Nov 14, 2015

Judge Gives Big Ag License to Pollute, Ignores Wisconsin Constitution

Rightwinger Judge Mark J. McGinnis Does Job for Political Allies—Big Ag, WMC, Scott Walker and GOP

The Republican Party's attack on the Wisconsin Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine protecting the peoples' water received a boost from the rightwing jurist, Outagamie Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis.

McGinnis is an ethically challenged judge who does the bidding of Republicans and rightwing interest groups, (Wisconsin Watch).

Mcginnis ruled "the state Department of Natural Resources doesn't have the authority to monitor high-capacity wells at a large dairy in central Wisconsin. The New Chester Dairy [an industrialized, polluting factory farm] plans to install two [more] high-capacity wells that will each pump 500 gallons a minute to provide water for more than 8,600 cows), (Wisconsin Public Radio) (WPR).

The mission of the DNR and the Wisconsin Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine say differently, no deterrent for McGinnis, just another corrupt Republican judge.

The New Chester Dairy is in Adams county in central Wisconsin.

Outagamie County where McGinnis serves as circuit court judge is located in northeastern Wisconsin. The New Chester Dairy is owned by MS Real Estate Holdings LLC (formerly MilkSource Holdings LLC and Tidy View Dairy) located in Kaukauna, Wisconsin in Outagamie County, hence the court filing in Outagamie County.

McGinnis has been promoted by rightwingers as a judge who will rule for the GOP special interests for years, (Mark Rahmlow, WisOpinion;) (Rahmlow is a rightwinger currently working as Vice President of Public Policy for the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and former aide to the anti-environmentalist, current U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wisconsin)).

The case is New Chester Dairy LLC and MS Real Estate Holdings LLC v. Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources (Outagamie County Case Number 2014CV001055).

Elizabeth Wheeler, of Clean Wisconsin, said the ruling prevents the DNR from adequately protecting groundwater resources, notes WPR.

James Ostrom

James Ostrom, the registered agent of MR Real Estate Holding LLC, has been calling for more industrialized factory farming for over a decade, (Glauber, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Ostrom and Big Ag own Gov. Scott Walker who has worked diligently to gut the Dept. of Natural Resources and stop the DNR from protecting Wisconsin's waters from polluters like Ostrom's operations.

Big Ag and Judicial Corruption

Walker and the Republican Party special interest groups fund judges who will rule in their favor.

In New Chester Dairy LLC and MS Real Estate Holdings LLC v. Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources, one of the attorneys representing the co-plaintiffs is Michael P. Screnock (formerly of Michael Best and Friedrich LLP aka In-house counsel for Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin) (Elbow, The Capital Times).

Screnock officially withdrew from the case on May 18, 2015 a month after receiving his payoff from Scott Walker who appointed Screnock to a circuit court judgeship in Sauk County on April 10, 2015. Screnock made the petition for judicial review on October 17, 2014, according to court records.

The case is likely to reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court where its future is uncertain.

No comments:

Post a Comment