Anti-drug Crusader Takes a Hit

Amy Smith, the last-minute finalist for Dane County Judge rejected by a selection committee and then added by Gov. Jim Doyle is the focus of a piece today by John Nichols in the Cap Times.

Truly, the nicest thing I have heard from practicing members of the Wisconsin Bar is that prosecutor Amy Smith is lying and overzealous.

Writes Nichols:

Members of the selection committee ... would neither confirm nor deny that Smith's name was left off the list because she had on two separate occasions been rebuke by appellate court judges for dishonesty, including one instance where an entire three-judge panel on a drug case chastised the prosecutor for lying about a potential trial witness.

Smith refused repeated requests for her side of the story, even as her name was associated with the most controversial judicial appointment the county has seen in some years.

Nichols see Smith as an example of what is wrong with the proposed so-called merit selection process that would replace the the election of judges, in favor of other judicial election reform.

Smith's crusade against drugs, including that weed sent from the devil Marijuana, was fanatical during her tenure as a prosecutor in Dane County. That she was rebuked as a liar is no great surprise.

See also WKOW's (Madison) report on the selection committee rejecting Smith.

We can't be hating, so let's let Bob take it from here: