Voting Fraud Lie Lives On

See Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth, (Sept 2016)
Brennan Center for Justice

Republican power-grabs continue

If you have encountered a white Wisconsin election observer or poll worker, you may have encountered a Republican fighting the holy war against voting fraud.

A New York Times editorial sets the record straight on voting fraud:

How does a lie come to be widely taken as the truth?

The answer is disturbingly simple: Repeat it over and over again. When faced with facts that contradict the lie, repeat it louder.

This, in a nutshell, is the story of claims of voting fraud in America — and particularly of voter impersonation fraud, the only kind that voter ID laws can possibly prevent. ...

Credit for this mass deception goes to Republican lawmakers, who have for years pushed a fake story about voter fraud, and thus the necessity of voter ID laws, in an effort to reduce voting among specific groups of Democratic-leaning voters. Those groups — mainly minorities, the poor and students — are less likely to have the required forms of identification.

Behind closed doors, some Republicans freely admit that stoking false fears of electoral fraud is part of their political strategy. In a recently disclosed email from 2011, a Republican lobbyist in Wisconsin wrote to colleagues about a very close election [featuring David Prosser] for a seat on the State Supreme Court. 'Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number?' he wrote. 'I obviously think we should.' ...

The ploy works. 

Yes, the ploy works.

The holy warriors, the overwhelmingly white Republican grassroots extending to the Alt Right, are taking the lie to ever more absurd lengths at the point of voting: The polling place on Election Day.

The objective is to frustrate, aggravate, and obstruct as many minority, young and disabled voters as possible in an effort to suppress the total vote in favor of the Republican Party. If Republicans can demean and dehumanize X number of the wrong kind of voters, Y number of voters won't come back soon.

That municipal bureaucracies treat disfavored voters differently and with animosity is not permissible under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments is a barrier to overcome, in the rightist view. Republicans wager: We don't know what we can get away with if we don't try.

Concludes the Times: "The scary thing is how many Americans have bought into this charade. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, Donald Trump, has elevated the lie about voting fraud and 'rigged elections' to a centerpiece of his campaign."

It should not be surprising.

In Wisconsin, from school boards to municipalities to all levers of state government in all branches and in all bureaucracies, Republicans are engaged in a concerted effort to transform Wisconsin into a red state where civil liberties such as voting rights are a defect to be overcome.

Wisconsin Republicans Lied Over and Over

Wisconsin Republicans are crooks and liars.

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian offers a blockbuster report based on leaked documents from the John Doe probe revealing why Republicans are desperate to stop the publication of Scott Walker-related emails from the John Doe II investigation.

Emails written before and during the 2011-12 Recall-Walker and allied state senators' campaign show the rats' nest of Republican corruption and law-breaking extending throughout Wisconsin elected government seemingly into most every corner Republicans befouled with their illegal campaign schemes.

Writes Pilkington:

By 20 March, two weeks before the election, worry is distilling into panic. Brian Fraley of the Wisconsin-based conservative think-tank the MacIver Institute, shoots an impassioned plea for help to what he calls his 'group' of like-minded lobbying groups and individuals, forwarded to Walker's chief of staff and other top advisers in Madison.

'David Prosser is in trouble,' Fraley begins. 'And if we lose him, the Walker agenda is toast, as could be the Senate GOP majority and any successes creating a new redistricted map. That's not hyperbole.' 

The Guardian report comes as next month the United States Supreme Court will likely vote to hear the federal case that will show corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court judges improperly heard a Wisconsin John Doe case bearing directly on some judges' personal legal and political futures,  i.e. judges had a personal interest in the outcomes of the John Doe case and should have recused themselves, (No. 15M121. John T. Chisholm, et al., Petitioners v. Two Unnamed Petitioners, et al, (Ferral, The Capital Times).

Notes Pilkington:

John Doe files obtained by the Guardian give clues as to why the prosecutors have raised doubts about impartiality in the state courts. They suggest that two of the conservative judges on Wisconsin's top court who voted to halt the John Doe investigation may have themselves been intimately connected to the same campaigning network of rightwing politicians, lobbyists and major donors that the prosecutors were investigating.

Take David Prosser. He was one of the four conservative judges who approved the July 2015 ruling that terminated the John Doe investigation, sacked Schmitz from his position as special prosecutor and ordered the destruction of all the documents that had been collected (later that order was softened a little to a demand that the prosecutors hand in all the documents to the court which would keep them secret under seal).

At precisely the same time as the six Republican senators were embroiled in their recall election, Prosser was in his own electoral fight for survival. He was up for re-election in April 2011 and facing a tough challenge from JoAnne Kloppenburg, then Wisconsin's assistant attorney general. The Prosser election and the recall election were intertwined in that Kloppenburg was attempting to turn her battle against Prosser into a referendum on Governor Walker's anti-union legislation, Act 10.

The Guardian report reveals corruption and lies from Wisconsin
Republicans, as life as usual proceeds in the sleepy state.

Noted also from the email leak is the coordinated widespread Republican disinformation campaign fabricating the voter fraud canard.

From Rick Hasan's Election Law site:

Recall Elections Blog:

... Rick Hasen at the Election Law Blog notes one specific email, where 'a Republican operative' suggests "messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number."

Longtime readers, if any, of this blog may remember that this early push on election fraud claims definitely happened in a very specific way:

Here is Scott Walker claiming that he needs over 53% of the vote because voter fraud is going to claim 1-2% of the vote.

Here’s RNC Chair Reince Priebus backing up the same voter fraud claim.

Here’s future state House Speaker Robin Vos claiming that the Republican’s loss in a Wisconsin Senate recall race was partly due to fraud.

Cheat, lie, steal and lie. It's the Republican way.

More Proof That Supreme Court Decision Was Political, Not Judicial

Update II: Prosser Unhinged: First A Throat, Now A Mike


Update: National Review, which during the campaign in March had run a 2,300-word piece depicting Prosser as a "gruff" man, now is flacking for Prosser saying they have a witness who according to the GOP Wisconsin Policy Research Institute writer, says: "[Justice] Bradley charged toward Prosser, shaking her clenched fist in his face ... ."

The GOP does stick together. Betting that witness just happens to be a Republican.

Republican rule is marked by corrupt policymakers who are isolated, removed from the community of citizens for whom they claim to speak.

In David Prosser's case, this closeted, self-loathing man has let loose his misogyny and hatred of the rule of law and the society from which he hides.

Cognitive Dissidence has a piece today:

So now, apparently without consulting case history or of applicable case law, Prosser not only joined his colleagues in issuing a predetermined ruling, but also wrote his own opinion on the case, in which he took absolute glee in his diatribe against Judge Sumi.

Calls Mount for Investigation of Waukesha Black Box

Update: See Wisconsin Common Cause: Count Every Vote in Contested Supreme Court Race (Mary Bottari in Huffington Post)

If there is nothing to hide, Waukesha County officials will welcome investigation into its secretive fiefdom that tallies and counts votes.

Where are the cries of "fraud" from the Republicans? Why no demand for investigation from Republicans, who claim loudly concern over the integrity of our election system?

Calls for investigation from other non-GOP folks pile up by the day:

• Scandal in Fitzwalkerstan: Federal probe, full recount required in high court race
• In Waukesha County, Fiefdoms, Pockets of Power Abound
• WAUK-esha, don't run
• Save our Supreme Court
• Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin Asks U.S. Attorney General to Investigate Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

GOP Hates Democracy; It's That Simple

Update: See Some [Rightwing] Media Knew Details of Waukesha Voting Glitch Before State Election Authorities.

As the GOP considers how to suppress votes with their anti-democratic and anti-Constitutional (Wisconsin's) Voter I.D. and End Same Day Voter Registration bills, notice the lack of GOP protest over the action of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.

If the Dane County clerk had declared counting votes to be his/her private fiefdom, secret and accountable to no one, he or she would driven from office and cast as a fool and betrayer of democracy.

Not the GOP,  Nickolaus just guaranteed her future in the Party by declaring her commitment to getting power with no consideration of democracy.

Regardless of whether Nickolaus turns out to be as incompetent as she claims, the GOP again stands exposed as holding Wisconsin democracy in contempt. That is: Not a GOP-only club. Rather a process predicated upon values and rights.

WaukeshaGate: Prosser's Former Underling, Now-GOP Co Clerk, Finds 14,315 Lost Votes

County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus increases Prosser county vote by 17 percent

Update II: GAB Dispatched to Waukesha. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) raised the possibility of an independent investigation over the recovery of the votes. "This is a serious breach of election procedure," he said. "We're going to look further. She waited 24 hours to work this. And she waited until after she verified the results, making it that much more difficult to challenge and verify the results." (Stein, Walker and Glauber, MJS)

Update: "There is a history of secrecy and partisanship surrounding the Waukesha County clerk and there remain unanswered questions," said Scot Ross, director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. He added, "Her computers need to be seized and a forensic expert needs to go through them as if a crime could have occurred." (WSJ)

The same 13-year Assembly Republican caucus computer specialist who last year insisted—over the objections of I/T experts concerned about integrity of election data—that her election results collection-tallying system must be placed under her personal control for "security" (MJS) reasons now claims to have found 17 percent more votes for GOP Justice David Prosser, after an incident in which she claims to have personally failed to save some election results.

Nickolaus claims "she failed to save on her computer and then report 14,315 votes in the city of Brookfield, omitting them entirely in an unofficial total she released after Tuesday's election." (Stein, Walker and Glauber; MJS)

Prosser said in a statement: "I'm encouraged by the various reports from the county canvasses."

Prosser, Nickolaus' former boss, made no comment specifically on the circumstances surrounding Nickolaus in which Prosser's total county vote was increased by 17 percent.

Others are demanding forensic investigations and full transparency from the secretive clerk, amid the suspicious circumstances and allegations that Nickolaus' story does not add up.

Nickolaus cited "human error" that she was glad to have discovered before the expected recount, though Nickolaus apparently sat on this error in tallying for 29 hours before right wing bloggers reported the news.

From the Kloppenburg for Justice Campaign: "Wisconsin voters as well as the Kloppenburg for Justice Campaign deserve a full explanation of how and why these 14,000 votes from an entire City were missed. To that end, we will be filing open records requests for all relevant documentation related to the reporting of election results in Waukesha County, as well as to the discovery and reporting of the errors announced by the County. We are confident that election officials in Waukesha County will fulfill these requests as quickly as possible so that both our campaign and the people of Wisconsin can fully understand what happened and why. Just as Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg has run to restore confidence in the court, Wisconsin residents also deserve to have full confidence in election results."

The state Government Accountability Board is expected to audit the entries that Nickolaus made into her system during an anticipated recount.

Nickolaus says she found out about the unsaved data at noon Wendesday. She then "sat on this information for 29 hours before disclosing it." (Citizen Action, see below)

Also clouding the circumstances is the report that a comparison of Waukesha and Dane counties shows that Waukesha County has three times more Supreme Court-only ballots than Dane County.

Citizen Action is calling for a federal investigation, noting:

While it is far too early to judge all the facts of the situation, there are so many apparent discrepancies and contradictions in the currently available fact-base that a full, impartial, and independent investigation is clearly warranted. These warning signs that should trigger a full and independent investigation include:

During her press conference Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus claimed this was an open and transparent process. Yet According to Nickolaus she found out about this at noon yesterday. She then sat on this information for 29 hours before disclosing it.

According to 3 observers who attended the county vote canvass, the issue of 14,315 additional votes from Brookfield never came up in the room.

While it was hidden from the people in the room, others involved in the process, Charlie Sykes, a representative of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, National Review, and conservative bloggers had the story hours before it was announced.

Kathy Nickolaus has a long history of questionable practices in vote counting. The issue of Nicklaus keeping records on her personal computer was central to the audit conducted on her last fall. Was the “human error” she is apologizing for her own personal error made on her personal computer? She has been repeatedly warned about the danger of that process and criticized for keeping information 'secret' from even others with in her own office in the past.

AP Numbers: JK Wins! Sykes hits panic button

Update VII: JoAnne Kloppenburg declared victory this afternoon!!!

Update:VI: J-Klop wins; AP has all numbers in and JK lead of 204 votes. WTMJ calls it for J-Klop.

Update:V:  J-Klop lead at 206; One precinct remains: Jefferson County. MJS (Marley, Sandler and Stein) reports at 1:02 p.m.: "The Jefferson County Clerk's officer reported that Prosser picked up only 2 votes in the electronic vote in Lake Mills and that 24 handwritten ballots were not yet counted. ... "

About 220 votes were cast in Town of Lake Mills - seemingly not enough for Prosser to make up the votes he would need to defeat Kloppenburg."

Check AP for update.

Update IV: J-Klop lead at 224 votes; three precincts left

Update III: Sykes already in high damage-control mode; calls for reports of "voter irregularities."

Update II: Kloppenburg takes 309-vote lead! Five precincts left.

Update: Keep updated at AP. Twenty-four precincts left; Prosser margin at 800-plus votes. No cost for a recall with vote margin within some 7,000 votes. Still, lots of variables out there. Dunn County has posted its numbers in its two remaining precincts; AP does not have them yet but Kloppenburg will pick a few-hundred more there. See Dunn County Unofficial Election Results.

If JoAnne Kloppenburg wins the remaining 34 precincts to report (including 12 precincts in Milwaukee) by an average of 18 votes per precinct, she'll win by 20-some votes.

Thirty-two of the 34 remaining precincts are in counties Kloppenburg is winning. (Kos)

See the AP tally.

A recount seems very likely at this point.

A friend writes:

No matter the outcome at this point, we won and Scott Walker lost.

Kloppenburg came from out of no where to maybe beat a sitting Supreme Court Justice, who has the support of Koch-funded groups that spread tons of lies, massively outspending rule-of-law forces.

David Prosser in Milwaukee: Look How Biased I Am

Prosser - Outed and exposed

David Prosser, outed and exposed as corrupt, touted his votes in front of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee Tuesday. (Sandler, MJS)

The problem is Prosser is trolling for votes in the manner of a desperate politician, not an impartial judge seeking to find out what the law is and how it applies to cases that come before the state's top appellate court.

As we have written here before: Justice David Prosser goes out of his way to declare his bias towards specific communities of interest and certain classes of litigants, as well as fidelity to his political party.

Prosser's opponent, "Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, called [Prosser's] statements inappropriate for a judicial contest. ... Kloppenburg said a judge shouldn't use his rulings to seek political support. ... Prosser 'has this partisan approach to being a judge.'" (Sandler, MJS)

Video: David Prosser Gets Butchy, Ahh Bitchy

Exclusive Video: Prosser Unhinged

Judicial temperament and ethics are essential and David Prosser has shown he simply cannot control his unhinged temper. The troubling video of David Prosser charging at his political opponents with his fist in the air and screaming at them it is a sight to see.

Watch the One Wisconsin Now video of David Prosser’s behavior

National Review Tries to Masculate David Prosser

Justice David Prosser

You can tell much about the perceived deficiencies of Republicans by efforts of their hacks to imbue certain politicos with improbable qualities.

With George W. Bush, we were treated to reports of how much he read and how freedom-loving he was. Truth is Bush was incurious, dogmatic and authoritarian.

Among these clumsy branding attempts, the National Review Online (Robert Costa) today has a desperate, comical 2,300-word column which includes the supposed quality of Justice David Prosser. See Wisconsin Fight Goes to Court. And Walker’s big win could ride on a single judicial election.

Here's how Prosser is described in NRO: "Gruff."

The truth is Prosser is a whiny, quarrelsome man who lost his 1996 race as a Republican nominee for congress in the right-leaning Wisconsin 8th district because he was a bad cultural fit for the bigoted milieu of traditional gender roles that predominates in Northeast Wisconsin.

Well, I guess Prosser has to be gruff today, up against those vicious liberals hiding among the palm trees of Madison winters.

Hulking thugs at Capitol

Writes Costa, "As the dust settles in Madison, Wisconsin Republicans face a troubling coda: Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill is being tripped up in the courts. Union heavies smell blood. And the unruly parade of lefty activists and hulking Teamsters that occupied the state capitol for weeks is back for a bruising final round."

Costa might wish to read some classic Christopher Hitchens before Costa embarrasses himself with his o-f-f descriptions on the nature of David Prosser and the Wisconsin pro-worker movement:

Union Thugs Pretending They Are Cops

In his imperishable Treatise on the Art of Political Lying, published in 1714, Dr. John Arbuthnot laid down a standard for falsifiers and calumniators that has yet to be excelled:

Detractory or defamatory lies should not be quite opposite to the qualities the person is supposed to have. Thus it will not be found according to the sound rules of pseudology to report of a pious and religious prince that he neglects his devotions and would introduce heresy; but you may report of a merciful Prince that he has pardoned a criminal who did not deserve it.

Scott Walker Regime Requires Inattention and Despair from Citizens; They Won't Get It April 5

Update: NRO: "To win, GOP officials say [David] Prosser will need to draw strong numbers from emerging conservative pockets in Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, and Racine counties. If voters from these areas don’t show, but liberals pile into voting booths in Dane County and Madison proper, Kloppenburg could cruise to victory."

There's talk voter turnout in the Spring election (April 5) will be massive, perhaps rivaling the November 2010 election featuring a U.S. Senate and gubernatorial race.

The 2010 general election turnout was nothing to write home about: Half of eligible voters did not cast a vote, giving Scott Walker a 52-47 percent victory that he mistook for a mandate from God.

Still, it beats the typical Spring election, twenty percent turnout in a good year. Citizens tune out.

In 2010, a mere 26 percent of eligible Wisconsin voters cast their lot for Walker with the disastrous consequences that may be averted thanks to the furious and newly politicized Wisconsin families.

But the people who didn't vote—or voted for Walker expecting something different—had what Walker needs: Inattention, apathy and despair. He won't get that this election.

As for policy misunderstandings and expectations, Walker isn't fooling anyone any more. And neither is the GOP stooge, David Prosser.

This time voters are tuned in.

Prosser Equals Walker

The results from 2010 paint an unusual electoral picture.

The two most populous counties, Milwaukee and Dane, gave Walker an electoral thrashing: 61-37 percent, and 67-30 percent respectively. Together, Milwaukee and Dane counties comprise a full 25 percent of the statewide vote.

But that was not enough to defeat Walker though historically a Democrat carrying Milwaukee county with the above margin spells victory.

In the post-Walker-served-three-months political era, the anti-Walker margin will increase in Milwaukee and Dane counties where Walker first launched his blitzkrieg before declaring war on the rest of the state.

In the big statewide race between the Walker-loving, child molester-protecting Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, and the facts-and-law candidate, JoAnne Kloppenburg, there is ample cause for optimism.

Consider Fond du Lac, Dodge and Portage counties.

In Fond du Lac and Dodge counties combined, Walker carried 65 percent of the vote. I guarantee you this performance will change substantially for the Walker-supporting GOP hack, David Prosser whom even his right-leaning hometown newspaper refused to endorse.

In Portage county, Walker carried 42 percent. Prosser will not come close to that figure in April.

Sixteen state senators are the object of recall campaigns.

This means in a phrase: People know. They're paying attention and are engaged.

It's what democracy looks like. And democracy is a horrifying image for the likes of Walker, Fitzgerald, Hopper, Prosser, Darling, the whole miserable bunch of autocrats, liars and hypocrites.

Look for the defeat of the Walker-loving David Prosser to herald the recalls of the Republican Eight. Then next year: On to Scott Walker.

JoAnne Kloppenburg Runs Facts-and-Law Campaign

By Michael Leon

I took some flak here for criticizing both Louis Butler Jr. and Justice Michael Gableman, 2008 candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Butler—now a blocked nominee for federal judgeship with no outraged GOP cries of "up-or-down-floor vote"—and Justice Gableman both disgraced the judicial office they sought to hold, I asserted.

'Don’t worry about the result; just tell me what the law is.’

Such a directive ought to be the mission, objective and goal of every justice of the state’s top appellate court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court. ...

If one were to ask candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2008 their commitment to the above principle, one can expect a declaration of absolute fidelity, right? ... [Y]ou would not deduce the presence of this judicial ethos from the campaigns of the two leading candidates for the [Supreme Court], Louis Butler and Judge Michael Gableman. (February 5, 2008)

Since 2008, we have seen two candidates for Wisconsin's high court who dared to edify the electorate in the function of the state's top appellate judicial body—stressing the imperative to be impartial, and avoiding political demagoguery.

These two jurists honor the bench: Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, now a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Abrahamson ran a facts-and-law campaign and won reelection decisively in 2009.

This election, we also have one candidate running a facts-and-law campaign: Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Kloppenburg opponent, Justice David Prosser, on the other hand, goes out of his way to declare his bias towards specific communities of interest and certain classes of litigants, as well as fidelity to his political party, a committment Prosser unconvincingly goes on to deny when called on this corrupt stance in office.

From Kloppenburg:

In two weeks, Wisconsin voters will elect a Supreme Court Justice.

You and I share the belief that Justices must be independent, impartial and committed to deciding each case on the facts and the law.

That is the kind of Justice I will be.

Independence, impartiality and committment to facts and the law.

That's refreshing. And in the face of an often lawless Scott Walker administration, committment to facts and the law is imperative to preserve the state of Wisconsin as a functioning democratic entity.

Fight War on Families; Call Your Senator

Find your state senator here.

Beginning this week, Walker and the GOP will try to push through legislation, they say, will combat the massive voter fraud that resulted in their election that allegedly gives Republicans their mandate to strike at state, county and municipal workers, our neighbors, our friends, and our families.

Walker, if successful, will drive families to bankruptcy, jeopardize college plans, and inflict stress on already over-stressed, working parents.

But I do not believe for a moment that most GOP senators have any idea how badly families with state, county and municipal public workers will be hurt by what Walker is doing.

Call your state senator here.

In November 2010 some 26 percent of eligible Wisconsin voters cast their lot in the gubernatorial election for Scott Walker, handing Walker a narrow 52-47 victory.

Walker claims mandate to end collective bargaining and local control

Walker now claims a mandate to dismantle public union collective bargaining, and a state-mandated end to local control in county, school district and municipal governance.

Think it's your school district your property taxes pay for? Think again, it's Walker's or so he believes when Walker has political scores to settle and power to grab.

Local communities and families are collateral damage in Walker's war for Walker.

Putting aside aside Walker's absurd assertion that citizen demands for radical change in labor negotiations catapulted him to victory, one notes Walker assures us the 2010 legislative elections reveal a similar call for initiatives that just happen to weaken the political infrastructure of his opponents.

And no compromises, Walker says.

Walker claims mandate to end local control of health care

And that includes no local control of Medicare, Family Care, Senior Care and Badger Care because that's what the voters want, and this just happens to coincide exactly with what the multi-billionaire Koch Brothers want.

Family and senior health care are collateral damage in Walker's war for Walker.

Depoliticized is dangerous

The number of Wisconsin citizens who can name their state representative and state senator, their political affiliation, and policy positions in this age of 30-second TV campaigns is low.

Most families are straining to make ends meet.

It strains credulity to contend a mandate for targeting Wisconsin families, as Walker does.

Wisconsinites like most Americans are depoliticized; though as Walker's schemes become known outrage and betrayal are the common resulting sentiments as we have seen in the streets around the state.

Walker claims mandate to end same-day registration and mandate voter qualifications

Beginning this week, Walker and the GOP will try to push through legislation, they say, will combat the massive voter fraud that presumably resulted in their elections that give Republicans their allegedly powerful mandate.

It just so happens that our fellow citizens who are most vulnerable to be being obstructed from voting from the GOP legislation—college students, blacks, browns, and the working class—lean Democratic.

Other GOP initiatives targeting Democrats specifically and families generally will be presented in the coming months.

Elect JoAnne Kloppenburg over David Prosser

Most of Walker's agenda will face vigorous legal challenge in the court system, so it is critical that we work to elect independent-minded jurists.

In the state's highest court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Justice David T. Prosser, rakes in money from the same ideological special interests who fund Walker.

Walker, a petulant man, in his 18 years in the state assembly says he soaked in plenty of GOP money, and brags about his GOP connections: "Well, let me say this. I have the most partisan background of any member of the court." (Zweifel, Capital Times)

Prosser will face JoAnne Kloppenburg, Assistant Attorney General, dedicated to the rule of law and impartial adjudciation in the state's top appellate court.

But Prosser's campaign manager felt so comfortable in Prosser's loyalty to the GOP cause that he said a new Prosser term would protect the "conservative judicial majority and [act] as a common sense compliment [sic] to both the new [Walker] administration and Legislature." (Lueders, Isthmus)

Now, Prosser says he really didn't mean it, all that GOP money means nothing to Prosser when votes on cases before the Court. Right.

One critical step in restoring some sense of decency in Wisconsin politics is the election of Kloppenburg over the GOP tool, Prosser.

We have seen the results when we voters stay home.