The other day I told you about 2015 JR 2 the Constitional Amendment to change how Wisconsin's Chief Justice is chosen. It is essentially an effort to remove Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson from the position she has held since 1996 and to which Wisconsin voters re-elected her to in 2009.
One of the primary functions of the office is that the Chief Justice is in charge of the Supreme Court's budget. Scott Walker's Biennial Budget seeks to give HIS NEWLY CROWNED Chief Justice the power to defund any investigation into their own misdoings:
Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget would reshape how Wisconsin courts are funded, allow Supreme Court justices to directly oversee the ethics regulators who can investigate them and dissolve a panel that has advised the high court and Legislature on legal matters for decades.
(snip)
Walker wants to put the commission under the direct control of the Supreme Court. With the enhanced fiscal powers Walker wants to give the high court, the justices would have the power to strip the commission of funding or staff.
Here is a brief history from the Wisconsin
Judicial Review Commission's website:
Wisconsin's first judicial conduct organization was created in 1971 by the Supreme Court to "discipline and correct judges who engage in conduct which has an adverse effect upon the judicial administration of justice and the confidence of the public and the judiciary and its process." In 1977, the state constitution was amended to provide that "each justice or judge shall be subject to reprimand, censure, suspension, or removal for cause or for disability, by the supreme court, pursuant to procedures established by the legislature by law." The legislature implemented this provision in 1978 by creating the present Judicial Commission as an agency independent of the Supreme Court. The Court then abolished its prior commission.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is naturally opposed:
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson has urged the state Legislature's finance committee not to give the Supreme Court financial control over the office that investigates judicial misconduct.
Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget would put the independent State Judicial Commission under the Supreme Court -- along with its $600,000 budget.
Abrahamson said the move could create a perceived conflict of interest. The next time the commission investigates a justice, Abrahamson said other justices could cut off funding for that probe.
Even corrupt Supreme Court Justice
Annette Ziegler came out
against the changes:
"I'm not convinced the Supreme Court budget is the best place for the commission, with all due respect to the governor," said Ziegler, the Journal Sentinel reported last week. "It looks like the commission is under our authority and control when frankly it shouldn't be."
No, it should not. Putting regulators under the control of the people they regulate is never a good idea. Let's repeat that: Never.
Ziegler has some valuable experience in this area. The now state Judicial Commission in 2007 filed a complaint against her for not disclosing her husband's ties to a West Bend bank when she handled cases as a Washington County circuit judge. Because of that complaint, Ziegler's colleagues on the Supreme Court reprimanded her in 2008. So she understands full well the importance of an independent commission.
On April 7th Wisconsin holds it's Spring Elections. Please help turn the tide of Republican tyranny by telling your Wisconsin friends and family to
VOTE NO on 2015 JR 2 a
Constitutional Amendment aimed at usurping Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and to
VOTE FOR the re-election of
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.
If you would like to be of further assistance you can donate to Bradley for Justice or volunteer to help GOTV!
THANK YOU