint on a piece of propaganda put out by the MacIver Institute, a "public policy think tank" funded by the ultraconservative Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation is headed by Michael Grebe, former chair of the Walker gubernatorial campaign and the chair of Friends of Scott Walker, one of the organizations that filed the suit in Waukesha County.

By Lisa Kaiser.*

* Best** advocacy journalist in Wisconsin.

** Best as in the superlative, not the aforementioned WISGOP law firm.

Of Mike "Peppercorn" Gableman's "peppercorn"

2012-01-18T08:04:00.008-06:00

In a word, preposterous:

The notion that the judicial code and ethics laws permit a judge to secretly receive expensive legal services (or fancy cars or lakefront real estate) in return for sham, symbolic payment — say, a "peppercorn" — is not merely frivolous, it seeks to play the [Wisconsin Supreme] Court and the public as fools. Here, Justice Gableman did not ever need to provide even a peppercorn.

Intervenors' Proposed Reply in Support of Recusal or Disqualification

Wisconsin governor may stoop to visiting Wisconsin

2012-01-17T19:24:00.003-06:00

Gov. Scott Walker, in New York today on a fundraising trip, said he looks “forward to talking to the people of Wisconsin ... "

Quote, unquote. PR genius as usual.

More than one million signatures to Recall Walker

2012-01-17T13:15:00.035-06:00

"Thanks a million." — Scott Walker

I happened to catch Charlie Sykes and his fellow wing-nuts Christian Schneider and Brian Sikma on TMJ-4 on Sunday. All were yukking it up and claiming organizers would fail to collect enough signatures to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, but they got her too, with nearly 850,000 of them. These characters are in deep, profound denial.

And WISGOP challenges will likewise be an exercise in futility. Signature-gatherers have been triple-checking the docs prior to their submittal.

Now, more importantly, we'll see whether November, 2010 was a fluke.

Even if it wasn't, Scott Walker blew it, by rescinding the people's statutory rights, which wasn't necessary, and in particular wasn't necessary for any fiscal reason. Walker admitted that, and the litigation which culminated in the Wisconsin Supreme Court's invention of "supervisory/original" jurisdiction proved it. Rescinding the people's rights is not something you can do without consequence, apparently.

That's as it should be, and it's why the constitution authorizes recalls.

Statement of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett

2012-01-17T12:01:00.005-06:00

On Scott Walker's "deception":

"I stand with the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Wisconsin citizens who have had enough of Walker's cynical politics that try to divide the people of our State." — via The Wheeler Report

Sounds like a candidate. An aggressive one.

Meanwhile Walker is off shaking down out-of-State agitators.*

* This Maurice Greenberg? He leases at 399 Park Avenue.

Lori Compas for Wisconsin Senate

2012-01-17T11:45:00.003-06:00

Ms. Compas just turned in 20,600 signatures to recall Big Fitz.

She needed 16,742.

Tamara Grigsby's a fighter

2012-01-17T10:54:00.001-06:00

In more ways than one.

All the best of the very best wishes to one of my favorites.

Scott Walker insults a decorated war veteran

2012-01-17T10:15:00.016-06:00

Reports Daniel Bice:

"Mr. Freedman’s letter is nothing more than a political ploy by a long time Democrat," said Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie.

Perhaps there were politics at play, but Mr. Freedman is a Vietnam vet with a Bronze Star and it's kind of insulting to assert unequivocally there were no concerns on Freedman's part for his fellow veterans, is it not?

No wonder Scott Walker is being recalled today at 3 p.m.

He can take his assortment of foolish spokespersons with him.

Then the only one left will be poor old Charlie Sykes.

The "chaos" is all to the Wisconsin GOP's account

2012-01-17T08:08:00.012-06:00

As the Tomah Journal points out:

Wisconsin used to have one of the nation’s most efficient, honest and voter-friendly election systems in the country. No more.

Yet Journal Communications, Inc.'s Milwaukee teevee station, TMJ-4, is still running its "CAPITOL CHAOS" banner over election-related stories, attributing the "chaos" to opponents of the Fitz Van Walker regime.

Yes, they really do think you're that stupid.

I guess you would be that stupid if you got all your news from them.

Mike "Peppercorn" Gableman must go

2012-01-16T11:08:00.008-06:00

Sign Wisconsin Rep. Kelda Helen Roys's petition.

Gableman lied. It wasn't a loophole and Butler didn't find it.

Simple as that.

I trust the Tea Party to verify recall signatures

2012-01-16T10:25:00.010-06:00

WISGOP activists plan to cross every 'i' and dot every 't'

Starting Janaury 17.

Hitler comparisons inapt, say WISGOP partisans

2012-01-14T11:38:00.002-06:00

True, 'cuz Walker canceled the train he could have made run on time.

Why electing judges is the worst idea ever

2012-01-14T11:27:00.005-06:00

Mike Gableman.

Gableman is not an "Associate Justice," however. God forbid.

That would probably take a "President Walker."

Profess the law or GTFO!

2012-01-14T10:20:00.017-06:00

Fcuk u! No u!!1 lolz

You'd think U of W's alleged law professor Ann Althouse has been on teh internets long enough to be aware of the kids' "or GTFO" jokes. But no.

At least Meade Althouse, who once comically retrieved an anarchist's neckerchief from a Capitol sculpture, gets "zOMG pix or it dint happen."

Little GT[F]O

How come the Wisconsin redistricting SNAFU?

2012-01-14T08:10:00.020-06:00

Because Acts 43 and 44 were passed creating the new State Senate, Assembly, and Congressional districts before municipalities had finished creating their local wards.

And who made that brilliant decision? Your famous WISGOP is who.

So they could have them ready for national GOP approval, no doubt.

You know who Reince Priebus works for, right? And you know who gave unethical judge Mike Gableman free legal services to ensure he stayed on the court where redistricting challenges were most likely headed: Michael Best & Friedrich and national Republican Party activist Jim Bopp.

What a racket,* and an incompetent one at that.

"Connect the dots, connect the dots." — Pee-Wee Herman

* "Syndicate" might be a better word.

Robin Vos signature illegible

2012-01-13T15:23:00.010-06:00

REJECT.

On teh web: Robin Vos clears the way for Gableman recall

Tebowing and the Constitution

2012-01-13T12:34:00.006-06:00

By Scott Idleman.

Good ol' Santa Fe School Dist. v. Doe.

Apparently Broncos QB Tim Tebow is a "divisive figure," as they say in politics, but he sure is fun to watch. As is this here YouTubes video.

Whoa Nelly!

@sykescharlie yelling at woman

2012-01-13T11:32:00.002-06:00

lolz

How about Sykes pissing all over the publicly-owned radio frequency.

War is heck.

You know how the invisible hand works

2012-01-13T10:06:00.006-06:00

It invariably passes the costs on to the end user.

The federal panel's hugely entertaining order is here.

Don't like Gableman?

2012-01-13T09:09:00.024-06:00

Not particularly.

Any ethical judge would be an improvement, by definition.

Wisconsin's embarrassing and dysfunctional state Supreme Court.

It isn't entirely fair to brand the whole court as embarrassing and dysfunctional simply on account of Mike Gableman but he's certainly to blame for lowering the esteem in which the institution should be held.

It makes no difference whether the First Amendment protects his lies.*

* Which he failed to argue successfully despite tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers he was given and reportedly never had to pay for.

Now that is embarrassing and dysfunctional.

The WJC's other other other investigation

2012-01-13T06:55:00.001-06:00

Flashback: Althouse sniffs a turd

Kloppenburg will celebrate at Greenbush

2012-01-13T06:25:00.004-06:00

"[It's] to celebrate the fact that there is no other candidate on the ballot," says Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken.

An odd thing to celebrate but they always were oddballs.

Meeting of Judiciary and Ethics* cancelled

2012-01-12T16:03:00.007-06:00

Due to lack of interest and/or commitment.

Juncta non juvant.

* Situational Division, IOKIYAR.

Interview with Wisconsin Rep. Kelda Helen Roys

2012-01-12T13:00:00.003-06:00

In re Mike "Peppercorn" Gableman, linky here.

On teh web: Kelda For Congress.

Gableman to sup with WISGOP bigwigs

2012-01-12T12:48:00.009-06:00

Is what it says here. Nonpartisan, that's a laugh. I bet you Gableman gets a standing ovation. Any peppercorns on the menu? Yummy.

WTMJ's Charlie Sykes publishes some more lies

2012-01-12T11:45:00.042-06:00

And the said liar proceeds to defeat his very own allegations:

As Gableman's NEW lawyer wrote in a letter to the editor that the Journal-Sentinel has conveniently refused to publish . . .

Reporter Patrick Marley published it about a week ago. It's right here.

And we've been enjoying it ever since. Where you been, Chuckles?

How is it that a contingency fee arrangement is suddenly a "gift"?

Because there was no valuable consideration. There is no value in some wholly speculative, arguably non-monetizable recovery, where third parties only may have reimbursed Gableman for his legal services if he had won his ethics case. That is, even if he had won — which he didn't — the likelihood that he would have recovered anything was equal to the likelihood of his recovering nothing. The former likelihood may have been a consideration in the de minimis, peppercorn sense, but the Code of Judicial Conduct requires it to be a valuable consideration. Otherwise Gableman's tens of thousands of dollars in legal services was a gift, according to the Code's own definition. This question of what is valuable consideration is not so easily hand-waved away by Gableman's defenders.

A legal "if" followed by a legal "may" starts to make stuff mighty attenuated from the ability to place an actual value on something, whatever that something may have been wholly speculated to be.

[Contingency fee arrangements are] what gets the jackpots that are used to fund a huge part of the Left’s political apparatus.

Really, well there clearly was no "jackpot" here, buddy. And that is precisely why there was no valuable consideration, and precisely why Gableman's tens of thousands of dollars in legal services was a gift.

But yeah, y'all keep emphasizing the extremely high-dollar value of what Gableman did receive,* because that really buttresses his apparent claim that his entirely speculative consideration** was in fact a valuable one.

In the meantime maybe Gableman can waive his attorney-client privilege so the people who elected him can have a look at what went down here.

And compare it with what was required of him by the Code of Conduct.

* And is receiving, from the looks of things.

** Which, by the way, was not even Gableman's consideration to give.

Baby don't get hooked on your unfunded mandate

2012-01-12T10:51:00.006-06:00

Mac "Big Righty" Davis ordered "costly and time-consuming process"

I suppose those are conservative judicial values too.

Amusing, from the gang that's complaining about election costs.

Who's paying Mike Gableman's lawyer Viet Dinh?

2012-01-12T08:17:00.036-06:00

Or, for that matter, his "Master of Disaster"?

Gableman's attorney, Viet Dinh of Washington, D.C., said the resolution was nothing more than a partisan political attack that "reveals the underlying motivation and insidious nature of the attacks against Justice Gableman." — via the AP's Scott Bauer

I hope it's not much, if that's the best he can come up with. Poor Gableman. He's being attacked. What goes around comes around dude.

Mike Gableman attacks his own current colleagues fer chrissakes.

And who paid the infamous out-of-State agitator Jim Bopp? Bopp, Esq. of Terre Haute did the heavy lifting in Gableman's ethics case.* So effective was Bopp's counsel that he actually caused Justice N. Patrick Crooks to change his mind from favorable to adverse pursuant to a motion for disqualification filed against Gableman in a criminal appeal.

* And who paid Federalist Society member Anita Y. Woudenberg?

Mike Gableman is a walking make-work project for Republican lawyers.

Walker in Texas "promoting conservative values"

2012-01-12T08:09:00.004-06:00

So says the Associated Press. Conservative values: breaking the law, which nobody disputes, a law meant to ensure only a reasonable bare minimum of access by the people of Wisconsin to the affairs of their elected officials and then — after conservative Republicans admitted to both breaking the law and violating the State constitution — appealing to the bought-and-paid-for judges on the State Supreme Court, including two who have committed multiple violations of the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct and a third who is under investigation for having done so, who in turn fabricate a novel form of judicial power found nowhere in the State constitution to supposedly validate the aforementioned lawbreaking. Those are the conservative values Walker is promoting.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Comedians

2012-01-11T18:30:00.019-06:00

Walker jobs billboard outside shuttered car plant in Janesville

WMC is the outfit that put "Peppercorn" Gableman on the Wis. S. Ct.

'I like firing people.' — A top Republican*

Then how's about firing Scott Walker. And liking it. A whole lot.

* As opposed to a Republican top.

Embattled Gableman is on web teevee today

2012-01-11T12:33:00.011-06:00

Resuming at circa one-thirty p.m. Central Time.

Almost forgot. Let's hope he keeps the sarcasm to a minimum.

(And nobody whacks him one on the backside of the melon.)

The lawyer in question was Rich Esenberg

2012-01-11T11:26:00.047-06:00

Hilarious:

[Dr. Ernie Pelegrino] cited as authority for this professor Scott Idleman of Marquette University Law School, as quoted during an interview on a local right-wing talk show. I have had a telephone conference with Idleman, who indicated he did not appear on that radio show, does not agree with these assertions, and would not comment on legal ethics, which he does not teach.* Idleman was concerned enough about this matter that he did some research to discover that the lawyer in question was in all probability Rich Esenberg, a former part-time instructor at Marquette. — from the (Madison) Capital Times mailbag

Scott Idleman happens to be a fine fellow and a personal hero of mine.

* Neither does Esenberg, but try telling that to Journal Communications, Inc. That respondent "Peppercorn" Gableman's arrangement with Michael Best & Friedrich is commonplace is an utterly fatuous claim. It ain't.

The very action Gableman faced is rare, let alone his fee arrangement, which is commonplace only in completely different circumstances, where its contractual benefits inhere to plaintiffs, and not to defendants.

Incidentally I notice this column by Bill Lueders is making the rounds in republication today. When Eric McLeod told the Journal-Sentinel that Gableman paid his bill, he could have meant the bill for photocopying.

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys: Gableman Joint Resolution

2012-01-11T10:19:00.034-06:00

To remove Mike Gableman from office for multiple ethics violations

Keep the heat on and under this character. Might Governor Scott Walker have a chance to appoint Gableman's successor to the court? Yes, but there reportedly exist ethical conservatives (or so I have heard tell).

Everyone should prefer ethical actors regardless of their dispositions. We had a truly honorable Supreme Court justice until Gableman came along.

(Kelda Helen Roys is running for U.S. Congress, by the way.)

Wisconsin electoral redistricting errors revealed

2012-01-11T08:05:00.017-06:00

Waukesha Co. clerk relieved it's not her fault for once
Reports the Wisconsin State Journal

Those affected are advised to contact the responsible WISGOP attorneys at Michael Best & Friedrich and Troupis Law Office who, in return for one wholly speculative peppercorn, will arrange to have them "carried ... feet first" into the correct municipality (provided they have a photo ID).

Gableman debacle now officially a "disaster"

2012-01-10T22:39:00.018-06:00

Get me my out-of-State agitator/adrenaline junkie

The office for Mike Gableman's attorney Viet Dinh referred calls to spokesman Mark Corallo. — via the Associated Press

Meet Mark Corallo, "Master of Disaster." He had better be.

But are there any wholly speculative peppercorns left for him?

Gableman's surrounded by high-priced help, yet on a meager salary.

WaukCo Mac "Big Righty" Davis on appeal

2012-01-10T14:04:00.008-06:00

Disciples of Scooter v. Brennan, Number 2012AP000032.

District IV Court of Appeals Expedited Scheduling Order (.pdf).

Pass the Orville Redenbacher's.

The Shark is long since out of sharks to jump*

2012-01-10T13:10:00.009-06:00

This is getting way out of hand, IMHO.

Your petitioner hereby respectfully demands his asterisk.

* So how's about a Bronze Esenberg.

"Peppercorn" Mike Gableman's "nonsense"

2012-01-10T11:25:00.024-06:00

Missed a spot Bruce:

Typically, personal injury lawyers take cases on a contingency basis, with the understanding they will collect a big percentage of the jury’s award. — Milwaukee Magazine's Bruce Murphy

More to the point, it's plaintiffs' lawyers who take cases on contingent fee arrangements. In Gableman's atypical case, he was the respondent.*

* It's complainant v. respondent in these cases, the functional equivalent of plaintiff v. defendant in the types of civil action "Peppercorn" Gableman's latest high-priced GOP attorney, Viet Dinh, is contemplating.

And nobody seems to know what Mr. Dinh's own peppercorn might be.

His representation of Gableman had better not be a gift or a favor. There ain't enough trees to bear the flurry of complaints against G-Man.

Attention Jerry Falwell law school graduates

2012-01-10T10:14:00.005-06:00

Scott Walker needs a compliant judge.

lol @ your résumé must not exceed two pages.

Preferably quintuple-spaced.

Your WISGOP lawyers in the news

2012-01-10T08:12:00.041-06:00

On Friday, an attorney for former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler sent WISGOP attorney Michael Dean a letter accusing him of libel* and asking him to retract some of his statements. On Monday, Dean in a letter acknowledged he got some facts wrong, including what case Butler discussed with former Governor Jim Doyle's judicial selection committee.

Well done, you WISGOP lawyers. You cover yourselves in glory. It's about time Butler went after their racket. They're fortunate he's a gentleman.

Very much unlike the unethical judge who took his place.

* That the WISGOP lawyer Michael Dean's "patently false [assertions] ... may constitute libel" is not, strictly speaking, an accusation of libel.

eta: Here's Dean's reply. He blames his failure to verify his patently false assertions of fact on "a computer drive failure" and his hours otherwise spent on commuting from Waukesha County to Madison. Compelling stuff, in the apparent absence of your proverbial homework-hungry dog.

IOW, sorry I'm full of bullshit but at least I got the bullshit there on time.

Classic. Some lame excuses are far, far better left unproffered.

Another complaint for "Peppercorn" Gableman

2012-01-09T22:08:00.001-06:00

"It was really outrageous to have Gableman sitting there, knowing he had this big gift from our opponents," said Dana Schultz, local director of the 9to5 National Association of Working Women.

Ayup.

h/t Jim Rowen.

For this dimwit Wisconsin traded Russ Feingold

2012-01-09T19:03:00.006-06:00

Sad:

James Simmons, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, describes Ron Johnson’s first year in the Senate as unremarkable. Johnson’s tendency to vote against leadership shows he is not a team player and his proposals lack substance.

Via Xoff: A wealthy guy used to getting his own way.

Johnson was on Charlie Sykes yesterday morning, lying like a rug.

Your cure for Canuckian homesickness

2012-01-09T16:29:00.002-06:00

All hail Lord Stanley's mug.

David Bowie is 65

2012-01-09T12:58:00.009-06:00

Pictures of David Bowie doing normal stuff.

My favorite album:
It's No Game Part 1

As sideman:
Turn Blue

Baby don't get hooked on statutory language

2012-01-09T07:56:00.012-06:00

More Judge Mac "Big Righty" Davis from Edward Fallone:

[T]here are no explicit provisions in the statutes that direct the GAB to look for and eliminate duplicate, fictitious or unrecognizable signatures. Just a direction not to count signatures that are insufficient under Section 9.10(2)(e).

My friend Jay Bullock's post, cited by Fallone, was indeed a fine one.

Strict constructionists my honkey keister.

The Journal-Sentinel's Rick Esenberg Disclaimer

2012-01-08T11:32:00.027-06:00

I see David Haynes and the mandarins on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board have added a disclaimer to Marquette University Law School professor Rick Esenberg's attempt at defending Mike Gableman's reported acceptance of a gift or favor from Michael Best & Friedrich, to the effect that Esenberg recently presented oral argument before the court on which Gableman sits. Judges are prohibited by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct from accepting gifts or favors from lawyers or firms if they have or are likely to come before the judge.

That's a relatively innocuous disclaimer compared to Esenberg's prior relationships with the Gableman political campaign. Esenberg appeared in a video produced by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce which was distributed at a series of WMC luncheons in 2008. Rick Esenberg's former research assistant at Marquette, Daniel Suhr, assembled a "white paper" criticizing the record of former Justice Louis Butler — perhaps the only actor deserving of the appellation "honorable" in this whole sordid affair — the misrepresentations of law contained in which Esenberg strenuously defended at his blog, where Esenberg also repeated and purported to rationalize some of the sleaziest accusations against Justice Butler.

And Rick Esenberg's Bradley Foundation-funded Kulturkampf boutique law firm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, hired Tom Kamenick, a former clerk of Gableman's, as an associate. It's like incest but without the sex. Given the foregoing, the Journal-Sentinel's disclaimer is a bit of a joke. The fact that Esenberg argued a case before the Supreme Court isn't such a big deal, unless you realize what case it was, which the Journal-Sentinel's disclaimer doesn't identify.

The case is Wisconsin Prosperity Network v. Myse and Esenberg presented the argument instead of James "Carried ... feet first" Troupis, who represented Justice David Prosser during the latter's political campaign last spring. It's also the case from which Prosser disqualified himself in September, 2011 apparently after being pressured by the Journal-Sentinel's reporting, even though this blog had pointed to the potential conflict of interest as early as the previous April.

Speaking of which case, Prosser and Gableman literally rewrote the Wisconsin constitution to grant an injunction in 2010 in favor of the plaintiffs, a who's who of conservative Republican activists, the granting of which was executed even before the court had decided whether to take jurisdiction of the case. A decision is forthcoming in Myse but a date hasn't been announced. This blog wondered several weeks ago how a divided court is going to address the posture of that injunction.

The Journal-Sentinel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Journal Communications, Inc., which itself is in effect a wholly owned subsidiary of the WISGOP. The transparency of these relationships is remarkable.

But yeah, thanks for the illuminating disclaimer. Great public service.

Viet Dinh joins ranks of MJS wing-nut commenters

2012-01-07T11:27:00.009-06:00

Posting as "refugee," Gableman attorney goes on the PR offensive

Mr. Dinh avoids precisely the same dispositive issue as does Esenberg.

"Free" is not the term of art. "Gift" and "favor" are the terms of art.

IOW, Mr. Dinh attacks the reporting without reference to the law.

We are not impressed.

Governor, your radioactivity is glowing

2012-01-06T15:42:00.005-06:00

Sez Scott Walker nominee: Thanks but no thanks.

Sharp fella.

What an embarrassment ...

2012-01-06T15:07:00.038-06:00

A reader writes:

What an embarrassment to have the comments of the writer connected to Marquette University Law School.

Tell me about it. I'm thinking the Dean should be open to affixing an asterisk to all pre-Esenberg juris doctors, denoting them as such.

Energetic Mike Gableman apologist Rick Esenberg completely avoids the dispositive question, in that if Gableman gave "valuable consideration," then what was its value? Gableman is prohibited from accepting favors without his valuable consideration in return. All Esenberg needs to do is answer this simple question. But he can't because whatever consideration there was is not able to be valued.

Elsewhere Esenberg asserts, "Gableman did not have the money" to hire counsel whose competence was commensurate with the public importance of his case. Gableman, a lifelong bachelor who has been collecting nearly $150,000 per year in Supreme Court salary* since September, 2008, has no money. The least Prof. Esenberg of MULS could do is place a value on the Florida swampland he's offering.

Then the wholly speculative peppercorn is all his.

Try telling regular folks making considerably less than $150K who do have to pay their lawyer what a sad state of penury Gableman is in.

And beginning this month the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel expects people to pay money to read this evasive nonsense? Not bloody likely.

* Approaching half a million dollars worth of public funds gained through an unethical political campaign. How's yer Tea Party now?

Carrot in the bum, finger in the pot

2012-01-06T11:53:00.002-06:00

Whole lotta scrubbin' goin' on.

"Difficult to verify" a better choice of words

2012-01-06T07:50:00.008-06:00

A footnote in the criminal complaint* states that because many of the images involved pubescent or post-pubescent boys or very young men whose ages would be hard to verify, neither was charged with possession of child pornography.

If you know what I'm sayin'.

* WARNING: It's perverse and revolting.

(And you may never peel another carrot again.)

Mac Davis goes after Big Lefties like Bugs Bunny

2012-01-05T21:04:00.027-06:00

WISGOP activist judge forces unfunded mandate on GAB

"Counting the signature of Bugs Bunny is something only lawyers could try to make seem OK," said Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Mac Davis.

What the hell does that even mean?

WISGOP attorney Steven M. Biskupic* cited a media report that one man claimed he'd signed recall petitions 80 times.

That was WISN-12 teevee in Milwaukee's total crock of unverified shite. Mr. Biskupic actually believes that crap? Give me a break.

Interlude: Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me

How's the GAB supposed to know that "Mac Davis" isn't a comic pseudonym like "Bugs Bunny"? At least Bugs Bunny wasn't a conservative activist judge. And there are Hitlers in Wisconsin.

* Yep: Michael Best & Friedrich.

Source: Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson angry

2012-01-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

That Obama used Ron Johnson's recess appointment power.

Scott Walker Milwaukee County aide arrested

2012-01-05T09:54:00.026-06:00

Reports Daniel Bice.

Criminal complaint to follow, whose allegations should be illuminating as to the ongoing investigation into Governor Scott Walker's cronies.

eta: Business setting theft over ten grand.

Also charged was Brian Pierick, Russell's longtime partner. Pierick was charged with one felony count of child enticement.

"Expose sex organ" in Waukesha County. Yikes.

Flashback: Tim Russell digging the dirt on Chris Abele (h/t BL)

Irony remains dead among the WISGOP crowd and their attorneys.

Today's informative headlines

2012-01-05T09:40:00.007-06:00

Gableman should remain on redistricting case, GOP group argues

No shit. "Peppercorn" Gableman is their bought-and-paid-for boy.

Did "Peppercorn" Gableman's attorney also lie?

2012-01-05T07:51:00.011-06:00

Bill Lueders wants to know:

"[Michael Best & Friedrich LLP partner Eric M.] McLeod said Gableman had a standard billing agreement with the law firm and has paid that bill" [emphasis added].

Mr. McLeod was personally sanctioned by a federal court on Tuesday.

All this must be doing wonders for MB&F's reputation, aina?

BREAKING: Scott Walker recall effort fails

2012-01-04T11:54:00.002-06:00

Oh wait that was Scott Walker's effort to recall himself.

What a bunch of comedians.

"Peppercorn" Gableman's attorney sanctioned

2012-01-04T09:23:00.010-06:00

Personally sanctioned. Together with his law firm.

Now that is what I call an asskicking.

WISGOP flouted the law so egregiously that even a court noticed.

To clarify, if perhaps the Legislature's lawyers failed to read or understand the Court's prior orders entered under the heading "Before WOOD, Circuit Judge, DOW, District Judge, and STADTMUELLER, District Judge," . . .

Ouch. And that's just them gettin' warmed up.

ORDER: Plaintiffs are free to seek eleventy brazillion peppercorns.

Dump Mike "Peppercorn" Gableman

2012-01-03T11:42:00.003-06:00

That is what Mike Gableman deserves.

"Valuable consideration."

Hope you don't need to shoot a Wisconsinite today

2012-01-02T13:09:00.008-06:00

Because your handgun may take awhile:

The [WISGOP] Legislature's budget committee approved a department request to spend $1.5 million from application fees to hire more than two dozen additional employees to help with applications over the next two fiscal years.

Hey who says gummint doesn't create jobs.

"We're broke." — Scott Walker, repeatedly.

In Wisconsin, it's an elective office

2012-01-02T09:39:00.027-06:00

Says the Chief Justice of the United States:

I have complete confidence in the capability of my colleagues to determine when recusal is warranted. They are jurists of exceptional integrity and experience whose character and fitness have been examined through a rigorous appointment and confirmation process.

Gableman's character and fitness were examined in 2008. They didn't fare particularly well. "Sinking to new lows," as former Justice Janine Geske put it. "Particularly base and deceptive," observed Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Sykes.

That would be Judge Mike "Peppercorn" Gableman: "A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that [Michael Best & Friedrich] does not like pepper and will throw away the corn."

Nevertheless, argues Gableman through his latest counsel, less than a peppercorn — that is, only the wholly speculative recovery of a peppercorn — is not just good consideration but "valuable consideration."

That's preposterous.

Gableman's Viet Dinh is a funny guy

2012-01-01T20:51:00.015-06:00

$100K+ in never-invoiced legal services over nearly two years of representation of Supreme Court judge "not free," insists latest high priced GOP attorney

Surely the indictment of a judge’s impartiality, and a man’s professional integrity, must be justified by something more than that he voted slightly higher than 50-50.

Haha.

Believe it or not, Mr. Dinh is referring to Mike Gableman. Either Mr. Dinh has no sense of irony whatsoever or knows little of his new client, who showed that professional integrity is a legal fiction.

And don't call [him] Shirley.

Baby Don't Get Hooked On CAPITOL CHAOS

2011-12-29T14:59:00.002-06:00

Mac Davis has got the WTMJ schtick down.

Scott Walker raises taxes on the poor

2011-12-29T09:31:00.000-06:00

Not only the poor but the poorest.

WMC chair lays off 450 workers

2011-12-27T17:13:00.001-06:00

Via One Wisconsin Now. Sad. You remember WMC, they're the gang of cheap dissemblers that got the unethical judge Mike Gableman elected.

Gableman moves up the food chain

2011-12-22T15:10:00.000-06:00

Hires Viet Dinh.

Wonder how much that dude charges.

Wisconsin's 2012 Leaders in the Law

2011-12-21T07:40:00.015-06:00

Inter alios, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi.

Hear, hear. Most emphatically. And shame on the conservative Republican authors of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's June 14 unsigned "miscellaneous order" for their shabby treatment of Judge Sumi.

Also, SPD Ellen Berz. That can't hurt.

h/t Capper.

Charlie Sykes writes what he knows

2011-12-21T07:32:00.004-06:00

"Charlie himself was — by his own definition — a moocher."

Which flavor of Christianity promotes lying?

2011-12-20T20:09:00.001-06:00

Because my friend Jay a.k.a. Folkbum is wondering.

(My guess is it's the conservative Republican flavors.)

Sykes is WTMJ's biggest angry white man asset

2011-12-20T12:36:00.015-06:00

620 WTMJ Can Run But It Can't Hide — Learned counsel Mike Plaisted

(The "ridiculous J.T. Harris" was on Sykes's teevee clown show Sunday.)

After that, the [620 WTMJ] morning team handed Walker off to — you guessed it — Charlie Sykes, who "interviewed" the governor in the same studio, with the extra enhancements, I would hope, of mood music, scented candles and flavored oil for the romantic encounter to follow.

Haha. That's my pal.

The sleazy saga of Mike Gableman continues

2011-12-20T10:53:00.017-06:00

By Bruce Murphy.

More accurately, Gableman was unsuccessful in having the Judicial Commission's complaint against him dismissed. It remains pending.

And the black letter law of admissible evidence is not a "technicality."

Earlier: "I'm aware of a story involving another justice."
Earlier: Who will be the next Wisconsin special prosecutor

Where is that investigation.

Justice David Prosser on Gableman's ethical breaches: "Get over it."

Yeah I don't think so.

Fact checkers fall prey to false equivalence

2011-12-20T08:30:00.000-06:00

Steve Benen: PolitiFact ought to be ashamed of itself

Wisconsin: Why isn't Gableman being recalled?

2011-12-19T23:01:00.058-06:00

"Appearance of impropriety" is a dead, legal fiction 'round here.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in two cases cast the deciding vote in favor of parties represented by a law firm that gave him tens of thousands of dollars of free legal services, a review of State records shows. — By Patrick Marley.

Tens of thousands of dollars worth. For free.

Thank heavens it wasn't a Speed Queen rib.

Except nothing is for free, is it.

"That's a judgment call," Rick Esenberg said.*

Naturally. Rick Esenberg and his then-research assistant at the Marquette University Law School stumped extensively for Gableman. Esenberg even appeared in a video for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which spent like the bejeezus getting Gableman elected.

Rick Esenberg should have declined to comment. It does not look good on him that he did, considering his status as an enthusiastic Gableman surrogate. This blog has been following Gableman's antics for four years.

Kind of a sordid anniversary ain't it.

I was still an idealist in those days. No more.

* "Thanks for the golden insight, Rick." — Mike Plaisted

rofl

Stay classy, you Disciples of Scott Walker

2011-12-19T09:33:00.002-06:00

Two arrested for allegedly spitting on recall workers in Iowa County

Volunteers need rabies shots now or what.

Contribute now: $6.20 Walker-TMJ Radio

2011-12-19T08:56:00.003-06:00

Ha.

Earlier: Graeme Zielinski touches a Journal Broadcasting nerve

Hey I found the god who blesses Charlie Sykes

2011-12-18T23:45:00.003-06:00

APATE was the spirit of deceit, guile, fraud and deception.

Wondered which one it was.

Earlier: "God bless you, Charlie Sykes."

Jake's on a roll

2011-12-18T23:30:00.002-06:00

Milwaukee, Madison papers cop out, and other media BS

@JakeMillerWis

Everyone realized possibility of recall elections

2011-12-18T14:37:00.011-06:00

Is what it says here.

Everyone except for the lawyers who drafted Wisconsin's redistricting.

Whoops. Maybe the people can look into backcharging Michael Best.

Damn straight that's what a "job creator" would do.

Of Michael Best's "horn book" Civil Procedure

2011-12-18T12:45:00.041-06:00

Looky here:

Because the Wisconsin Supreme Court tied over the ethics complaint, Gableman couldn't argue to the board that he had won and the State should cover his fees, Michael Best & Friedrich's chief attorney Jonathan Margolies said in the letter.

Well. Isn't that something. I have been saying for years that Mike Gableman failed to win his ethics case, because the three-judge panel below the Supreme Court convened on Gableman's motion for summary judgment, and pursuant to his own motion, Gableman was unsuccessful. And it also happens to be a conclusion in which Justice N. Patrick Crooks, who has been a judge for more than three decades, concurs.

(I reckon Crooks, J. knows a thing or eleventeen about legal procedure.)

Therefore does the ethics complaint against Gableman remain pending.

Mr. Margolies might presumably know better than anybody, as it was one of his colleagues at Michael Best who participated in Gableman's defense.* This space's conclusion was based on an examination of the statutory framework governing the civil procedure with which the State deals with ethics allegations against judges. This space does not make substantive legal claims without having undertaken such examinations.

So it amuses me no end to recall that Richard Esenberg, a professor of the law at Marquette University, would criticize me by asserting that my view of the Gableman case's procedural posture was informed merely by "a reference to horn book Civil Procedure" which "does not cut it here."

A "horn book" is something like a Cliff's Notes that first-year law students use to prepare for exams. Esenberg is billed as a "prominent Milwaukee attorney" by Wisconsin Public Radio but his condescension on occasion most certainly does not comport with that description.

Now perhaps Esenberg can direct his scorn at MB&F's chief attorney.

I am always suspicious of Esenberg's claims, and you should be too. Yet Wisconsin Public Radio and other local media outlets continue to present him as a disinterested academic, whereas he's as partisan as they come.

Esenberg's former research assistant's claims are mighty lame as well.**

Feet of the master and all that, apparently. Laughable.

* At no charge, as it turns out. And a classy defense it was indeed.

** I trust that was the end of atrocious legal analysis from the faculty blog, since Prof. Esenberg is abdicated as one of the website's editors.

Reince Priebus thanks Charlie Sykes for all the lies

2011-12-18T11:48:00.007-06:00

"God bless you, Charlie Sykes."

That would be the famous "trickster God" of theology, evidently.

Meet your GOP presidential frontrunner

2011-12-18T11:41:00.010-06:00

Newt Gingrich Would Send U.S. Marshals To Arrest 'Activist' Judges*

Gingrich, during last week's Iowa Republican debate, called 9th Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin "radically un-American." Judge Goodwin is a US Army veteran of World War II. Newt Gingrich is what's known as a chickenhawk. I would like to see Newt tell it to Judge Goodwin's face.

* Perhaps Gingrich has retained Jim Troupis.

MacGyver Institute "ignores critical facts"

2011-12-18T10:57:00.006-06:00

We asked MacGyver spokesman Brian Fraley* if he had evidence beyond the video to back the group's claim. He said he did not.

What else is new.

* And Bradley Foundation "intellectual."

Journal-Sentinel editorial board is "appall[ed]"

2011-12-18T09:50:00.012-06:00

So the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board is "appall[ed]" that Wisconsin Dems spox Graeme Zielinski would point out that the fake drumbeat of recall election fraud emanates loudest from the paper's sister broadcasting and cable teevee companies. But it's the truth.

Meanwhile the paper acts as surrogate for a WISGOP fronting, phony news outfit's sleazy rumors and innuendo, and it's "appall[ed]" at GZ?

Who are they trying to kid.

Where's their editorial on professional responsibility?

eta: Proving Zielinski's point, among the guests on Charlie Sykes's TMJ-4 clown show this morning is Media Trackers sleazemonger Brian Sikma.

You tell 'em, Lori Compas

2011-12-18T09:34:00.004-06:00

Contra WISGOP's tediously bogus shouting point:

"It's an offense to all of us who are working so hard to be sure that our efforts reflect the will of the people. To say that we're accepting signatures from Mickey Mouse, it's absolutely not true."

Wisconsin Senate recall efforts on pace

A Brawler Quartet

2011-12-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

Four from the Brawler:

Why can't GOP see signatures early? Ask the Schenks
The Bush administration looked for, didn't find voter fraud in Milwaukee
Rick Esenberg: Fraud paranoia for me, but not for thee
Was Wisconsin a welfare magnet?

More WTMJ Reward Scott Walker gewgaws

2011-12-17T12:55:00.013-06:00

Bisphenol A-Free! Help Save the Planet!

To minimize unwanted tastes and scents, the inside [of the Journal Broadcasting WTMJ Charlie Sykes Reward Scott Walker Sigg Water Bottle] is lined with a water-based, non-toxic epoxy resin that is compliant with FDA anti-leaching requirements.

Because damned federal regulations are throttling our job creators.

lolz — Jokers is exactly right.

Zielinski touches a Journal Broadcasting nerve

2011-12-17T08:16:00.057-06:00

Creating 250,000 jobs ... in Red Communist China

After Wisconsin Dems spokesman Graeme Zielinski went on AM 620 WTMJ yesterday and treated a pair of radio hosts to a blinding glimpse of the obvious — that the station is a continuous shill for conservative Republicans in power — its teevee corollary, Today's TMJ-4, ran this as its lead story. "It got ugly," sez the Journal Communications, Inc. subsidiary, because Zielinski referred to Scott Walker as a "joker." Journal Broadcast Group Vice President Steve Wexler "thought it was odd" that Graeme Zielinski "critique[d] our programming." Hahaha.

Is Steve Wexler a joker too? See that there pic?

Mr. Wexler is literally selling those on dry goods and gewgaws.*

They sure think we're stupid, don't they.

* Note the metric system, favored by socialist regimes worldwide. And, here's an interesting item on Hanesbrands, the manufacturers of WTMJ's CafePress.com Scott Walker swag, shipping American jobs off to China.

So, yeah, "jokers" is a pretty good fit. And a grotesque understatement.

eta 01: "Throw a blazer over later for country club mingling."

That would be your Charlie Sykes/Scott Walker public relations geniuses.

eta 02: [Most Excellent] Post by Jake.

Jeremiah Wright's Beethoven Scherzo Challenge

2011-12-16T23:30:00.007-06:00

Some time ago erstwhile Barack Obama Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright delivered this nonsensical sermon about European classical music, and in particular its alleged lack of rhythmic imagination. As it's Beethoven's 241st birthday, here is his Op. 18 No. 6 String Quartet in B-flat Major, Third Movement Scherzo. It's in 3/4 time so Jeremiah Wright's Challenge is to count along, clapping on the first beat of each measure. Try it.

Graeme Zielinski v. You guys

2011-12-16T08:45:00.004-06:00

Go get 'em tiger.

Screw Journal Broadcast Group.

Both cases need to be laughed out of court

2011-12-16T07:06:00.000-06:00

It is utterly unremarkable anymore that the state Republican Party has such disrespect for the law. As if we needed any more reasons to recall them.

I concur.

Gableman has easy defense to latest imbroglio

2011-12-15T23:34:00.029-06:00

Michael Gableman received free legal service worth [tens of] thousands of dollars from one of Wisconsin's largest law firms [Michael Best & Friedrich] as it defended him against an ethics charge. The state's ethics code says state officials cannot receive anything of value for free because of their position.

As Mike Gableman received that something of value not — strictly speaking — because of his position but because of acting inconsistent with his position he should be free and clear. Good to go. Covered in glory. This firm has some pretty sweet deals with the WISGOP alright.

Gableman is tasked with supervising the ethics of the State's attorneys.

Of course I repeat myself but that is the darkest joke in all Wisconsin.

Gableman ran an ad ... [that] did not mention that Butler was unsuccessful in getting the offender out of prison early ...

Except Butler's objective was not whatsoever to get the offender out of prison early but rather his objective was to have evidence excluded because the black letter law commanded its exclusion and to not have sought its exclusion would have been an ethics violation on Butler's part.

Contra Gableman, Louis Butler is a professional, and a gentleman.

That Gableman purportedly understood all this contributed to his lie. The justices who voted against Gableman's position certainly understood it.

Bloody Hell

2011-12-15T23:06:00.000-06:00

In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens.

Amazing fellow, marvelous writer.

DWD: Trust us, we have no idea what we're doing

2011-12-15T17:59:00.027-06:00

Scott Walker's Department of Workforce Development claims it's got the most accurate jobs reports, but then immediately admits:

[O]ur state needs an accurate jobs reporting system that allows us to understand the trends without unnecessarily alarming the state’s job seekers and job creators.

So lemme get this straight. If you need an accurate jobs reporting system, then that means you don't have an accurate jobs reporting system, yet we're supposed to rely on the accuracy of your jobs reports that are somehow conjured without an accurate jobs reporting system.

Sounds like they've taken to baffling themselves with their own bullshit.

Them's the only ones left to baffle, once everybody else has caught on.

Not even the Walker-endorsing Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is buying it:

Wisconsin lost private-sector jobs for the fifth consecutive month in November, the same months that the nation has been adding private-sector jobs, according to a report Thursday from the state Department of Workforce Development.

Nor, however, does the MJS mention the DWD's remarkable admission.

That tidbit should be the lead paragraph, accompanied by the fact that the mighty Scott Walker administration has had nearly a year to put together an accurate jobs reporting system and it still doesn't have one.

If this failure occurred in the private sector, heads would surely roll.

The Assembly Committee on Judiciary and Ethics

2011-12-15T09:45:00.027-06:00

The Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Judiciary and Ethics is holding a public hearing this morning at 10:30. Among the agenda items is a proposal to make Chief Justice an elected position (currently it's awarded by seniority).* As there are four conservative Republicans on the Supreme Court, which is composed of seven justices, it's obvious what the resolution's sponsors are up to. For some reason Republicans harbor an intense dislike for the present Chief Justice, Shirley Abrahamson, and would like to see her replaced.** Ironically, three of those four Republicans have had their problems pursuant to the conjunction of "judiciary" and "ethics." Justice Annette Ziegler was publicly reprimanded for violating ethics guidelines. Justice David Prosser is now the subject of a Wisconsin Judicial Commission investigation concerning allegations he was involved in a physical altercation with one of his colleagues. And then of course there is Mike Gableman, the poster boy for Wisconsin's code of judicial ethics, which Gableman believes unconstitutionally abridges his First Amendment right to defamation.

Here's hoping someone raises these issues at today's hearing.

The resolution's partisan sponsors are pretty much asking for it.

* Among the resolution's sponsors is Senator Leah Vukmir, who called Justice Sonia Sotomayor and former Justice David Souter "dim bulbs."

Most lawyers can only aspire to be so dim. Funny thing is, Justice Souter wrote a watershed opinion*** a few years ago, which Vukmir has most likely never even heard of, raising the bar for prospective civil plaintiffs. In other words, it acts as a heightened guarantee against the "frivolous suits" that Leah Vukmir et al are otherwise so fond of bellyaching over.

So you tell me who's the dim bulb in this array. It ain't David Souter.

** Probably because she's brilliant, and this necessarily offends them.

*** I understand citations to it broak teh Lexis-Nexis, as the kids say.

Ann Althouse: Recalls are all about MEEEEEEE!

2011-12-15T07:54:00.014-06:00

"I am especially concerned about the appropriation of names of people (like me) who did not sign." — Ann Althouse, law professor

Then go apply for one of the temporary jobs with the GAB. The Board is only concerned about "concealed zealots," not openly ridiculous zealots.

Where was all this handwringing about verifying petition signatures when the Republicans were trying to recall Democratic Senators last summer?*

Nowhere to be found, obviously.

* Republican efforts failed on each and every account. Meanwhile Democrats successfully replaced two Republicans in the State Senate, yet it was the latter that was widely characterized as the failure. Seriously.

Ellen Berz for Dane County Circuit Judge

2011-12-15T07:24:00.006-06:00

No brainer.

Republicans love to politicize judicial elections* and when April rolls around, being a "Walker appointee" will not be the most enviable thing in the world. As for Mr. Remington, do you think being an assistant attorney general will be a premise for heaping scorn, as it was for Mike Gableman and Charlie Sykes when they criticized JoAnne Kloppenburg?

Me neither.

* "Non-partisan," by law. That's a laugh.

Why can't Scott Walker tell the truth?

2011-12-15T07:10:00.007-06:00

It can't be all that difficult, can it?

Eagle Scout, preacher's son, yadda yadda yadda. Biotch please.

Part June Cleaver, part meat cleaver

2011-12-14T21:38:00.003-06:00

Wisconsin protester Joanne Staudacher — TIME's Person of the Year

Speaking of your Bradley Foundation intellectuals

2011-12-14T21:18:00.008-06:00

Who could forget this all-times classic:

Although the authors of the WPRI Report argue that "[m]ost of the empirical research done on retail gasoline markets suggests that the primary problem in the market is not predatory pricing, but rather a propensity towards price collusion," there is no evidence in the WPRI Report of any actual collusion in the Wisconsin motor vehicle fuel market. — Seventh Circuit Ct. App.

Price collusion = voter fraud.