Litigation

WI Judge Hits Attack Ad as ?Smear?

By Peter Hardin

Almost overnight, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race has exploded. An ugly campaign ad ripped incumbent Justice David Prosser.  He, in turn, has slammed his challenger as an “unbending ideologue.”

Here’s the latest:

• The left-leaning Greater Wisconsin Committee launched a TV ad attacking Justice Prosser’s handling, as a prosector, of a sex abuse case more than three decades ago. “Tell David Prosser judges should protect our children,” the  narrator states, “not sex offenders,” according to a Talking Points Memo article.

• Justice Prosser derided what he called a “smear” and “disgraceful ad.” He added, “And it is not true. It is going to be answered to the best of our ability. But I can assure people that the ad is one of the worst, most untruthful and misleading ads that has ever been run in a judicial campaign,” Fox11 news reported.

• The attack was so harsh it was labeled “Mother of all Negative Ads” By TPM and “the Supreme Court race’s nuclear bomb” by columnist Patrick McIlheran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

• A victim of the sex assault case referred to in the TV ad protested, saying his court case was being exploited as a political device against Justice Prosser; he called the ad offensive and inaccurate.

• In a televised debate, Justice Prosser called challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg an “unbending dialogue,” according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

• She replied, “I have not ever looked at my work through a partisan lens, nor have I ever expressed what my personal beliefs are because they would not be germane to my work at the Department of Justice.” She is an assistant attorney general.

The election will be held April 5. It has heated up dramatically in the wake of Gov. Scott Walker’s initiative to strip public employees of most collective bargaining power, legislation that is now being challenged in the courts.

To view the new ad, click here. You can learn more about the Supreme Court contest from Gavel Grab. Both candidates are getting public financing under a new state law.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 28, 2011 (boomark / email).