Dallet Will NOT Be On My Ballot

By Jeff Simpson

This Tuesday is Spring Primary election day. 

In most places, the only race on the ballot will be for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  There are three names on the Ballot and two will advance. 

The first name is Michael Screnock.  The twice arrested Screnock is running on a platform of being completely impartial, yet has been endorsed by the NRA(the day before the latest school massacre), Scott Walker and (far) Right Wisconsin.   So we know he has no intention of actually being impartial.   

The next name on the Ballot is Rebecca Dallet, who is running on the same platform of impartiality.   She also has as much impartiality credit as Screnock.   Dallet has endorsed and been endorsed(and funded) by Chief Justice Pat Roggensack who is about as hyper partisan as there is sitting on a Court in America. 

Dallet had her crew out attacking, but strangely, the only attacks she has levied have been against her opponent Tim Burns(more info on Mr. Burns shortly).   She has had very little to say about Screnock, apparently not wanting to upset the far right wing of Wisconsin, (IE Roggensack) in case she ends up on the court or against Mr. Burns.   

She has had her crew attack even some not so strong supporters of Tim Burns.    Here are a few examples:

Nation Consulting and high priced consultant Sachin Chheda(who she has paid thousands to):

Sachin K Chheda: Andy O----- yeah, asshole. She gave money in 2014 because she knew that in 2018 Dallet would run against Mike Screnock, who was then Scott Walker’s lawyer, and spend the entire campaign criticizing the Roggensack court. Jesus you people are something else.

Apparently, calling people assholes is a new Consulting strategy that helps bring people together. 

Jessica LoveJoy, employee of a California Consulting firm and Dallet's Campaign Manager responding to my question of why she attacks Tim Burns and not Mike Screnock:

Jessica Lovejoy Jeff Simpson we have absolutely called out Screnock. Are you on our email list? Do you follow the campaign on twitter? 

Re: Burns — it’s funny how a white straight man can spend nine months spewing lies to everyone about a his opponent — a woman candidate — by running negative ads on Facebook, calling her names, manipulating the press, and y’all so easily turn a blind eye... But the minute we put out a FACT proven by Politifact that he’s been misleading voters about his record and legal background you attack our campaign. Interesting how that works.

Apparently straight white males are now unable to have an opinion in politics(although they do vote).   I do agree that straight white males have caused some serious damage to our country (see Ryan, Paul) but so have straight white females and I do not discount all straight white females just because Pat Roggensack and Rebecca Bradley are horrible people. 

I can not bring myself to vote for someone with such poor judgement. 

The third candidate is Tim Burns.

Attorney Tim Burns is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School and is licensed in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri. He is currently a partner at Perkins Coie law firm in Madison, where he specializes in insurance law. Burns also serves on the national board of the American Constitution Society and is former chair of the American Bar Association's committee on Fair and Impartial Courts. To learn more about Tim Burns, visit burnsforwisconsin.com.

I strongly endorse Tim Burns!  

As a progressive, and not a lawyer, I do not want to know what the courts will rule before they even hear the case.  We have that in Wisconsin right now, thanks to the far right extremist that rule the Supreme Court now. 

The Wisgop knows that anything they pass, no matter how many lower courts would rule against them, has an ace in the hole waiting for them at the Wisconsin Supreme Court.   

Tim Burns has let it be known that he has progressive values and will carry them to the court.   To me, that does not mean he will rule for team blue everytime.   Anyone who reads CogDis regularly knows that being a progressive means that you are not on team blue 100% of the time since they are and continually stray from progressive values. 

Tim Burns saying he is a progressive with progressive values, means that he will bring no preconceived notions to the court but that he will look at the law through a lens of compassion, and empathy and neutrality. 

That is something that is sorely missing and we as Wisconsinites, progressives, liberals and independents can add to the Supreme Court in Wisconsin and it starts on Tuesday. 

Please Vote for Tim Burns for Wisconsin Supreme Court!  

 

Milwaukee "Democrats" Are Sabotaging the Blue Wave

By Jeff Simpson 

 As we are on the verge of a blue wave, as we have seen all over the country, and shortly that will start ramping up towards the November election.   

In Wisconsin, before we can even start to concentrate on getting some of the hard care right wing extremists out of office, there is a major obstacle to overcome first.  

Milwaukee Democrats.  

First there is the Supreme Court race, where there are three candidates(Burns, Screnock and Dallet).  Tim Burns proudly wears his progressive values on his sleeve and that does not sit well with the right wing.  It also does not sit well with Dallet, who has decided to spend her time attacking Burns.   

While campaigning throughout the state and at many Democratic events, Dallet, (with a team run by "Democratic" consultant and former Hillary top staffer and also working with Nation Consulting) takes every chance she can to run down the Progressive name and values.   

"He'll do whatever he thinks democracy dictates," she said, "But we as courts are limited." 

Dallet contended that despite Burns' claim of candor, he hasn't fully identified his clients, or how many cases he's handled in Wisconsin courts. She's dubious he would follow the law when it would direct an outcome he doesn't like.

Yes, she is trying to get elected and needs to discredit her opponent, the thing is the opponent she gives a pass to, is a twice arrested hard core right wing Walker apologist.    

Staying in Milwaukee, we see that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, has started his own attack on Democrats.   

Abele wrote a check to start a PAC which is poorly called Leadership MKE.   Abele launched his new PAC to attack local leaders and stack the deck with Abele supporters in the spring election.   

 Leadership MKE will focus on numerous elections this Spring, including several Milwaukee County Board campaigns, local mayor races, and potentially some suburban school board and trustee elections.       
The organization’s platform is focused on continuing Milwaukee County’s growth through sustainable investments in social services, including investing in public safety services to make our communities safer, County Parks to ensure a high quality of life for all residents, public transit to connect workers to jobs, and local infrastructure projects to grow and attract new businesses across Milwaukee.  

The reality is that Abele, who has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into this PAC, is using it to target anyone that dares criticize his budget.   

It is incredibly interesting that Chris Abele has to charge people to park in public parks, but has an extra half million to attack the county board, laying around. 

Edit note: At some point the public needs to say no more of politicians spending millions of dollars attacking each other while children starve on the streets. 

As above, who is running this dark money attack on good people? 

Why long time Democratic insiders of course.   

George Aldrich, former chief of staff for Peter Barca, and Chris Abele and head of the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee(which oversaw the Democratic drubbing in 2016) is executive director.  Andy Suchorski, former Nation employee, who also had a hand in the ADCC drubbing is Abele's and Leadership MKE's political director. 

With so many Democratic insider mercenaries working so hard to taint the Progressive and Liberal name in WI, all for a paycheck, that could be the biggest roadblock to the blue wave that Wisconsin so desperately needs. 

With friends like these, who needs enemies! 

If November does not go well, remember these people!

 

The Real Activist Judge

By Jeff Simpson

The definition of irony! 

Today on the RightWisconsin website, Matt Kittle, the blogger who I think is currently being paid by Mcgyver, wrote a story about the Supreme Court and how Tim Burns and Rebecca Dallett are going to be "activist judges".

The forum, moderated by University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science professor Ryan Owens, in large part proved to be a bare-knuckle political brawl between the two left-leaning candidates, Madison attorney Tim Burns and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet. The other candidate, Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock, the conservative in the race, mostly remained above the fray, periodically asserting that his opponents are effectively Activist Judge 1 and Activist Judge 2.

On the same page of the extremist blog, is an interview that The "above the fray" Judge Screnock,  who spent his formative years getting arrested throwing himself in front of a woman's health center in Madison to keep women from entering, gives an interview to friend of CogDis, the voter cager himself, Jimmy "Wiggy" Wigderson! 

Nothing says I am "above the fray" like running to a far right wing blog.    A quick look at Screnock's twitter and you see that he likes to finish his tweets with #wiright. 

Apparently #wiright means independent and nonpartisan! 

While I am adamantly supporting Tim Burns in this race, this part of the story showed why I am 100% correct in my decision! 

H/T Amanda Brink, for recognizing the fact that there is no "news" in Maciver!

 Burns’ campaign handler refused to allow the candidate to speak to MacIver News Service following the forum, even as he was being interviewed by another media outlet.

Michael Screnock - Supreme Thug

By Jeff Simpson 

While there is a Progressive candidate running for Supreme Court of Wisconsin in April(Tim Burns), there is also one not so progressive.    That is not enough for the Bradley Foundation and Club For Growth because they do not want anyone on the Supreme Court who might grow a conscious and actually follow the rule of law. 

The best way to make sure your extremist agenda does not get derailed, beyond partisan, unethical, gerrymandering, is to make sure that the Supreme Court will always do your bidding, no matter what. 

No Surprises. 

That is what they have now, and there is no amount of money that they can spare to make sure that keeps up.  One of the biggest tools, and least intelligent,  in the Court System in the US, is Mike Gableman.   With Gablemans imminent retirement, they could not take the chance that Rebecca Dallett is not right wing enough, or Heaven Forbid, a progressive gets on the court and makes waves.   
So they had to do what they have been very good at - find a stooge. 

Welcome Michael Screnock. 

Screnock has a history with Michael, Best and Friedrich,  the law firm that has pulled in millions of tax dollars defending the roughshod running over the law of our state to pass an agenda. 

Screnock has another history.  One of getting arrested blocking women from trying to enter an abortion clinic. 

In April 1989, Screnock and dozens of other protesters calling themselves “rescue workers” blocked access to the Bread and Roses Women’s Medical Center in Madison, which has since closed. Like many of the others, Screnock at first refused to give his name and had to be booked as John Doe until he identified himself.
In June 1989, Screnock and dozens of others again prevented people from getting into the abortion clinic. He was one of 42 people who was arrested that day.
Screnock was a University of Wisconsin-Madison student at the time. He was 19 when he was arrested the first time and 20 when he was arrested the second time.
The officer who arrested Screnock and two others in June wrote in a report that the three would not go with police once told they were being arrested.
“It was necessary for us to physically pick each of them up off the ground and place them in the portable chair provided by the Fire Department,” the officer wrote, referring to a wheelchair that police used to ferry protesters to police vehicles.
Screnock did not initially identify himself and like most of the other protesters did not have identification with him. At the police station, he told officers who he was and they were able to confirm his identity with the photo from his previous arrest, records show.
In both cases, Screnock was ticketed for trespassing and obstructing officers. Court records showing how the cases were resolved no longer exist, but Screnock said the obstructing citations were dismissed and he performed community service for the trespassing citations under a plea agreement.
Screnock said he understood at the time that he would likely have to pay a price for participating in the protests.
“You had a group of people who were seeking to exercise their First Amendment rights and when confronted with a violation of the law — in this case an ordinance violation — were willing to take the consequences,” he said. “And I think that’s true of all individuals who seek to engage in any manner of civil disobedience.”

Not only did Mr. Screnock decide that He would personally stop women from entering a clinic in a desperate time of their lives. but he also refused to cooperate with the police, lied to the police, he completely misunderstands what the first amendment says if he thinks it allows him the right to stop a fellow human being from seeking medical attention. 

Who knew that the big money special interests on the far right could find a candidate for the highest court in Wisconsin worse than Mike Gableman but they did. 

The Next Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

By Jeff Simpson

Lost in the midst of the craziness of a bunch of traitors marching in Charlottesville, VA, was a discussion between our local Supreme Court Candidates.

Michael Screnock is running form the right, he has previously worked for Michael Best, and was part of the top secret group using millions of dollars of taxpayer money to redraw our legislative maps into the most partisan possible.  It was also widely condemned as incredibly unethical and illegal.

As Screnock says:

"I share ... the belief that it is the role of a judge to say what the law is and not what it should be,” Screnock said in a statement. “Judges must respect the different roles of the court and Legislature and should not legislate from the bench.”

If Screnock feels that having legislators sign secretive agreements from their constituents is "respecting the different roles and the law", Heaven help us all.  

Tim Burns, a lawyer from Madison, has also thrown his hat into the ring:

Burns, in a breath of fresh air, does not hide who he is.  Burns is a Progressive and proud of it(FYI: you can be a Progressive and uphold the laws as written).

The third person who has entered the race is Judge Rebecca Dallet.   Judge Dallet has decided to try and stake out the middle ground.   As Jim Hightower likes to point out, "the only thing in the middle of the road is yellow lines and road kill".

Recently, she had some harsh words for Mr. Burns:

Patrick Marley‏ @patrickdmarley  Aug 11More.@judgedallet criticizes @Burns4WI for "trashing" Scott Walker and Donald Trump, says judges should be independent and impartial.

However, while Dallet, is campaigning as the moderate in the race, her actions speak differently.

The current make-up of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a loaded with far right extremists controlling 5 votes to 2 slightly left of center votes.   They are so extreme, that they are largely a laughing stock of law observers throughout the state and the country.  

One of the things that the Far Right did when they had a majority, was to kick the duly elected, and widely respected Chief Justice Abrahamson out of the Chief Justice Role to install far right Justice Pat Roggensack as the new "unelected" Chief Justice.

A quick look at Roggensack's campaign, and we see that Judge Dallet has not only endorsed by Roggensack but she also sent her a $2500 check for her election.  Roggensack was running against a truly impartial candidate and one of the most respected lawyers in Wisconsin in Professor Ed Fallone.

Why would someone who truly believes that judges should be "independent and impartial" accept a $2500 check from a judge who has a record of being neither, against a far superior (and incredibly underfunded) candidate(Dallet's only political contribution was $100 to Governor Doyle, 12 years ago)?

Taking a look at just the last week, we have a President who has threatened military action against numerous countries, thanked the Russians for kicking out hundreds of US diplomats and emboldened a fairly large group of White supremacists and Nazis to march on a city wreaking havoc, violence and death on fellow Americans, Ms. Dallet has the nerve to criticize Mr. Burns for criticizing The Donald for his role in this.

Does anyone believe that Ms. Dallet, would stand for the rule of law or would bow to the pressure of her political hero and Chief Justice Roggensack, when she tells her to make sure no one stands in the way of the WISGOP agenda?

Looks like Ms. Dallet's middle ground, would prefer that it is you and I laying there with those yellow lines!

The current makeup of the Supreme Court has allowed it to be a safe space for a racist, a hateful homophobe and a man who choked his female colleague.  It is time we start demanding more from them!