Yes, Mr. Garvery, Some People Are Just Plain Stupid

Ed Garvey has an opinion piece today up at The Capital Times. In his op-ed, he suggests that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman should step down.

How embarrassing for our state. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin is in turmoil because its newest member, Justice Michael Gableman, has a cloud over his head, but he won't offer an umbrella to his six colleagues and the six are split 3-3.

Garvey accuses Gableman of having found his own personal Willie Horton in the form of Reuben Lee Mitchell. Gableman's campaign ran ads last year suggesting that his opponent, Louis Butler Jr., who defended Mitchell on his appeal, found a loophole in the law to free his client who went on to commit further crimes. The problem was that Mitchell was not freed at that time because the state Supreme Court kept him in the pokey. It was only after Mitchell had been paroled that he committed his subsequent crimes. And so Gableman is more than likely guilty of lying by omission.

Gableman should recuse himself from criminal cases and if he won't, then the other members of the high court should take action. He should also recuse himself from cases involving WMC. To do otherwise undermines public confidence in the court. He should stop embarrassing Wisconsin and step aside.

One more thing. This state must begin funding Supreme Court races. The idea of lawyers and their clients giving large campaign contributions also undermines public confidence in our highest court. The public knows what is going on. We may be slow but we aren't stupid.

Garvey implies that the Gableman ad swayed voters – hence Butler's loss in the election last year. While this reflects poorly on Gableman, it surely reflects even worse on voters. I like how he felt compelled to include, "We may be slow but we aren't stupid", because that is exactly his implication. If people watched the ad and actually decided not to vote for Butler, then they're stupid. It didn't take a Bob Woodward to find out the actual events behind the ad and that Butler's actions did not, in fact, get Mitchell freed. And the state funding of Supreme Court races cannot cure stupidity.