Blogging Blue

I have a problem with John McCain, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a conservative. However, my problem with John McCain does have everything to do with his inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist, a relationship that apparently paid dividends for the company the lobbyist represented.

In late 1998, Senator John McCain sent an unusually blunt letter to the head of the Federal Communications Commission, warning that he would try to overhaul the agency if it closed a broadcast ownership loophole.

The letter, and two later ones signed by Mr. McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, urged the commission to abandon plans to close a loophole vitally important to Glencairn Ltd., a client of Vicki Iseman, a lobbyist. The provision enabled one of the nation’s largest broadcasting companies, Sinclair, to use a marketing agreement with Glencairn, a far smaller broadcaster, to get around a restriction barring single ownership of two television stations in the same city.

As if McCain’s inappropriate and unethical relationship with Vicki Iseman weren’t hypocritical enough for a man who once attacked lobbyists, he’s also now the subject of a complaint regarding his use of the prospect of nearly six million dollars in federal matching funds - which he now says he won’t claim - as collateral for a January campaign loan and to obtain automatic ballot access in every state. It’s important to note that the free automatic ballot access is a benefit that saved the McCain campaign millions of dollars that would have had to be spent in order to obtain ballot access in every state.

John McCain represents the very worst of our elected officials - a man who’s shown on more than one occasion that he’s not above getting dirty in the name of advancing himself. For a man who once rode the “Straight Talk Express” across America during his last campaign to sink to this level shows the full extent of John McCain’s hypocrisy and willingness to pander as much as it takes to get elected.

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As I first noted a few days ago, the folks at One Wisconsin Now have been busy exposing the sordid details behind Michael Gableman’s appointment to the Burnett County Circuit Court.

As first reported by OWN, former Governor Scott McCallum appointed Gableman to the Burnett County Circuit Court after bypassing the established appointment process, and it was also noted Gableman had donated $2,500 to McCallum’s re-election campaign, including $1,250 in the midst of the appointment process for the Circuit Court seat that Gableman was appointed to. As sordid as the entire situation is, it’s gotten worse for Michael Gableman, with Scott McCallum’s admission on Thursday he manipulated the judicial appointment process established
by his own executive orders in order to appoint Michael Gableman to the Burnett County Circuit Court.

“[A]s governor, the final decision to appoint a judge was mine
alone…,” McCallum said through a Gableman campaign press release.
The media has reported McCallum has refused press calls since an
investigation by One Wisconsin Now released Wednesday showed Gableman
was appointed judge after McCallum ignored established protocol for a
candidate who neither applied in time, nor was a finalist recommended
by McCallum’s own judicial advisory council.

“Governor McCallum confirmed what we already knew, that Mike Gableman
got his job as a judge because that’s what McCallum wanted for his
donor and fundraiser,” said Scot Ross, Executive Director of One
Wisconsin Now.

If Michael Gableman couldn’t be counted on to act above reproach and get his Circuit Court seat without having to buy it, then how can he be counted on to act in an ethical and impartial manner as a justice on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court? Wisconsin deserves nothing less than a judiciary with the highest judicial ethics and experience, and the circumstances surrounding Gableman’s appointment to the Burnett County Circuit Court hang over him like a dark cloud, much like Annette Ziegler’s own ethical problems have continued to hang over her even after her term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court began.

Wisconsin can ill afford two ethically challenged Supreme Court Justices.

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With the race between Louis Butler and Michael Gableman for Butler’s seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court due to heat up, I figured now would be a good time to take a closer look at the candidacy of Judge Gableman. As first reported by the folks at One Wisconsin Now, it appears Judge Gableman was appointed to his seat on the Burnett County Circuit Court under some suspicious circumstances. In the interest of keeping things neat and tidy, here’s a list of the suspicious circumstances surrounding Michael Gableman’s appointment to the Burnett County Circuit Court:

• Gableman did not go through the process for selecting judges which had been established by then-Governor Scott McCallum.
• Gableman had not applied for the Burnett County judgeship by the deadline established by the Governor’s Notice of Judicial Vacancy.
• Gableman was not one of two finalists selected by the Governor’s Advisory Council on Judicial Selection.
• Gableman served as a Republican fundraiser for Governor McCallum in the midst of the selection process to fill the vacancy that was later awarded to Gableman.
• Gableman donated $2,500 to Governor McCallum’s re-election campaign.
• No records of Gableman being interviewed for the Burnett County Circuit Court seat by Governor McCallum could be found, despite open records requests.
• No records of Gableman’s application for the vacancy could be found. OWN did find a copy of a resume Gableman faxed to the Governor’s office, but no copy of a formal application was found, despite applications being found for all the other candidates.
• Gableman arranged and attended a private breakfast with Governor McCallum at the Executive Residence in March 2002, shortly before he was appointed to fill the Burnett County Circuit Court vacancy.

Now sure, I suppose all these points could just be a happy coincidence, but as when I put all those points together, I can’t help but think Michael Gableman’s seat on the Burnett County Circuit Court was bought and paid for, and all it seemed to cost was $2,500.

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Perhaps the most surprising of all last night’s results - at least to me - came from Milwaukee’s Sixth Aldermanic District, where incumbent Michael McGee fought off eight challengers to garner 32% of the vote in last night’s primary. Finishing a close second was Milele Coggs, setting up a showdown between the two on April 1st. My quote of the night comes from Dorothy Carter, a McGee supporter:

I think he’s a nice person, and I think he’s been railroaded. I don’t think he can do as good of a job in prison. But I think if he’d been a white man, he’d already been out of jail.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why McGee got 32% of the vote from behind bars: folks in his district believe he’s been railroaded and will ultimately be exonerated. Despite his “strong” showing yesterday, I don’t see McGee winning on April 1st, because I see all those folks whose votes were split by the eight challengers to McGee will start to coalesce behind Milele Coggs.

In many respects, Michael McGee is like a bad rash that won’t go away, but hopefully on April 1st the citizens of the Sixth Aldermanic District will finally put some ointment on that rash.

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Barack Obama 59%
Hillary Clinton 41%

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