Litigation

Progressive Group?s Ad Attacks WI Justice Prosser

By Peter Hardin

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxta4gfm1rU

In another sign of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race heating up, a progressive group is airing an election ad tying the incumbent, Justice David Prosser, to Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The ad by the Greater Wisconsin Committee alleges that Justice Prosser “has promised to act as a ‘complement’ to Walker,” according to a Talking Points Memo article.

Justice Prosser disavows that statement of a campaign manager, according to a Beloit Daily News report, and says he is no “rubber stamp” for the governor.

Walker’s successful effort to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights has attracted national attention. It has added to the intensity of the Supreme Court race, to be decided by voters April 5. The race is nominally non-partisan, and both candidates have qualified for public financing under a new Wisconsin law aimed at removing special interest influence from judicial elections.

Here is what an announcer says in the new ad about Justice Prosser:

“Can we trust David Prosser to be impartial? In the legislature, Prosser and Walker voted the same way 95 percent of the time — both voting against the middle class.

“As a judge, Prosser has sided with corporations, and against workers. Now, Prosser has promised to act as a ‘complement’ to Walker — because his views ‘closely mirror’ Walker’s. Tell David Prosser, judges should be independent — not a rubber stamp for Scott Walker.”

The Beloit Daily News, meanwhile, reports that Justice Prosser last year “encountered a setback when a campaign manager issued a non-authorized news release alleging Prosser had the intent to retain the conservative majority on the court and to complement the new administration and legislature.”

?I?m disavowing that,” Prosser told the newspaper. “I am an independent justice on the court.?

Justice Prosser also said, ?I am not a rubber stamp for the governor.?

Justice Prosser is considered conservative-leaning and a member of the court?s 4-3 majority; he also is a former Republican Assembly speaker (see Gavel Grab). His opponent, JoAnne Kloppenburg, is an assistant state attorney general.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDpN2RaKn5s

An ad by the incumbent’s campaign, posted on the campaign web site, touts him as a “healthy choice” for Wisconsin voters. It alludes to what the web site says were his efforts that “kept Wisconsin a great place for medical professionals to provide care by protecting the safety net that helps provide for injured patients and their families.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 19, 2011 (boomark / email).