Media Criticism

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has been the subject of some heated elections over the past two years. The 2006 contest between Linda Clifford and Annette Ziegler involved a commercial comparing Clifford to a werewolf and allegations that Ziegler ruled in cases where she had conflicts of interest. The 2008 Supreme Court race between Michael Gableman and Louis Butler is exposing the same problems as the Clifford-Ziegler showdown.

The videos above and below are attack ads by non-partisan groups in support of a Supreme Court candidate. The Greater Wisconsin Committee ad shown above indicates that Gableman has been appointed to judiciary positions in the past through political favors and overt partisanship by a flailing Republican Party. Wisconsin Club for Growth is playing up Butler’s work as a public defender to show that Gableman will prosecute rapists, murders and thieves to the fullest extent of the law.

The natural tendency in assigning blame for these third-party ads is complaining about money in politics. It is important to look at the idea of electing judges to short terms (10 years) when looking at the infiltration of partisanship in a non-partisan position. Wisconsin’s choice to elect state Supreme Court justices is flawed from the start. Every nonpartisan election down to the school board features some elements of partisanship. Voters in states like Wisconsin where justices are elected instead of appointed need to blame the causes instead of the symptoms of ugly politics.

I dislike the election of state Supreme Court justices because it favors a greater evil to remedy the lesser evil of judicial insulation from long-term cultural changes. I prefer a court insulated from all outside influences even if some members are appointed by governors who oppose my political beliefs. I think that incumbent Louis Butler will win on April 1st if only because Gableman has resorted to ugly ads using his own money (I am efforting a copy of a Gableman ad where Butler and a criminal are placed side-by-side).