James Wigderson on last night’s election results:

The problem with democracy is that sometimes the voters are wrong. Man is flawed, and man in numbers can be wrong, too.

Tuesday night’s results were another reminder of the flaws of mankind. We’ll return to the state Supreme court race in a moment, but we have to believe that something has happened to the drinking water after seeing the results of the state treasurer referendum. The position is basically dormant except for a constitutional requirement that we elect someone to hold the office,

The current incumbent, Matt Adamczyk, not only campaigned to eliminate the position but even began his term in office by firing the staff without replacing them. He spends his time playing phone operator, redirecting wayward calls while researching different ways the state can save money – neither of which he is required to do. The legislature has taken away almost all other responsibilities save for one constitutionally mandated committee assignment where Adamczyk foils the travel junket plans of Secretary of State Doug La Follette.

The vote, 61 percent to 39 percent, in favor of keeping the state treasurer position is probably the dumbest mistake voters have made in a statewide election since Democrat Dawn Marie Sass defeated Republican Jack Voight for the vestigial position in the 2006 election. After Tuesday night’s result, it’s likely that every Sass clone of both parties will suddenly find the position too tempting. It’s the classic political featherbed of no work and full pay.We can also be sure that the next state treasurer will add back staff accordingly, political patronage at the taxpayer expense.

But while the results of the referendum were frustrating to see, the consequences are small compared to the election of Judge Rebecca Dallet to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

There will be plenty of finger-pointing and, certainly, some of it is deserved. Judge Michael Screnock’s campaign seemed to be a replay of past successful campaigns for the Supreme Court: hang on and hope for the calvary (like Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce) to arrive. In this case, it was too little, too late.

Screnock’s side struggled to get any message out, and we suspect no candidate for public office in Wisconsin will ever play the tuba again. It’s doubtful Screnock even had the name recognition of a typical conservative candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The opportunities to attack Dallet were there, especially after her poorly-timed trip to San Francisco, but it seemed Screnock’s campaign lacked the resources. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce attacked Dallet on the Skenandore case, but the San Francisco values Dallet admired and the records of the fundraiser’s hosts were never exploited by conservatives.

There were external factors, too. Screnock’s endorsement by the NRA was cynically exploited by Dallet, made possible by the mass shooting in Florida, while her own ties to special interests such as Planned Parenthood were never questioned by the mainstream media. And, no, it didn’t help that the Walker Administration played games with the scheduling of two special elections for the legislature. When it threatened to become a case in the state Supreme Court, Governor Scott Walker probably regretted ever sitting on the scheduling of those elections, and we can guess Screnock’s campaign wasn’t too thrilled, either.

However, none of that accounts for the high percentage of the vote Dallet received in Dane County or the lower vote percentage Screnock received in the WOW counties: Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington. Republicans already had a taste of the renewed Democratic enthusiasm for voting in a special election in the 10th Senate district. The Marquette University Law School Poll further confirmed that Republicans are suffering from an enthusiasm gap. Privately, we’re being told that the polls are just bad out there for Republicans.

Republicans are learning the hard way that the midterm elections tend to be painful when the President of the United States is of the same party. President Donald Trump is the best recruiting tool and enthusiasm generator for Democrats since President George W. Bush’s administration Iraq policy faltered before “the Surge” was implemented. There is a reason Dallet put Trump in her first commercial: he motivates Democrats.

On Tuesday, Republicans had their third reminder of how bad the election cycle can be for Republicans. The voters made a decade-long mistake by electing Dallet. They can make even more mistakes in November.

Weather or not, today is “spring” Election Day in Wisconsin.

There is one statewide race, for Supreme Court, and one statewide referendum, to eliminate the state treasurer’s position.

C.J. Szafir writes about the Supremes:

Ronald Reagan used to remark how “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”  For Wisconsin conservatives, the saying should be “Walker’s bold conservative reforms are never more than one liberal-majority state Supreme Court away from extinction.”  

On Tuesday, April 3, voters go to the polls to vote for Wisconsin’s next supreme court justice.  The differences cannot be starker. Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock has described himself as someone who believes “the role of the court is to apply the law as it is written.” This would be similar to the originalist philosophy as the late Justice Scalia.

Milwaukee County Judge Rebecca Dallet has not disguised her judicial philosophy.  As she explained last Friday at the Wisconsin Public Radio debate, she believes that “the law needs to evolve to account for the changing times” and “the constitution is a living document.” This is shocking language used by activist judges.

Given that, there’s no question that if Dallet wins, she would likely be a reliable vote with Justices Shirley Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley. Put another way, she would be a reliable vote against the reforms of Governor Scott Walker and the Republican legislature. Consider:

ACT 10:  In 2011, Walker and the GOP passed the historic collective bargaining reform law. Inheriting a $3.6 billion deficit, Act 10 kept the Badger State from fiscal ruin like other high tax and spend states (See Illinois). Local governments and school districts were able to negotiate their own employee contracts, saving billions of dollars, improving services to taxpayers and students, and freeing teachers from the unions (more).

After several legal challenges by the unions, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin eventually upheld the constitutionality of Act 10 on a 5-2 vote. In dissent, Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley argued that by freeing employees from the unions, Act 10 had actually violated the unions’ constitutional right to organize.

Dallet has said she disagrees with the Court’s Act 10 ruling, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

CONCEALED CARRY: In yet another reform, Walker and the Republicans in 2011, allowed the concealed carry of firearms. Despite the howls from the left, this was actually fairly mainstream, bringing Wisconsin in line with 48 other states.

In 2017, in interpreting the law, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ruled that the City of Madison had no authority to ban firearms on buses. Once again, Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley dissented, essentially arguing that municipalities like Madison could gut concealed carry if they so choose.

On the campaign trail, Dallet has blasted the Court’s decision as “an example of an activist court legislating to create a right.” And Dallet has gone further, advocating for certain types of gun control – AR-15 ban – and saying how she thinks it would be constitutional to ban assault-style weapons and higher age limits for the purchase of guns.

These are peculiar positions to take before ever hearing the facts of the case. And, of course, the Wisconsin Constitution includes the: “right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.” (Article I, sec 25).

VOTER ID: Wisconsin’s commonsense voter ID law, passed in 2011, requires voters to show photo identification when they go to vote. It protects the integrity of our democratic institutions, ensuring that every vote is a lawful one.

Conservatives may recall that the law only went into effect after years of legal challenges. In 2014, the Wisconsin Supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the law. Writing in the majority, Justice Roggensack declared, correctly, that “the Legislature did not exceed its authority by requiring photo ID at the polls in the league’s case.”

But Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley dissented, with Abrahamson writing a scorching dissent, comparing the Court’s decision to “Jim Crowe” in restricting the right to vote for African-Americans.

Dallet has “expressed skepticism” of the Court’s voter ID decision and would “support efforts that encourage people to vote.”  Whatever that means.

JOHN DOE: The weaponizing of government – with its vast police powers and unlimited resources – represents an existential threat to democracy.  This is embodied by the John Doe investigation, which used pre-dawn military-style raids to seize property from conservatives, seized personal emails, and opened investigations into a number of conservative activists.

In 2015, the Wisconsin Supreme Court shut down the John Doe investigation, declaring it an unconstitutional assault on our freedoms. Justices Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley dissented, in part.

Dallet has said the Court should not have ended the John Doe investigations and it was “one of the reasons that I decided to run for this seat.”

Mind you, this was all before, Dallet’s recent bizarre – though perhaps insightful – fundraising trip to San Francisco, telling donors that “your values are our Wisconsin values that we’ve lost along the way.”

A Dallet win would be mean the left is just one more supreme court election victory away from radically changing the Court and rolling back all that conservatives have worked for in the last 8 years.  On Tuesday, voters will go to elect the next supreme court justice, but make no mistake about it: the long-term fate of Walker’s reforms will be on the ballot.

Here is the liberals’ idea of an impartial Supreme Court justice:

The good news is that the Supreme Court will retain a conservative majority regardless of result today. The three oldest justices are liberal Shirley Abrahamson, conservative Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, and liberal Ann Walsh Bradley.

As for Dallet, like nearly every Milwaukee County judge she is soft on crime. Evidence comes from James Wigderson:

A homeless sex offender at the center of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 3 was arrested again last Thursday. Donald Skenandore, who was just given two years in jail for sexually assaulting minor children by Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet, was arrested for failing to meet the terms of his conditional release and supervision.

The arrest of Skenandore was first reported by WISN’s Mark Belling and confirmed in other media sources. According to the report by Belling, Skenandore “was arrested and taken into custody Thursday evening (March 29) outside a bar and restaurant on West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee near the James Lovell intersection. He was taken in for a violation of the terms of the extended supervision handed to him in Dallet’s controversial 2011 sentence.”

Dallet, a liberal, is a candidate for the Supreme Court in the election on April 3. Her opponent is Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock, a conservative.

The Skenandore case has been the focus of criticisms of Dallet’s soft-on-crime approach. He was given two years in prison and five years of extended supervision in 2011, as recommended by the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office. That’s nowhere near the 20 years Skenandore could have been given.

At the sentencing, Dallet said she considered the harm done to the child victims.

“In looking at the factors that I do look at, the ages of these children were pretty young,” Dallet said in her sentencing decision according to the transcript. “As I said before, they were seven or eight. There wasn’t an extreme amount of harm. There wasn’t intercourse.”

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) have been running a controversial television advertisement that highlights the horrific nature of the crime by saying the relationship of the victims to Skenandore. Despite calls from Dallet’s allies and the victims’ family, WMC is unwilling to take the ad down because the information was already publicly available.

According to Belling, Skenandore was arrested for multiple violations of the conditions for his supervised release.

“He was in custody for four months until March 15 for violations including alcohol use and not reporting to his agent. After his release, he failed to charge the battery on GPS ankle bracelet and did not report to his agent. A warrant for his pick-up has been out for days. He was found last night on West Wisconsin Avenue and is in the Milwaukee County Jail.”

Light sentences? Must be those San Francisco values.

George Mitchell adds:

As reported recently by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Patrick Marley, “State Supreme Court candidate Rebecca Dallet laid into [Judge Michael Screnock] for using ‘all this rhetoric about rule of law garbage’.”

Dallet’s charge — I would call it a gaffe — has become a central issue in the campaign. It was even a subject of the debate between Dallet and Screnock Friday night.

Reporter Marley quoted Dallet as follows: “He’s talking about all this rhetoric about rule of law garbage that is basically — it’s rule of law until it’s something you want changed and then you just go ahead and change it. He’s just saying the same tired old thing that doesn’t mean anything.”

Having denounced Screnock for “rhetoric about rule of law garbage [that] doesn’t mean anything,” Dallet nevertheless felt it necessary to offer an obligatory “I believe in the rule of law.”

If it’s rhetorical garbage that doesn’t mean anything, then what “rule of law” does Dallet believe in? The Journal Sentinel quotes Dallet’s campaign manager, Jessica Lovejoy, as follows: “If they bothered to listen to the whole speech, it’s clear Judge Dallet truly believes in the rule of law — but Michael Screnock doesn’t.” According to reporter Marley, Lovejoy said Dallet’s “rule of law garbage” comment was being taken “out of context.”

I asked Lovejoy to provide the context necessary to understand the “rule of law garbage” remark. She declined to respond.

In the Journal Sentinel story, Dallet seeks to deflect attention from her remark. For example, she says, “When the Legislature gets it wrong and they violate someone’s rights, it’s my job to say no. I am not a rubber stamp of whatever the Legislature does or whatever the governor does.” She thus wrongly implies that Screnock would uphold “whatever the Legislature does or whatever the governor does.” He has said no such thing. To suggest otherwise is to fabricate and advance a straw man narrative.

Act 10 provides a concrete example — real “context” — of Screnock’s view that the Supreme Court’s job is not to substitute its view for that of the Legislature. The left, of course, feels otherwise. Dallet’s campaign aims to tap its fury that the Supreme Court did its job by upholding the law.

In that case, the late Justice Patrick Crooks joined in the 5-2 court decision. Justice Crooks explicitly offered his negative assessment of the bill — on policy grounds — and just as clearly said that view was irrelevant to the Court’s role.

The cynical reality is that, to borrow von Clausewitz’s observation about war, the courts system is merely “the continuation of politics by different means.” Every policy item on Szafir’s list is something any legislator or governor regardless of party should have done. Dallet opposes all of them, but she does favor unconstitutional attempts to use the criminal justice system to squelch conservatives’ free speech rights.

I voted for Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock. You should too.

As you know, I (and its present officeholder) favor elimination of the position that pays its title $70,000 and costs taxpayers $450,000 to run its office. Given how its duties have been eliminated over time by Republican and Democratic governors and legislatures, the claims you’ve read about it being a watchdog of state funds are false.

Cast an informed vote today, if you haven’t already.

James Wigderson came up with the headline for Bill Osmulski‘s listing of a People’s Republic of Madison’s sympathizer’s dream:

If there were ever any doubts over what designs the Democrat Party has for Wisconsin should it regain power, look no further than Rep. Chris Taylor’s (D-Madison) proposed amendments to the state constitution released Friday.

The joint resolution would make broad changes to Wisconsin’s Bill of Rights to include open-ended promises that government cannot possibly deliver and shift power away from the Legislature and governor to the bureaucracy. In general, the changes seek to undo everything Republicans have accomplished since 2011 and make it difficult for them to ever be in control again. The role of government would expand uncontrollably, as voters would lose influence over state officials.

Here is a breakdown of Taylor’s manifesto:

1. The Second Amendment And Local Gun Ordinances. In a transparent attempt to undermine the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Taylor’s Bill of Rights claims to maintain the right to bear arms, but it allows local governments to regulate the carrying of arms. This would effectively gut the constitution, the right to keep and bear arms and the state’s concealed carry law because local ordinances would supersede state law.
2. Right To An Abortion. This isn’t surprising given Taylor’s history as Planned Parenthood’s policy director in Wisconsin. Of course, in true Orwellian fashion, she calls it “the right to reproductive freedom.”
3. Right To “Access Quality, Affordable Health Care Services.” Democrats always claim this is their goal, but their actions consistently undermine it. This goes well past their rabid defense of Obamacare, which resulted in the mandated purchase of health insurance, fewer coverage choices, and skyrocketing premiums costs – 36 percent last year alone. Wisconsin Democrats voted against reforms like direct primary care that are proven to lower costs and increase quality.  They also promote ideas like “BadgerCare for All,” which the Legislative Fiscal Bureau warns would decrease access and increase cost. Their ideas will never result in quality and affordable healthcare, but they’ll happily destroy the state’s finances as they try anyway.
4. Right to A Living Wage. Forget about the “Fight for $15.” Taylor’s living wage could push the minimum wage in places like Madison or Milwaukee to over $25 an hour, based on an MIT study. As Taylor puts it, “Every person has the right to a just and fair wage that ensures for the person and the person’s family an existence worth of human dignity and a sufficient standard of living.” Working hard to achieve that is not a part of Taylor’s math, nor is the impact this would have on employment. A 2014 MacIver Institute Study found 91,000 Wisconsinites would lose their jobs if the minimum wage was raised to $15. Considering that many of those are entry-level jobs, a “living wage” mandate would close countless opportunities to young workers just getting started in their careers.
5. Right To The “Highest Quality” Education. Here’s another vague goal. A conservative might interpret this as school choice for all, but Taylor’s no conservative. In fact, this “right” contradicts another one of her proposed changes to the constitution that would ban state funds from going to religious schools. She doesn’t say what she considers to be the “highest quality” education, but it probably doesn’t have anything to do with test scores. The only thing liberals care to quantify when it comes to public schools is funding, and it’s never enough. The real question here is how high would Taylor raise your taxes to pay for this?
6. Right To Equal Pay. First off, we agree that it is wrong to discriminate against someone because of their gender. Remember, too, that it is currently against the law to pay someone less based solely on their gender. Studies that examine the gender pay gap, however, don’t support the liberal narrative. An often-cited study by the American Association of University Women claims women in Wisconsin make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. However, the report also said that can be explained by considering life choices like college major, occupation, hours worked and taking time off to raise children. So would this amendment force employers to make gender the primary consideration for determining wages regardless of experience, education, and position? Liberals like Chris Taylor never let questions over implementation get in the way of a good narrative, and this is just one more example.
7. Eliminate Residency Requirements To Vote. Right now you need to live in a district for 28 days before an election with no intention of moving afterward. This change would eliminate the need to be a “resident” and only require that you “reside” in the district for 10 days before an election. That’s right. She literally removes the word “resident” from the voting requirements. That would mean out-of-state hotel guests could (and would) vote in our elections.
8. Reinstate The GAB. The Government Accountability Board proved itself incapable of impartiality in overseeing Wisconsin’s elections. It looked the other way when fraudulent signatures appeared on recall ballots, elections officials reported irregularities and breaks in the chain of custody, and it actively participated in the John Doe witch hunt that violated the constitutional rights of conservatives throughout the state. The Wisconsin Legislature did the responsible thing by eliminating this political weapon of the left. Of course, Taylor and her allies want it back.
9. GAB Would Be In Charge Of Redistricting. Not only does Taylor want to resurrect the GAB, she wants to give it the responsibility of redistricting. Currently, the Legislature is responsible for drawing new district boundaries after each U.S. Census. Taylor wants to take the power away from elected officials and give it to unaccountable bureaucrats, who historically have aligned themselves with liberal politics. She’s betting this will sideline voters and give Democrats a permanent edge, whether or not they can actually win elections.
10. Reinstate Straight Ticket Voting. Before 2012, Wisconsin voters could simply vote for a party and automatically cast votes for every candidate in that party on their ballot. It undoubtedly gave an edge to Democrats. In Milwaukee, for example, Democrat voters were six times more likely to vote straight ticket than Republican voters. The impact of doing away with this practice was immediate. During the Racine Recall Recount in 2012, many voters only voted in the top race and left the rest blank. Only nine states still allow straight-ticket voting, and surprisingly they’re all Republican states.
11. Require The State To Use A Progressive Income Tax. A flat tax would make Wisconsin more competitive and help reduce tax migration that results in $460 million of income leaving the state annually. Taylor prefers the antiquated progressive income tax that punishes success.
12. No Tax Exemptions. Not only would the state be required to have a progressive income tax, Taylor’s plan would eliminate all exemptions. While a simple and clean tax code is a goal we can agree on with Taylor, that is not what Taylor proposes. She wants to eliminate only certain tax code carveouts that she deems unnecessary or unworthy. The tax carve-outs that advanced her political agenda and her ideology would stay of course.
13. Right To “Clean Air.” So what exactly would qualify as “clean air?” If I get seasonal allergies would the Wisconsin Constitution protect me from pollen? What would be the standard for “clean air?” Just this year, the EPA tried to shut down economic growth in southeastern Wisconsin because of high ozone levels, which had drifted into the area from Chicago and Gary. Would the “right to clean air” clear that up, shut down industry, or force everyone to move? Chances are these questions would be left to unelected bureaucrats and the standards would always be changing.
14. The Superintendent Of Public Instruction Gets Representation In The DNR. What does DPI have to do with the DNR? Nothing, but the state superintendent is usually a liberal. Taylor wants to expand DPI’s reach in state government. She would reduce the seven-member Natural Resources Board to five members, selected by the governor, attorney general, state superintendent, treasurer, and secretary of state. So the state superintendent would have just as much influence in the DNR as the governor? Makes sense to a liberal.
15. A Natural Resources Board Would Pick The DNR Secretary, Not The Governor. About twenty years ago, the Natural Resources Board got to pick the DNR secretary instead of the governor. Of course, that meant the department was dominated by radical environmentalist policies with no counter voice. That’s exactly the system Taylor wants to go back to – one where the voters are as far removed from state environmental policy as possible.
16. The State Superintendent, Not The Legislature, Would Determine Funding Levels For Public Schools. Under the manifesto, DPI would decide how much schools need, rather than the Legislature weighing the support schools need and other important budget priorities. Like health care. Or higher education. Or public safety. In other words, Taylor would take budgeting out of the budget process.
17. Religious Schools Can’t Receive Public Funds. Overall, religious schools outperform public schools, and that’s why students use the school choice system to attend them. It’s far more important to Rep. Taylor that kids receive a public-school education rather than a good education. Clearly, Rep. Taylor believes the term ‘public education’ refers to government institutions and the plight of educrats, not what it should be. ‘Public education’ should be about what every child in Wisconsin needs to be successful.
18. Right To Collective Bargaining. Before Act 10, Governor Doyle and the Democrat-controlled Legislature created a $3.6 billion budget gap. Act 10 fixed that, then saved the state $5 billion over the next five years, gave local governments the tools to balance their budgets, created regular surpluses, and eliminated state worker furloughs. Taylor and her allies would undo all of that. They would make it is a constitutional right for public and private workers to “organize and collectively bargain through representatives of their own choosing on subjects including but not limited to wages, hours, and working conditions.” That means eliminating Act 10 and Right To Work, and reinstating prevailing wage… and massive budget deficits. It would be like the past 8 years never happened.

Getting all this into the state constitution would be no easy task. Amendments must be passed by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature and then pass a statewide referendum. One might question why she introduced this plan with Republicans in charge when it has no chance of passing this session.

In the past couple weeks, Democrats have introduced dozens of items in the Senate and Assembly, even though the session is essentially over. One Democrat representative told MacIver News, in reference to a different bill, that they know their late session bills won’t get passed this year. They are setting the stage in the event they are able to take back control of the Legislature and governor’s office.

Should that happen, Rep. Taylor’s plan shows how far liberals are willing to stretch our laws to meet their goals. The Wisconsin Constitution was written to empower the people and limit the government. Taylor’s Amendments would fundamentally alter that relationship to limit the people and empower the government.

Point 16 is blatantly unconstitutional. The only people in state government with the power to tax is the Legislature. That has been the case every day of this state’s history. A Supreme Court challenge would invalidate any proposed constitutional amendment 7–0.

None of what Taylor asserts as “rights” are actually rights except to anyone on the wacko left as she is.