The Progressive: Fucking Garbage, Piece of Shit Pig, Socialist, Tyrant, Woman, Say Callers to Wisc Supreme Court Judge Who Noted Racism in Trump Election Case

Madison, Wisconsin — Invective and hysteria describe several phone messages left to a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice following her characterization of a Trump campaign lawsuit as "racist," "shameful" and "un-American" in Dec 12 oral arguments.

The case, decided on Dec 14 against Trump's attempt to overturn the Wisconsin election, is: 2020AP2038 Donald J. Trump, Michael R. Pence and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.,Plaintiffs-Appellants,v. Joseph R. Biden, Kamala D. Harris, Milwaukee County Clerk c/o George L. Christenson, Milwaukee County Board of Canvassers c/o Tim Posnanski, Wisconsin Elections Commission, Ann S. Jacobs, Dane County Clerk c/o Scott McDonell and Dane County Board of Canvassers c/o Alan Arnsten,

In recordings obtained by Bill Lueders, editor of the The Progressive Magazine, through an open records request, voicemails message left for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky are sometimes hysterical and hostile, accusing the "socialist tyrant bitch" judge of protecting voter fraud, among other imagined crimes.

The Republican Party has become openly racist for the last several decades, and now works against the rights of minorities in policy, the judiciary and political rhetoric.

Writes Lueders:

In the days following her astringent questioning and subsequent vote against an effort by President Donald Trump to subvert the will of the electorate by tossing out hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin votes, state Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky has received a flurry of angry voicemail messages on her official court phone line.

'You got a lot of guts,' one caller stated, as recorded in an MP3 file released Wednesday [Dec 16] to The Progressive in response to an open records request. 'You refer to Trump as a king? Yet you are the tyrant bitch. You are the tyrant bitch who allows cheating and fraud to put a socialist puppet of China in the White House. Trump is not a king. Trump is a President legally elected by the people, not the fraud you allow, you fucking bitch. You’re the socialist tyrant bitch. Trump is an American patriot. And you’re fucking garbage, you fucking piece of shit pig.'

The racist Trump campaign has been virtually shut out in the judiciary, and President Biden-elect Biden will assume office on Jan 20, 2021.

CAFO Champ Rep. Scott Krug Hit with Suit Demanding Clean Water Emails

A journalist in Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit asking for water-related emails showing correspondence between the office of State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) and constituents.

In an Open Records request, Bill Lueders, asked for requested material in an electronic form to make the predictable document dump searchable. The request asks for emails from January through April 8, 2016, the Associated Press reports, and covers a period during which Scott Krug pushed an anti-clean water measure opposed by constituents.

Krug is politically opposed by members of the clean water citizen group, Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors. Many in the citizen group regard the Republican Krug as running political interference for the Republican Party and Gov. Scott Walker's agenda to dismantle state protections for clean and safe water.

During the January-to-April 8 period covered in Lueders' request, Krug introduced legislation opposed by Protect Wood County and other citizen groups, (Mal Contends).

Citizens mobilize in Wood and Adams counties Wisconsin
to stop massive factory farm in central Wisconsin,
and to protect clean water

Wisconsin Assembly Bill 477 and Senate Bill 291 were introduced in the 2015-16 Wisconsin Legislative Session. The requested Jan-April timeframe by journalist Lueders is within the session's duration, continuing through early 2017.

Residents of Wood and Adams counties clashed with Krug, noting his introduced measure, (Assembly Bill 477), would have facilitated unpopular developments in central Wisconsin.

These opposed changes include the increased drawing of groundwater through high capacity wells, the poisoning of ground and surface water, the operation of the unpopular Wysocki factory farm, the plummeting of property valuations, and a threat to communities' recent attempt to promote central Wisconsin as a tourism and recreational mecca.

David Gorski is challenging State Rep. Scott Krug
in Wisconsin's Assembly District 72.

Clean and abundant water issues will define the race between Krug and clean water advocate, David Gorski, the Democratic Party nominee for Wisconsin's 72nd assembly district race.

Writes Bruce E. Dimick of Saratoga in Wood County, testifying in opposition to Senate Bill 291 on October 13, 2015 before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy:

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak here today.  My name is Bruce Dimick; I am from the Town of Saratoga Wisconsin, and am a member of the Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors organization. I have read SB 291 and was pleased by some aspects of the bill, but troubled by others.

One of those problem areas is the method used to identify a Sensitive Resource Area (SRA). I was a member of Representative Krug’s Citizen Advisory Groundwater Group when language similar to what is found in SB 291 was presented by Representative Krug with respect to Sensitive Resource Areas. I forcefully argued against this convoluted approach then, and I do so again today. To my knowledge, no one on the committee endorsed this approach, although many of us were in favor of the concept of Sensitive Resource Areas, or carve-outs.

Approval for a Sensitive Resource Area, (SRA), designation would, according to some estimates, take at least 10 years, during which any high-capacity wells that are approved for an area would be allowed to operate. By the time the SRA designation could be achieved much of the damage would already be done. Why work reactively when a proactive approach makes so much more sense both environmentally and economically?

In order to really understand the hydrogeology of an area like the Central Sands, you almost have to live there for a number of years, especially if you are from a more typical clay-loam environment.  We raised our family north of Appleton in the heart of dairy country during the ‘70’s and 80’s. This was typical clay-loam country like the country I grew up on in Northeastern Ohio. When we eventually moved to Saratoga, with its almost total lack of topsoil and all sand it took some getting used to. Without spray irrigation, our area is good for growing pine trees, but not much else.

One way to conceptualize the Central Sands area is think of it as a big tub full of sand filled almost to the top with water. All the water is connected. Streams, lakes and ponds are merely reflecting the local water table. As an example, we have a small dug pond on our property that has no typical inlet or outlet. Yet it is full of clean water and fish year round.  The ground water flows through our pond, slowly but continually, on its way to the Wisconsin River via one or more of the trout streams in the area.

The Central Sands area has been the subject of countless hydro geological studies done by the UWSP as well as the USGS and has already been identified as an environmentally sensitive region. The sensitivity of this aquifer is well documented, including a 2003 designation by the state legislature when groundwater management areas were identified.

The SRA designation should be made by the legislature proactively, now, just as it was in 2003 when groundwater management areas were identified.

If the entirety of the Central Sands area were designated as an SRA up front, then that would be a great improvement to this Bill.

I would ask the committee to go through a likely scenario for the Town of Saratoga if this bill is passed without modification. Saratoga home owners and small business’s are already being stressed by the threat that the aquifer supplying the residents of the town will be severely damaged. Housing prices have already plummeted, some by as much as 40-50%, and that is if you are lucky enough to sell your home. We are all dependent on private wells. The two wells on my property are 12’ sandpoints and our water tests unbelievably clean.

So if SB 291 becomes law without modification, and the Wysocki Family of Companies sinks their proposed 33 high capacity wells and lowers the water table as expected, many residents will have to construct new deeper wells.  And by the way, deeper does not always mean better. In areas like ours, the best water is frequently found near the top. Sand is a great filter.

Property values will continue to deteriorate and new houses will not be built in our rural residential community. Anybody that can move out, will move out. Perhaps a few hearty souls would prevail and eventually Saratoga and surrounding areas would be designated as an SRA after 7-10 years. The chances at that point of actually shutting down Wysocki’s 33 high capacity wells seems remote at best.

The damage will have been done and a rural community and its small businesses will suffer.

From the Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2016:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A reporter has filed a lawsuit demanding a state lawmaker turn over more than 1,000 pages of records in an electronic format.

Bill Lueders, a reporter and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, filed the lawsuit Friday in Madison. He alleges he asked Rep. Scott Krug's office for correspondence with constituents over water issues from January through April 8.

The lawsuit alleges Krug's office released more than 1,000 pages even though he asked for the material electronically so he could search it easily.

Krug, a Nekoosa Republican, says he hadn't seen the lawsuit but insisted his office complied with the open records law. He said he thinks the lawsuit is politically motivated since Lueders gave it to reporters first.

Lueders says he only wants compliance with the law.

The Krug-David Gorski race is considered a prime pick-up opportunity for the Democratic Party.

Notable Quotes from a Malicious Prosecution

Please sign Petition to demand new trial for wrongfully convicted Penny Brummer, convicted out of 1990s animus against lesbians by Dane County law enforcement, and tunnel vision.

"You are not judging a human being. [Sarah Gonstead] was killed by somebody who had an interest in seeing her dead. An interest that none of us can understand or fathom. An interest that none of us understand because we've never experienced anything like that. Tell the world what Penny Brummer did and find her guilty," said the (late) assistant D.A. Judy Schwaemle at trial in Brummer v.  Wisconsin (1994) (Dane County Case Number 1994CF000617), (Protess, Huffington Post).
-
"One of the questions on the jury sheet was, 'Do you believe that lesbianism is morally wrong?' And I would say a good 75 % of the people we interviewed said yes. But then the district attorneys, [prosecuting attorneys], would ask if they thought they could set aside their opinion of lesbians and judge the case just on the evidence, and they would say yes," said Penny Brummer, (Ingrid Ricks, The Advocate (1995)].
-
"Something's got to happen. God's not going to let me sit here for something I didn't do. I feel he's guiding somebody out there to help me," said Penny Brummer, (Lueders, (Isthmus, (2005)).
 -
"We must make the system more responsive to post-conviction claims of injustice and less bound by blind obedience to finality," (Wisconsin Innocence Project, Keith Findley, Washington Post (2016)).
 -
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne

Dear Mr. Ozanne,

"I am writing this pro se (for the moment) and would like to respectfully request that you stipulate to a new trial in light of the paucity of the circumstantial case in Brummer v.  Wisconsin, (Dane County Case Number 1994CF000617)."

This request comes from the commonality we share that justice must guide the actions of the district attorney's office."
—Letter (Jan. 2016) from Penny Brummer asking for new trial

Help for Exonerated Individuals in Wisconsin Needed

A District Attorney destroys exculpatory evidence; a presiding judge
has an affair with the alleged victim, and an innocent Don Miller
draws a 42-sentence in a clear abuse of office. The Wisconsin
Innocence Project is on the case as the Miller family endures.

"There is no more cruel tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of the law, and with the colors of justice." [UNITED STATES v. JANNOTTI (No. 81-1020), UNITED STATES v. SCHWARTZ  (No. 81-1021)]

A long over-due discussion is needed on innocence and what we as a society can do about the criminal justice system herding innocent people into prisons in a manner right out of the dark ages.

This phenomenon is not caused solely by corrupt prosecutors, though they play a prominent role.

Very few institutions exist to address this atrocity of an innocent person, unjustly arrested, falsely accused and unjustly convicted.

Ask Penny Brummer; hey, she's a lesbian so in a more bigoted time she was an instant suspect, and ultimately convicted because of her sexuality in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sheila and Doug Berry document Ms. Brummer's case in their Who Killed Sarah?

In the book, readers are treated to "a twilight zone where evidence is ignored or manipulated, innocence is disbelieved and justice is denied to both Penny Brummer and Sarah Gonstead (who was murdered with a gun)."

Writes David Protess in The Huffington Post, "In light of the progress that's been made by the LGBT movement, it's hard to imagine that not too long ago an innocent woman could be convicted of murder because she was a lesbian. And, it's harder still to believe that it could happen in a progressive city like Madison, Wis."

This twilight zone is the reality when innocents are systemically fed into the Police-Prison meat grinder; liberty and dignity prevented, human spirit assaulted and any type of human kindness systemically prevented, and life destroyed.

There are journalists, Dee Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal and Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are examples; institutions such the Milwaukee-based Innocence Consultants and the University of Wisconsin Law School's Innocence Project, all of whom do tremendous work.

Facing the power of the prosecutor's office, the mindlessness of politicians, the unthinking actions of law enforcement and the apathy of the public, an innocent man or woman convicted of a crime is up against what author Glenn C. Loury terms an "American ... leviathan unmatched in human history."

A leviathan today is defined as a totalitarian state with a vast bureaucracy. 

And a leviathan is an uneven match in our nation of by-standers, as politicians posture as tough-on-crime, and the prison-for-profit industry soars and one company is actually publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, as it too lobbies for harsher sentencing laws.

Keith Findley, faculty director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, discusses in this linked video an effort to help exonerated innocents in Wisconsin.

It would of course be better that innocents never be convicted. 

The putative nature of American culture and the careerism of American jurists and law enforcement in the system make the incarceration of innocents almost a fait accompli.

The English jurist William Blackstone in his 18th century Commentaries on the Laws of England famously declares, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

One can only reference Blackstone today with dark irony

Too many American jurists delude themselves into thinking Blackstone's tenet guides the criminal justice system. 

Denying liberty is the go-to move today, it's convenient for police, prosecutors and judges.

Most of us—untouched by the cruel tyranny of the criminal justice system—view a common effort with the unjustly incarcerated (done in our names) as relevant to our lives as the passing appearance of the moon.

One person who can be helped now is Penny Brummer. She gets a DNA test, she'll get cleared.

Writes Protess:

Penny Brummer - Arrested and convicted of murder
because of absurd, atavistic bigotry towards lesbians.
No evidence, no eyewitness, just ignorance and hate

The best hope at this point, Sheila (Berry) says, is DNA from the bullet that pierced Sarah's brain. Funds are needed to conduct Y-STR testing, which produced results in another infamous Wisconsin murder case involving Laurencia "Bambi" Bembenek. The testing costs $10-15,000, and the Berrys are offering copies of Who Killed Sarah? to anyone who makes a donation.

Will the justice system ever admit its mistake? Penny herself thinks so. "Something's got to happen," she told investigative reporter Bill Lueders, who first exposed the injustice. "God's not going to let me sit here for something I didn't do. I feel he's guiding somebody out there to help me."

But without the DNA testing or other new evidence, Penny's chances are slim. Now 43, she will not be eligible for parole until she turns 70. Unless something does happen, Penny will die in a Wisconsin prison, damned for a relationship once forbidden in an era of intolerance.

An online contribution, or a check can be sent to:

Penny Brummer Defense Fund
The People's Community Bank
P. O. Box 369
Spring Green, WI  53588

Roggensack's Obstruction of Assault against Colleague Strikes Chord

Cover-up of attack continues

Justice Pat Roggensack's run for re-election came up in a topic among several women meeting for breakfast near Madison recently.

The women—professional, educated, and liberal in political sensibility but not political junkies—were most reportedly offended not by Roggensack's embrace of the Republican Party's agenda and the GOP justices' decimation of Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law. Unfortunate, but true; they didn't really know much about GOP corruption.

What offended them was Roggensack's obstruction of holding David Prosser accountable for actually choking a fellow justice on June 13, 2011.

The choking incident was first reported by Bill Lueders, writing for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism on June 25, 2011.

Holding Prosser accountable for physically attacking a woman in the workplace appears to be a no-brainer.

But Roggensack, along with Prosser's other two GOP colleagues, decided to block the recommendation of willful violations of ethics by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, since packed with GOP partisans by Scott Walker.

Prosser attacks a female colleague and Roggensack covers up the crime by a sitting Wisconsin Supreme Court justice.

One hopes this would be seen by voters as an unforgiveable betrayal by Roggensack and her other GOP cohorts.

Threatened, Lied-to and Attacked = Politicized Families

Most of us in Wisconsin, like America, are not political animals.

Let's face it, politics is akin to a blur we see as we live our lives, love our families and pursue happiness; it's the American way. Beyond a vague skepticism, most view politics as a spectator sport, a rigged system in which maybe one votes every couple years or so.

Bush, Rove and Cheney knew this truism, and they knew they could get away with a lot before people woke up.

This has changed.

What Scott Walker and the Republican Party has done is awaken a sleeping badger. The fact that people can use the formal structures of democracy to fight back is an exciting prospect. 

The fact the political system can be used to protect and indeed inflict damage to those forces assaulting our families is a self-perpetuating dynamic. Never has Wisconsin seen genuine attacks by government to this extent. And the lies and the hypocrisy spread at viral speed over the Net.

Bill Lueders has an insightful piece at Isthmus, which has arguably run the most comprehensive coverage of the Walker scandal and the new Movement.

An excerpt:

... The daily rallies at the state Capitol since Feb. 14 have drawn more than half a million people, including a crowd of perhaps 100,000 on Feb. 26, a cold and snowy Saturday. For more than a week, mostly student protesters maintained a constant protest presence at the Capitol, banging drums in support of collective bargaining rights and sleeping overnight on cold marble floors, until a judge's ruling that they could be removed prompted them to voluntarily withdraw. The battle has been joined by public and private unionists all over the state, with support rallies all over the nation. These will likely reach a new level of intensity now that the bill has passed as a result of legislative maneuvers the Democrats are plausibly claiming to be illegal.

Most amazingly, the state's law enforcement officers and fire fighters, whom Walker exempted from his benefit concessions and collective bargaining crackdown, have been a major presence at these protest rallies. Warm relations have developed between the protesters and the more than 200 law enforcement officers called in each day from all over the state to keep the peace against no apparent threat; they see each other as being on the same side. When the state began severely restricting Capitol access, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney pulled his deputies from the security detail, saying he would not let them be used as "palace guards."

President Obama, Come to Madison

Historical crises require presidential leadership.  President Obama, protect the people of Wisconsin and the Union [capital U]. We need you here in person to speak truth to power and restore the promise of unity.

As the "budget repair bill" was passed early this morning by the Wisconsin Assembly (Cognitive Dissidence), and the billionaires' Americans for Prosperity take to the air to lie again, President Obama, you must live up to your promise to protect the rights of Americans; and certainly not frame issues in the disingeneous manner of Republicans.

Your presidential advocacy is required. All we need is the truth about the budget, and the Wisconsin and national GOP program to rip working families away from the American dream. But we need you here, speaking on the Capital steps in Madison without fear, with the hope that there is hope.

Fox and the Republicans won't like it. So what?

This is a political-economic crisis in Wisconsin caused directly by the lies and the colossal GOP con. And the crisis most certainly is not the state budget, but rather the future of the middle class.

The Wisconsin Republicans are using the old playbook of division, eloquently described by Isthmus editor, Bill Lueders.

Of course it is possible for Walker to survive. But the only way that can happen is if he succeeds in his vile politics of division, turning citizens against citizen, neighbor against neighbor, worker against worker. He must continue to encourage people to resent the teachers who teach their children, the nurses who care for their loved ones, the social workers who offer them help in times of need, the prosecutors who seek justice when they become victims of crime, the police who protect their communities and the firefighters who are prepared to die to save their lives.

Press Secretary Jay Carney on President Obama not coming to Wisconsin (February 24, 2011):

I think what we have made pretty clear is that the President thinks and we think, he’s stated this, that obviously a lot of states in the union are dealing with fiscal issues, big problems in their state budgets that need to be addressed. And they need to act responsibly, tighten their belts, live within their means, just as we in Washington, the executive branch and Congress need to do with our federal situation.

This is not about tightening belts, Mr. President. The budget problem is under control. The GOP lie has been debunked repeatedly.

You can handle the situation in D.C. from Madison for one day.

This is about preserving the American Dream and the right to organize and collectively bargain.

Then-Senator Obama during a campaign speech in Spartanburg, South Carolina (2007):

And understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States. (Raw Story)

Mr. President, come to Madison. The time is now.

Terrorists in Fitchburg Says Mayoral Candidate

Update: Bill Lueders of Isthmus broke this story at 9:58 this morning.

Mayoral candidate Jay Allen [at right] supports policies facilitating terrorists living in Fitchburg, says Allen’s opponent, former Fitchburg mayor Mark Vivian.

Mark Vivian is a hard worker; I respect him.

But Vivian has reportedly teamed up with GOP political operative (and occasional radio personality) Brian A. Schimming of the Midwest Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting group in Wisconsin, in Vivian’s bid to defeat Allen on April 7 in this non-partisan mayoral race.

And the results are deplorable.

In a fund-raising letter dated March 9, Vivian writes:

My opponent, Jay Allen, has introduced legislative action to use the City’s police powers to condemn land owned by the Novation Campus, and threaten 2.5 million dollars of your tax money to interfere in what should be a private matter between current tenants living illegally on Novation property and its owners. The illegal tenants have known ties to an organization identified on the U.S. Federal Government list of domestic terrorist groups.

Honestly, this silly fear mongering employed by Vivian is sad, but I doubt Vivian came up with this nonsense by himself.

Writes Isthmus' Lueders: "The (alleged terrorist) group is called Food Not Bombs (a peace group)," Vivian says, when asked what domestic terrorist outfit he was referencing. "They’ve been working with the people [at Drumlin Farms] to organize protests."

Fear mongering is standard GOP fare that fortunately will not play any longer no matter how often Dick Cheney, Mark Vivian, or anyone tries it.

"This is funny," said Allen this morning. "Really, I just don't know what to say."

The John McCain-Sarah Palin-GOP fear mongering presidential campaign of 2008 generated some 37 percent of the vote in Fitchburg last November against Obama-Biden's 72 percent.

Look for similar results on April 7.

As for Mark Vivian, he's a better man than this silliness would lead you to believe.

Below is the picture of political desperation from Isthmus written by someone whose quest for political power has transformed him into a political golem.

Capital Times' Coverage Lagging in UW-Madison Death

Update: Cap Times back on it: See - Falk apologizes to Zimmermann's family, fiance (Capital Times, May 6) and County Board chair wants answers on 911 problems (Cap Times, May 6).

- Falk apologizes to Zimmermann's family, fiance (Capital Times, May 6)

- Soglin: We all failed Brittany Zimmerman.

via MAL Contends

I was sorry to see the Capital Times hard copy newspaper go, but I told a friend its online iteration was an innovation that would see it stay on the bleeding edge of technology in bringing Dane County residents the news.

But Isthmus and the Wisconsin State Journal have been massacring the Capital Times in their coverage of the biggest local news story that has residents outraged—the Brittany Zimmermann murder and the failure of the Dane County 911 Center to send a police unit in time to save her life.

No doubt the Capital Times remains dedicated to bringing readers the news, but as measured by breaking coverage, general and investigative reporting, and incisive editorial comment, Isthmus and the Wisconsin State Journal are the go-to media for the latest on the Brittany Zimmermann murder and the Dane County 911 Center scandal.

The Capital Times has prided itself on its historical commitment to covering local issues of concern to readers.

But its start as an online medium as exemplified in its coverage on the Brittany Zimmermann murder-Dane County 911 Center story is inauspicious.

***Note*** Contributions in memory of Ms. Zimmermann may be sent to:

The “Dollars for Brittany” scholarship fund
Care of the Brittany Zimmermann Memorial Fund
Marshfield Medical Center Credit Union
P.O. Box 279
Marshfield, WI 54449

Dane County 911 Center Looks to Save Itself in Wake of Murder of 21-year-old Woman

Update: - Soglin: We all failed Brittany Zimmerman.

WI State Journal Edit (May 4, 2008), No apology? You better find one. WI State Journal (p.1) (May 4, 2008) 2004 report warned of 911 Center problems; Co officials warned to increase staffing, change procedures. - Falk apologizes to Zimmermann's family, fiance (WSJ, May 6) - Expert calls Dane County 911 staffing inadequate (WSJ, May 6)

The first rule in crisis management for public servants is not Save your ass.

It's serve the public.

So when the public clamors for answers about why a 21-year-old UW-Madison student was murdered in early April, and asks what could have been done to prevent her death, the response ought to be openness, transparency and honesty.

Unfortunately, the Dane County 911 Center doesn't see it that way, and the stonewalling has begun.

Jason Shepard writing for the Madison weekly, Isthmus, has run into a brickwall in his reporting on the death of Brittany Zimmermann (pictured above; Isthmus Publishing Co.).

Shepard broke a story today that Zimmermann "called 911 before she was stabbed and beaten to death inside her Doty Street apartment, but the 911 Center failed to send help after erroneously concluding the call was a mistake."

Now, as the media and an appalled public look for answers, Shepard, and Isthmus, are being shut out by the Dane County 911 Center.

Writes Shepard:

Over the past two and a half weeks, the 911 Center has refused requests for basic information about the calls. This week, Joe Norwick, director of the Dane County 911 Center since July, declined further opportunities to comment after being provided with a written summary of parts of this story.

In an email, Norwick said he was basing his refusal on a request from the Madison Police Department to withhold all information 'pertaining to this matter' because release would 'seriously impair' the murder investigation.

Bullshit.

Reports Bill Lueders in Isthmus:

At a press conferencethis afternoon, Madison Police Chief Noble Wray responded to the growing media feeding frenzy over the Brittany Zimmermann case by tossing a body to the assembled hungry reporters. His name was Joe Norwick. ... Wray released a statement saying 'there is evidence in the call, which should have resulted in a Madison police officer being dispatched.' He provided a copy of the MPD’s policy, which says officers should be dispatched to cell phone calls if the dispatcher 'has reason to believe that police services are needed.' Wray also confirmed that 'technology exists where we can get either very close to, or the exact location' of, a cell-phone call.

So, is Chief Wray seriously impairing the murder investigation in being open about what happened in the 911 call?

No, he's leveling with the public that he has sworn to protect and serve.

Norwick should step up, now, and release the tape, and offer a full accounting of what happened.

Lueders’ Lets Justice Ziegler off the Hook

For my money, Bill Lueders and John Nichols are the two best political writers living in Wisconsin.

But I was stunned to read Lueders’ piece, “In Defense of Annette Ziegler,” in which Lueders calls Nichols’ criticism of Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler’s admitted conflicts of interests “way overblown,” “unfair,” and motivated by hostility toward Ziegler’s “ideology.”

Lueders’ acknowledges “… Ziegler was wrong to preside over cases in which she had an undisclosed personal connection to one of the parties. Her poor judgment was exacerbated by her initial refusal to admit she'd done anything wrong. …”

Wrong? A more apt description of Ziegler’s judicial misconduct is appalling, and contrary to settled law and ethical rules that specifically call for judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety to promote public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.

Lueders knows better than most the violence that can be inflicted upon citizens by officials at all levels of law enforcement and the judiciary in civil and criminal litigation.

Judges have the power to interpret and apply the law, and the affirmative duty to maintain an ethical commitment to impartiality without which judicial rulings are an assault on the political body—that’s us.

Ziegler failed that duty, over and over, and this ought to disqualify her from sitting on the state’s highest bench, making judicial policy, whatever the recommended ruling of a judicial panel. [From the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign: Attorneys who violate rules governing their professional behavior and ethics – or who even fail to pay their annual State Bar dues on time – get stiffer punishment than the penalties being recommended for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler who had economic conflicts of interest in dozens of cases she handled as a circuit court judge, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review. ]

WMC

Lueders aims his harshest attack on Nichols’ condemnations centering on Ziegler’s hearing a case involving Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), which any serious political observer will tell you, paid for the election of Ziegler to the Court.

Writes Lueders:

When Ziegler agreed to hear a case involving Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the big-business lobby group that spent more than $2 million to get her elected (more than her own campaign's record-breaking sum), The Cap Times was apoplectic.

… The objections being sounded by The Cap Times and others have everything to do with ideology. If a liberal justice committed the same indiscretions, WMC would be demanding her resignation and The Cap Times would be saying it was not a big deal.

Fine, let Lueders cite another judge who has heard (without notifying the litigants) over 50 cases in which her/his family has a financial stake, who lied about it repeatedly during the campaign for Supreme Court, and who after the election hears a case on which the lobbying entity that elected (or rather just paid $2 million in ads favorable to her election) her has a clear financial interest; and then let’s read the resulting criticism or cite the absence of it. Lueders cites no such judge.

Lueders concludes:

But it was the voters of Wisconsin, not WMC, who elected Annette Ziegler — and by a wide margin. If they were paying attention, they would have known about her conflicts and her “I'm with you” signals to conservatives. But they either didn't know or didn't care.

If we want a different system, we should fight for it. … In the meantime, we'll continue to get justices like Annette Ziegler. In other words, we'll get the justices we deserve.

No, the Supreme Court has the power right now to suspend or expel Ziegler whom we do not deserve.

And though Ziegler is certainly not alone in hearing cases in which litigants have contributed money in or advocated in the political system for a subsequently sitting judge, and public financing is certainly needed, the confluence of Ziegler’s misconduct, her lying about it, and her refusal to recuse herself from the WMC-related case, has diluted the confidence of the public in an impartial judiciary and ought to disqualify her from sitting on the state’s highest court.

If such an expulsion were to result in shining the light on other judicial misconduct and political corruption, so much the better.

###