Bopp Found A Loophole, What's Next For Gableman?

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Audio text excerpt from Gableman's misleading campaign ad against Justice Louis Butler is as follows:

Gableman Decision Excerpt:
...Louis Butler worked to put criminals on the street. Like Reuben Lee Mitchell, who raped an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities. Butler found a loophole. Mitchell went on to molest another child.

JS Online Excerpt:
Deininger wrote in his concurring opinion. "Justice Gableman's counsel virtually conceded at oral argument that the advertisement is misleading . . . " He quoted Gableman's attorney, James Bopp Jr., at length, noting that during oral arguments Bopp said, "Would you feel safe having somebody on the Supreme Court that is willing to find a loophole for a scum bag like Reuben Lee Mitchell?"

Gableman Decision Excerpt: (Page 19)
Accordingly, we have concluded that we must recommend that the Commission’s complaint against Justice Gableman be dismissed. It is more than a bit ironic that Justice Gableman has been represented in this matter by an able lawyer who, it might be argued, “found a loophole.”

CAW Excerpt:
Two of the judges found a way to split hairs -- finding the language technically true, but misleading. And then finding a judge can't be disciplined for misleading the public. It is unbelievable. As Judge Deininger said, "Justice Gableman...'found a loophole.'"

JG Excerpt:
Gableman attorney Jim Bopp called the ruling a complete vindication.

...a complete vindication for defense attorneys.

Lawyers: Gableman Unfit To Hear Their Cases

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Criminal defense attorneys have asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to force Justice Michael Gableman from their cases.

However on Wednesday, the WMC-backed Gableman participated in arguments in a case he was asked to recuse from because of comments he made in his campaign that showed bias against criminal defendants. During the campaign Gableman accused his opponent, Justice Louis Butler, of using "loopholes" to help determine his rulings in criminal cases.

Justice Louis Butler's loophole revealed! Click here to view.

Annette, You're No Georgia

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State Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler's case of judicial misconduct moved ahead as a special panel of judges heard arguments. Presiding Judge Ralph Adam Fine did not say when a decision was expected. But he suggested Ziegler's punishment would not be harsh, saying her misconduct did not compare with cases involving other judges who were reprimanded.

Leniency For Ziegler:
"It seems to me, Justice Ziegler's case is not even, forgive me, a blip on the screen compared to those cases," he said.

This sounds eerily familiar.

Georgia Thompson Acquitted:
I have to say it strikes me that your evidence is beyond thin," federal Appeals Judge Diane Wood told prosecutors. "I'm not sure what your actual theory in this case is."

Ziegler’s attorney, James Troupis, said she did not know she had been violating the code and has already been punished. And when you add this to the mix......

Leniency For Ziegler:
He questioned the timing of the allegations, which surfaced during Ziegler's successful campaign to defeat Madison attorney Linda Clifford in the April election. "Had there not have been a political campaign, there would not have been this scouring of everything and this finding in the first place," he said.

And there you have it. They’re practically painting Annette Ziegler up to be Georgia Thompson, the innocent victim of a political vendetta.

Read More Opinion: Ziegler Should Quit Bench

And it's always worth remembering the Janesville Gazette disendorsement of both candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court at election time. If the choice is between an irresponsible and unethical candidate whose actions have broken the public trust, or a liberal candidate with a clean record - vote no one.

Why Risk Failure By Trying?

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As I read about yet another privately owned semi-pro team’s difficulties of finding a home field stadium somewhere in Rock County, I wondered if the football team Gladiators have spoken with the Beloit Snappers. Now it appears there are at least two teams willing to help fill the stadium of dreams touted by several wealthy county residents. Which brings me to my point here.

The Rock County Gladiators, a new semipro football team approached the Janesville School District about using the districts premier high school stadium for a few games. The district is being careful about the request and understandably has liability concerns.

But whether it was the new four-court gyms of the Janesville School Referendum or the newly renovated Janesville City Hall kitchen complete with LCD TV, one of hot selling points brought up to convince the taxpayers to open their wallets is the idea that these facilities can be used by the public for various events and community activities. Now, I’m not for turning public-use facilities over to profit motivated private entities without getting a piece of the pie. But I wonder where the city attorney was with all of their liability insurance contingencies when pro-referendum salesmen insisted school facilities can double-duty as a center for other community activity.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
When the district was justifying its $70 million referendum to upgrade and expand the high schools, officials suggested improvements could lead to more community uses.

If everyone needs the same insurance coverage to use a public facility the schools requested from the Gladiators, its easy to say the community can use the facilities but only providing certain conditions are met first including:
-- obtain at least $10 million in liability coverage, naming the school or city as one of those insured.
-- agree to reimburse the city for any "financial consequences of injuries to persons or property."
-- The city obtain additional property insurance to cover damage to the structure, with the user paying for the coverage, costing about $500.
-- contract for security services and staff - no volunteers-according to any police or school district requirement.
-- The city would be able to cancel with two hours' notice, and the user would be responsible for finding an alternative site.
-- The user would pay for the cost of cleaning the facilities, and the city could hire a private service for that purpose.
-- The city could cancel the agreement with five days' notice.
-- The user pay the city’s usual commercial rate for use of the structure, and would be responsible for any additional costs of using the structure.

Considering we live in such a lawsuit crazy society, I agree with all of the school's demands, but where was all this rhetoric about liability during the referendum run-up? The next time someone helps justify spending $70 million with the double-duty public usage talking point, I'll ask them to guarantee the liability insurance among other things. I'm afraid we haven't heard the last about the tactics employed to pass the Janesville School Referendum yet. People are winning awards for pulling off this sham.

These protections are necessary and are just another reason why the county’s decision to scrap the land swap deal was a very smart decision under tremendous pressure. The county’s responsibilities to protect the taxpayers are no different than the school district’s - that's the reality. On one hand I admit we will accomplish nothing if we have to worry about every single thing that might go wrong, but I have to ask – Where are those deep-pocketed venture capitalists entrepreneurs and risk-takers when you really need them? Perhaps the risk really is too great.

April Jury Found Ziegler Not Guilty

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The second most confusing and depressing time for me as a fundamental voting American happened when Annette Ziegler was elected to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. The worst time I’ve had in the past ten years as far as my faith in the wisdom of the American public is concerned was when George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004. That one stands out as the runaway leader in my “Dumb As A Rock” Award.

So I feel even more perplexed when local mainstream media commentators write that Ziegler doesn’t deserve her seat in the court because she is unethical, doesn’t get it or …..

JG Excerpt:
She is lying or incompetent. – Stan Milam

Now I completely agree with Stan but where was he on this issue the month before the election? He may have spoken out against Ziegler on his radio show or in his column before the election, but for some reason I couldn’t find any references on the Web and even if he did, it couldn’t have been too memorable. I just don’t recall what his position was before now.

But Stan’s opinion now is right on the button except for one big overruling force – that the biggest jury pool in the state of Wisconsin knew of these allegations, her depth of complicity and conflict of interest and said – we don’t care. A majority of 58% voted for her and her checkered past instead of the honest and professional Linda Clifford. Besides, these were not high crimes, they were minor procedural mistakes that should have only guaranteed her an election loss, but the people have spoken. Ziegler was above the law back then and she still is now, 58% said so and that’s good enough for me and it should be good enough for the Ethics Board and fellow Supreme Court Justices. It may not be smart, but that’s democracy in all its glory for good or bad.

My opinion before the election.

G.O. & P. Railroad Ends At 7th District Court

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The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals released Georgia Thompson, the former state employee erroneously convicted of directing a state contract to Adelman Travel. The judges felt that Ms. Thompson was simply just doing her job.

Things don’t get much worse than this. When an innocent person becomes a victim to the extent of Georgia Thompson, it's time to take a closer look at the vicious partisans bending the ears of state and U.S. district attorney’s. Ever since Tommy Thompson quit on the state and Scott McCallum lost the G.O.P. governorship to Jim Doyle, right-wing power players and their quasi-nonpartisan enablers have been gunning for Jim Doyle. In light of the recent attorney firings scandal facing the Bush Administration, the motivation for this railroad job may have come on orders from the very top.

Doyle said Republican officials spent "millions of dollars" running ads that turned Thompson into a symbol of corruption in his administration.

The US Attorney from Wisconsin, Steven Biskupic appears to have pushed this case right before the 2006 election as a means to implicate Gov. Doyle in a corruption case, and to bolster the candidacy of Bush rubber stamp Republican Mark Green. Throughout the campaign the most scandalous activity they could connect to Doyle was accepting gift tickets to sporting events. This searing hatred for the democrat has resulted in nearly ruining the life of an innocent civil servant.

And one has to wonder what Steven Biskupic had to conjure up to avoid being one of those district attorney’s canned for performance and managerial reasons. Clearly, Biskupic serves at the pleasure of one of the most politically motivated and bitterly partisan presidents of modern times, none other than George W. Bush.

The result of this smear campaign is that it has damaged the credibility of the Justice Department in the eyes of the general public and in court cases. The Thompson Travelgate case may very well set a precedent for future politically motivated corruption cases, so that when an corrupted politician comes before a court, lawyers can credibly argue that this was a political witch hunt and as a result the case should be dismissed.

Read the court order and oral arguments here.

Supreme Choice Between People Or Profits

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Elections are coming up again in April and it is becoming apparent that partisan supporters for candidates of non-partisan judicial offices are attempting to reshape those campaigns as well. I actually welcome this type of transparency because a candidates political philosophy is probably the single most important thing to know before you pull that ballot lever. Such is the case of the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court elections where Republicans or should I say conservatives (remember we’re non-partisan) , are drumming up support for their Republican candidate, Circuit Court Judge Ann Ziegler for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Apparently, there is a bit of a controversy surrounding Judge Ziegler as it turns out she has presided over more than just a few claim cases involving a bank where her husband happens to be on the Board of Directors. No problem if this was disclosed to all the parties involved or if she had recused herself. But that never happened. These are serious allegations against a sitting circuit judge.

Republican Mark Graul, former campaign spokesmen for Mark Green is now running Ziegler's campaign. Last week he did acknowledge Ziegler had a conflict when it came to cases involving the bank, but insisted she had notified the parties and gotten approval to continue presiding over the cases. He later modified that to say in some cases, defendants failed to show up or handled the case by telephone or mail, and Ziegler didn't have a chance to notify them of her conflict so - guilty as charged.

Whatever the reason, not having the chance to notify them of her conflict but finding plenty of time to cast judgment and strike the gavel seems inconsistent in the least. Again, this wasn’t one of those rare things where it can happen once to anybody or even twice to a freshman judge. There appears to be at least four documented victims of Judge Ziegler, a judge whose bench experience puts her in that “should know better” classification. Upon this discovery, dozens of former defendants are now stepping forward with the same allegations. No excuse, Ziegler knows exactly what she is doing.

WSJ Excerpt:
The four defendants interviewed by the State Journal said Ziegler neither withdrew from their cases nor notified them of her conflict of interest.

Ziegler wouldn't say whether she believes her actions followed the Supreme Court rules or any other court rules for that matter. Ziegler is running against Democrat Linda Clifford who responded to the controversy by saying judges don't have the option of staying on cases while hiding their conflicts of interest. She said Ziegler's decision not to withdraw from the cases "raises serious concerns." You bet it does!

WSJ Excerpt:
"The rule . . . is not a discretionary matter. It's not up to Judge Ziegler to get a 'gut check.' It's absolutely mandatory when either she or her husband sits on the board of directors of a party - it's mandatory that she recuse," Clifford said.

But as far as all of that is, you can forget it all because the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) otherwise known as organized business have zeroed in on district attorneys and judges as a “must have” to keep in their pockets. The WMC pumped millions into J.B.Van Hollen’s campaign against Kathleen Falk. They won in what can been described as a stunning upset and are now coming out with all guns blazing against Linda Clifford.

Big Business Backs Zeigler:
The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has spoken: State Supreme Court candidate Linda Clifford is an activist who will legislate from the bench while her opponent Annette Ziegler will practice judicial restraint.

Restraint as in……restraining herself from disclosing to defendants that her husband happens to be on the board of directors of the bank that is suing you - guilty as charged.

Speaking about Board of Directors, it should come as no surprise when the Janesville Gazette starts hacking about their endorsement for the vacant Supreme Court post. You see, Gazette President and Board Chairman Sidney H. Bliss was elected to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) board just recently. Just remember though, the Gazette is beholden to no one.

Waxing America Excerpt:
Mostly, I'm asking for someone, somewhere, to notice, perhaps, that while Linda Clifford is completely upfront and open of her partisan past, Annette Ziegler seems to be so ashamed of hers that she'll scrub her website and send out lackeys to lie for her.

Of the two candidates, Linda Clifford has the most important qualifying trait a person must possess to be judge and that is to be upfront. That’s all most people expect when standing in front of a judge in a courtroom, and that is all I expect from my candidate when I’m voting in the booth.
Ziegler offers neither.

Read This Before You Buy/Sell Home

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Want to watch the value of your home plummet in a single keystroke? Are you having trouble selling your home and wonder why? Are you looking to buy a home and want to know if a released sex offender lives nearby?

JG Sound Off Excerpt:
Regarding a Web site for sex offenders, a really good one is at familywatchdog.us. You can go on there and it will pop up a map and show everyone in your area. You can zoom in and out. Please educate yourself. -- Anonymous