Like the supreme courts in many states, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become highly politicized and is now controlled by the right wing, 4-3. By happenstance there is a race going on that can change that balance. A smart highly educated progressive, Joanne Kloppenburg is running against the self proclaimed judicial conservative schmo, David Prosser. PvtJarhead ran a terrific diary on this last week, but in light of tonight's developments this bears repeating. Most significantly the election is APRIL 5, just around the corner. And it's for a TEN YEAR TERM.
Joanne Kloppenburg has no prior judicial experience, but she served in the Peace Corps, attended Yale (undergrad) and Princeton (masters) and obtained her law degree from UW Madison. Both sides are ostensibly non-political, not claiming a political party but Prosser is the conservative and has voted that way on the court, and Kloppenburg is not. She may not be the optimum candidate, but she's the best we've got right now. At this point we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Kloppenburg is good, good enough.
She and Prosser were the top 2 finishers in the non-partisan primary, but he was ahead of her by over 100,000 votes. On the other hand, no one was paying attention then. Today, especially after tonight, we've got everyone's attention. Here is JoAnne Kloppenburg's Facebook Page
What happened today was a travesty and it very well might wind up in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Uppity Wisconsin, a terrific blogger working hard to cover these events, explains the issues here. We know how Prosser would vote. Based on the Facebook page info I'd like to think JoAnne would vote in the opposite direction.
There are a couple of other elections being held on April 5, all opportunities to repudiate Walker, but none as powerful as this. There's an election for Walker's old seat Milwaukee County Executive. From what I've been reading, the GOP'er Jeff Stone has been trying to distance himself from Walker, but Milwaukee county is really pissed at him and Chris Abele, the Dem, is a good guy. There are also 3 state legislature seats open due to Walker appointments, but I think these are primaries in April. The 94th district in LaCrosse features a lady named Cheryl Hancock. Her daughter posted an earnest and heartfelt diary, her first, when all this Walker mess started.
And of course there's all the recall activity going on, but you know about that. Bottom line is this. If you live in Wisconsin and are part of this community, and you do nothing else to oppose Walker and his stooges, you can do this: vote for JoAnne Kloppenburg on April 5, and tell your friends to do the same. I know, that's two things, but let's stretch a bit.