Central Wisconsin Clean Water Group Endorses Rebecca Dallet for Supreme Court

Proposed Golden Sands factory farm in central
Wisconsin could turn rural paradise into an
industrial wasteland. Don Ystad of Adams County
Wisconsin who has been promoting tourism
and recreation for years writes:
"Take a step back from the politics of this
situation and ask yourself, 'what is best
for the state of Wisconsin? Another CAFO sited, or the
preservation and growth of an existing, vibrant area,
poised to be the 'golf mecca of the Midwest?'
Unfortunately, the Wysocki CAFO has the
political support of local State Rep. Scott Krug,
(R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) and State Sen.
Patrick Testin, (R-Stevens Point). These pols
have already chosen Big Ag over everything else,
including a new Sand Valley Golf Resort,
multi-generational families and entire communities.

Rebecca Dallet is our Supreme Court candidate, says Saratoga Concerned in Republican-dominated central Wisconsin

"Rural America once had strong communities. It would have been very difficult for anyone who built a CAFO facotry farm in a rural area in earlier times. It wasn’t socially or morally acceptable for one person in the community to benefit at the expense of others."
 —John Ikerd, Rural Communities of Necessity
 --
The communities of Saratoga and Rome, in central Wisconsin say the Wisconsin Supreme Court race is personal.

The April 3 race featuring candidates Rebecca Dallet, (a mainstream rule-of-law Milwaukee County judge), and Michael Screnock, (extremist rightwing Sauk County judge) will determine if rightwingers control the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the next nine years.

The stakes are high, but even more so for central Wisconsin where Republican interests and Big Ag are trying to use a local case awaiting decision from the Supreme Court to obliterate local control and codify corporate property rights in a radical and novel interpretation that is dreaded by families.

In Golden Sands Dairy, (Wysocki corporation),  LLC v. Town of Saratoga case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether some 1.7 million Wisconsin citizen, some 30 percent of the state living in towns, can act locally to protect local conditions, property values, families, drinking water quality, and local character.  [For legal updates on the case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, enter 15ap1258 in the Appeal Number field.]

The case was argued Jan 11, 2018.

It's personal because 1,000s of families in Wood, Adams and Juneau counties who have spent generations building lives, security and opportunity for future generations will see dreams shattered and security gone if the Wysocki corporation's badly polluting factory farm begins operations.

The proposed massive factory farm, a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation, would leave the region an economic moonscape.

That's fine with Wisconsin Republicans, and Supreme Court candidate Michael Screnock whose campaign runs for and is funded by Republican special interests. Screnock in fact is a former attorney for Big Ag against virtually everyone else in Wisconsin.

A major group fighting for entire communities and central Wisconsin families just came out for Supreme Court candidate Rebecca Dallet, and against Screnock.

The group, Saratoga Concerned, is awaiting word from the Supreme Court on Golden Sands Dairy. They are nervous and frightened. Who came blame them?

Today, according to an email, Saratoga Concerned endorsed Rebecca Dallet over Michael Screnock.

From Saratoga Concerned:

As we are all aware, politics are dirty. It doesn't matter the party or the platform, each side spins false innuendos and statements at the other in the hopes of having you simply dislike the other candidate more. The race for Supreme Court is no different even though it is supposed to be a nonpartisan position.

We encourage everyone to vote on Tuesday, April 3rd but instead of voting by your political party leaning, we encourage you to vote the issues. Let's face it, the Wisconsin Republican and the Democratic party are not what they used to be years ago. Voting the issues is the only way to get folks in office who are going to truly represent your interests. We all need to be willing to put our political partisanship aside and vote on the things that are important to our fight.

Saratoga Concerned leadership team has identified our issues  1) Clean water  2) Protection of our Natural Resources and 3) Protecting local control. When looking solely at these three topics we feel strongly Rebecca Dallet is our candidate. Her challenger, Michael Screnock, has repeatedly represented CAFO owners in court against the average citizen and denies their civil right to clean and plentiful water. Not to mention his work with the Michael Best and Friedrich law office that is retained by Wysocki. We cringe just thinking about what may happen if he earns a seat on the bench.

We encourage you to vote the issues on April 3rd.

Our Saratoga fights need a Justice like Rebecca Dallet on the bench.

On Defeating Wisconsin Republicans

2018 is the year Wisconsin Democrats hit the target or
the year democracy perishes in the Progressive State.

Madison, Wisconsin — On June 30, 111 days from now, absentee ballots will be mailed for the Aug. 14, 2018 Wisconsin Fall Primary.

Wisconsin voters will choose a candidate for the Democratic Party nominee for governor.

One hundred-and-eleven days in statewide-campaign time is a sprint.

On March 10, absentee ballots will be mailed for the April 3, 2018 Wisconsin Spring General Election featuring two candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Twenty-four days is a sprint.

The gubernatorial and this Supreme Court race are nearly equal in importance.

Advice for Democrats, progressives and those with a passing interest in the health of Wisconsin:

Repeat over-and-over the message, the fact, Republicans oppose democracy. Republicans work for special interests, against you.

Any voiced defect or criticism in messaging by Wisconsin Democrats should be given a hearing by Wisconsin Democrats.

Now is not the time for Wisconsin Democratic Party tribalism, for Party hacks, for careerism, group-thing, political malpractice, badly performing consulting firms, and all-around fuck-abouts who have exhibited campaign incompetence so potent Wisconsin's Lost Decade under Republican rule, (2011-2019), will take years to recover from.

Wake up. See what the city of Madison is doing in facilitating voting: Badger your municipality to replicate it.

See what Patty Schachtner did in the January 2018 State Senate special election pushing local control and clean water: Learn from it.

Have someone willing to blanket a critical voting area with signs and lit: Give him or her what she needs now.

Don't fuck this up.

Wisconsin Progressive Burns Endorses Rebecca Dallet for Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race
to be held on April 3 rivals the Nov. 6
gubernatorial race in importance.

Dallet-Burns coalition means corrupt state Supreme Court could be retaken in three years, as political tea leaves turn blue

Madison, Wisconsin—Rebecca Dallet is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court against a Scott Walker extremist, Michael Screnock, for a ten-year term.

Tim Burns, a progressive Court candidate who placed third in the Feb. 20 primary election, announced this week he is endorsing and contributing money to the Democratic-leaning Dallet, dubbed a Sandernista.

Though the endorsement by Burns was expected, the Burns campaign Facebook communication highlights the high stakes of the April 3 general election.

If the rightwinger Screnock were elected, the Court would cease to be a court of law in practice, a reality Wisconsin attorneys are prohibited by ethical rules from acknowledging, (SCR 20:8.2  Judicial and legal officials), and a political reality many voters don't realize exists today. The ethics-free Court today is effectively a coup by anti-union, anti-women, anti-black activists.

Two radical rightists on the Court who were appointed by Scott Walker—Rebecca Bradley and Daniel Kelly—have endorsed Screnock.

In the Screnock-win scenario, the Wisconsin Supreme Court would become a rightwing, activist court that would rewrite Wisconsin judicial policy for the specific benefit of the Republican Party and its coalition of corporate money, white Evangelicals, and white racists.

Currently, rightwingers on the Court have a 5-2 majority, with a hypothetical Screnock victory giving the rightwingers a 5-2 majority that would guarantee rightest control of the Court for the next decade.

A Democratic Dallet win would narrow the rightest majority to 4-3.

Assuming the rule-of-law coalition holds in the 2019 election, as expected, the rule-of-law justices could gain a majority on the Supreme Court in 2021. See chart below for election years of current justices.

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices and year 10-year term expires

Justice Michael Gableman - Rightwinger leaving Court. Dallet-Screnock are candidates for April 3, 2018 Spring general election.

Justice Shirley Abrahamson - Rule-of-law judge; term expires 2019
Justice Daniel Kelly - Rightwinger; term expires 2021
Justice Patience Roggensack - Rightwinger; term expires 2023
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley - Rule-of-law judge; term expires 2025
Justice Rebecca Bradley - Rightwinger; term expires 2026
Justice Annette Ziegler - Rightwinger; term expires 2027

Dallet and Burns together won 54 percent of the vote in the record-setting Feb. 20 primary turnout suggesting the Blue Wave in Wisconsin is gathering strength.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court Spring general campaign on April 3 is expected to feature record-setting spending, massive independent expenditures, record turnout, a visit from President Obama and expected near-presidential-level turnout in Madison.

White racist poll workers are expected to amp-up their voter-suppression efforts at the polling place.

Early prognosticators see a narrow Dallet victory with college-aged voters and black voters in segregated Milwaukee as significant X factors.

The anti-Trump, anti-Walker animus has become so pronounced that Walker is refusing to order a special election for a vacant state senate seat that voted strongly Republican in 2016.

Absentee ballots will be mailed around March 10, meaning in some 11 days voting begins.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Election — Madison Pushes Turn-out as Progressive-Liberal Candidates Win 54 Percent of Votes

Looming over Wisconsin's Supreme Court race is Gov.
Scott Walker, reviled for selling out the state to dark
money and corporate special interests. The Spring
general election will be held April 3.

Wisconsin election shows Blue Wave amassing

Madison, Wisconsin—Led by record-breaking voter turn-outs in Madison that saw numerous precincts scrambling for more ballots, two Supreme Court candidates dubbed Sandernistas, combined for 54 percent of the vote against a Scott Walker-backed extremist.

Rebecca Dallet and Michael Screnock will advance to the April 3 general election, as progressive Tim Burns' supporters signaled their intention to defeat Screnock.

Progressive-liberal voters prevailing over Screnock is another sign the national Blue Wave is still building.

The Spring Primary race saw massive infusions of dark money and the Republicans' voter-suppression regime that would appear to be insufficient to build a wall against Wisconsin voters after Wisconsin's Lost Decade, 2011-2019 and 13 months of Trump's madness.

Unofficial statewide results from WTMJ-Milwaukee, show

Michael Screnock 46%, 247,480 votes
Rebecca Dallet     36%  191,155 votes
Tim Burns             18%    95,422 votes

At voting sites on Madison's east side to the southwest side, polling stations were running out of ballots around 5:00 p.m.

One polling place in the Meadowood neighborhood (wards 92 and 95), received visits from poll workers from three different neighboring precincts in the course of some 90 minutes, asking for more ballots. The ballots were given, followed by phone calls to the City Clerk's office by the Meadowood chief election inspector.

No reports were made by poll workers of voters having to wait to vote because of no ballots, as election couriers from the City Clerk's office rushed around the city delivering stacks of ballots as city roads iced up after dark.

Logan Wroge of the Wisconsin State Journal reports:

Despite heavy snowfall in northern Wisconsin and flooding in the southern part of the state, Tuesday’s spring primary saw an above-average statewide turnout with 11.7 percent of the voting-age population casting ballots.

In the past two decades, there have been five spring primaries involving state Supreme Court candidates that averaged a 7.3 percent turnout, according to the State Elections Commission. ...

Dane County, which held a handful of local primaries along with the Supreme Court race, saw an 18.7 percent turnout, and 20.3 percent of voting-age Madison residents heading to the polls.

The Madison polling sites running out of ballots were stocked with ballots assuming roughly a 30 percent turn-out, a chief election inspector said last night.

In Dane County the Dallet-Burns combined votes totaled 82.6 percent against 17.3 for Screnock (Dane County, 2018 Spring Primary results, (unofficial)).

The outspoken progressive Tim Burns, whom observers noted pushed Dallet to take several progressive positions, writes this morning:

Thanks so much everyone and congratulations to Judge Dallet. No regrets here. Great campaign team. Said exactly what I thought had to be said—no compromising on that. I’m honored by your support. Will continue to work for a better state and world.

— Tim Burns (@Burns4WI) February 21, 2018

For the Spring General election on April 3, informed campaign sources in Madison say they expect record campaign spending and record voter turn-out.

Wisconsin Court Candidate, Tim Burns, Called a Sandernista; "Fine with That," Says the Progressive

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Madison, Wisconsin—The rightwing Republicans and corporatist Wisconsin Democrats are misreading the electorate.

Tim Burns, one of three candidate running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, stands to benefit.

The latest, the rightwing go-to attorney, Rick Esenberg, looks to inject a some late mischief into the Feb. 20 primary by opining non-GOP candidates are "Sandernistas."

The quick-hitting Burns camapign tweets, "I'm fine with that."

I don’t think so either... but if @RickEsenberg doesn’t like me... I’m fine with that. pic.twitter.com/oreJeedwDe

— Tim Burns (@Burns4WI) February 19, 2018

Some 12 percent of voters are expected to turn out on Feb. 20.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Election—Tim Burns Towers over Two Opponents

Comment such as that above leave Tim Burns, candidate
for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, labeled a heretic.
The National Review today calls Burns a "Sandernista."

Finally, a, Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate calls bull-shite on this farce

Madison, Wisconsin—There is a case decided in 2001 by the nation's highest appellate court that instructs the Wisconsin Supreme Court primary on Feb. 20.

Atwater V. Lago Vista is a Fourth Amendment case in which a mother and her two young children, three- and five-years old, were pulled over by an over-zealous Texas cop, verbally abused, and arrested in front of multiple, gathering witnesses who all confirmed the same story: Young children were traumatized and cried, as their mother was arrested by a vicious police officer for a traffic violation.

"The question is whether the Fourth Amendment forbids a warrant-less arrest for a minor criminal offense, such as a misdemeanor seat-belt violation punishable only by a fine. We hold that it does not," the United States Supreme Court held 5-4

A powerful dissent by Justices O’Connor, Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer notes the demise of the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and security in this "severe intrusion on an individual’s liberty," (as custodial arrests are), in a decision preceding 9/11 by five months, after which for other reasons: Good bye, Fourth Amendment and hello, American police state.

Atwater is animated by a general disdain the state and federal courts have towards the liberties of Americans against police incursions. For all the fluff about 'land of the free,' after Atwater, the Fourth Amendment barely exists today.

With respect to the Wisconsin Supreme Court election tomorrow, three candidates are on the ballot, two of whom will continue as candidates in the April 3 Spring general election.

Only one candidate, Tim Burns, cares about the liberties and humanity of Gail Atwater of Texas, brutalized by a cop.

Tim Burns

Tim Burns, has made concern for citizens against powerful interests the basis of his campaign.

The only appellate attorney in the race, Burns acclaims the primacy of voters' rights, the right to safe, clean water, civil liberties and citizens' right to an impartial judiciary among other liberties that 20 years ago were not controversial in Wisconsin.

Rebecca Dallet

Rebecca Dallet is a judge pretending the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a trial court.

Dallet's tendency to mislead the electorate plays well politically with some of the state Party and legal establishment.

But Dallet's record belies her claim to instructive experience for Wisconsin's top appellate court, as a bulwark for citizen liberties against unlawful lower courts, and the corporation and police interests for whom jurists like Dallet work.

Dallet is the presiding judge in Wisconsin v. Ryan Erik Diggins, (2003), (overturned on appeal)), in which Dallet found blacks leaning against a wall were engaging in suspicious conduct because racist Milwaukee police said so.

Under Dallet's black-hence-suspicious theory of liberty and people, one can understand how America has evolved into a police state.

Dallet is the problem, so it's no surprise Dallet donated $2,500 to he Koch brothers' chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

This is how Dallet thinks about the world, a land with little rights dominated by Koch brothers-approved stooges.

Michael P. Screnock

Michael P. Screnock is manifestly unqualified, directly funded by corporate Wisconsin. In the Republicans' view of Wisconsin, privacy and liberty claims are of no moment.

This is a moment for Wisconsin.

But if 15 percent of the electorate votes on Feb. 20, I will be quite surprised.