August 15, 2011

"Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett will serve as special prosecutor in the investigation of a physical altercation between two state Supreme Court justices."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Barrett was elected as a Republican, but said she has long advocated making district attorneys' positions non-partisan.

"Politics should play no role in what we do," she said.
It will be extremely hard to de-politicize this case, but avoiding appointing someone associated with the Democratic Party was a good move by Chief Dane County Judge William Foust who was chosen by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to make the appointment. It's also good not to see "Dane County" again.

Interesting comments at the link:
"If Prosser was at fault this would have stayed in Dane County."...

"The Democratic DA from Dane County wanted no part of this as when the truth comes out and NO charges are filed against Prosser, the Democrats can point the finger at the Republican DA and claim "cover-up." Don't claim conflict of interest either. Again, another case of Liberals passing the buck  and failing to face the truth. This was fiction from the start. Go Walker!"...

"They assigned a Republican special prosecutor so they can have another scapegoat when there is no evidence to go after Prosser. A Democrat special prosecutor likely would have the same result if the evidence shows he was defending himself and not "choking" her, but it would completely exonerate him, by having a Republican assigned to this, the liberals can scream that there was bias in the investigation and can use it for their gain. I make the assumption that Bradley came after him first when I say this...."
See? You can't de-politicize it. De-politicizing seems political to people who are as politicized as we are here in Wisconsin.

33 comments:

ndspinelli said...

As I said last week, Foust is a good man and this pick is consistent w/ my impression of him.

XWL said...

People there been drinking unfiltered lake water?
Does that explain all this...

hoop said...

In other words, assuming that Prosser is exonerated, we should see what Barrett writes in her report on the matter, yes? She will likely be rather transparent on this one, I'd imagine.

As entertaining as Wisky has been, the state should start charging for viewership.

David said...

There are 12 employees in Ms. Barrett's office, according to their web site. Ten of the twelve appear to be female.

So no complaining that they are biased against womyn, right?

chickelit said...

Beatniks and politics, nothing is new. A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view.

Wake up to the Strawberry Alarm Clock.
__________
wv = buticed: a polite and more fanciful form of the more vulgar buttressed.

Roger J. said...

Ms Barett will most certainly have her hands full--I am most curious why a "special prosecutor" is even required since the alleged altercation resulted in no charges being filed by either party involved. Seem to me to be a matter for law enforcement, but everything in Wisconsin is a bit akilter, so who knows.

Cedarford said...

THERE WERE 7 FUCKING PEOPLE WITNESS TO THIS!
Three are uninvolved Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices who gave statements along with other witnesses and the principals stories.

How fucking hard is this to get to the truth of?

And does Barrett's charter extend to subpeona power to get the source of the news stories??

john d hyland said...

In reply to David - Pat has an office staff that is all-female - nothing unusal with that. She has two male and two female assistant district attorneys. Neither she, nor her office, is biased against men or women.

Chuck66 said...

I think a bigger issue is the big balloon popping scandel of 2011. How can we hope to have a civilized society when a lady's balloon gets popped in the capital biulding.

Carol_Herman said...

Quick! Recover the hand!

Pickle it.

It's gonna make great evidence ... in proving that Bradley ... to get choked ... had to rise from a seated position. Behind her desk. As four Wisconsin Supreme Court justices ... opened her office door ... and, together, 4 of them said: "BOO!"

Is it Halloween yet?

Prosser's complaint, meanwhile, registered backstage.

What did he complain about? Nearly being tumbled over by the charging bullshit of Bradley? Who admits her arms were "flailing in front of her!"

Or? Perhaps? You had 4 justices in search of their chief because an opinion hadn't been published 'yet.'

And, the chief justice, besides ordering toilet paper for the building, also has to sign off on publishing papers. Where she did not.

What's in Prosser's complaint?

TUBBS? He's on par with Officer Calhoun. He could'a spouted fake law when he wrote up his "conversations" with all the members of the Supreme Court. Because he's an IDIOT!

So, sure. Throw in some of the Oficer Calhoun hog wash.

When you're making up stuff you say to the public ... who needs to depend on actual laws?

Glad there's a prosecutor, now, who is so "special."

Let's give her a hand.

The one the Labrador chewed wouldn't be a bad place to start. (Tubbs must have examined it already for fingerprints.)

Chuck66 said...

hoop, Wisconsin is quite entertaining these days:

-The balloon popping scandel
-Supreme court members fighting
-Mayors and state legislators getting DWIs at a rate only college students can rival.
-Smelly hippy-freaks occuping the capital building
-Recalls over legistlative issues, not misconduct.

But hey, the Packers won the Super Bowl and the Brewers have their best time in many many years.

Carol_Herman said...

Actually, Cedarford, at 3:55PM ... there was only 6. Crooks wasn't there. And, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson was in Bradley's office "hiding."

Bradley, herself, was seated.

Picture a room with 4 people at the door. And, 2 seated people. I'll guess Abhramson had her back to the door. And, was only recognized by her smell. Or something she gave off.

Bradley had to FLY. There was the desk, of course. Maybe, her chair kept twirling, too?

But the "chokehold" claim got shot down by at least two witnesses.

While nobody asks Crooks why he left for the day. Is there a bell at 5:00 PM that goes off ... and he races out of the building? Does he have to catch a train?

Or is crooks lazy?

He admits to not being a witness. So, hallelujah. We've got a truth teller right there.

Original Mike said...

Put the Justices under oath and dispense with this in an afternoon.

They wouldn't lie under oath, would they?

edutcher said...

A 5'2" guy is supposed to have tried to choke a 5'9" woman, presumably wearing heels (the woman, that is).

Do the math.

Cedarford said...

THERE WERE 7 FUCKING PEOPLE WITNESS TO THIS!
Three are uninvolved Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices who gave statements along with other witnesses and the principals stories.

How fucking hard is this to get to the truth of?


Do the words Republican and Democrat ring any bells?

traditionalguy said...

How dull and cheesy!

What ever happened to duels at dawn?

We do drama right down here in the South. Remember the story, Midnight in the Chambers of Good and Evil?

Carol_Herman said...

If Prosser were guilty another day wouldn't go by without Jesse Jackson showing up in Madison screaming for Justice. No Justice. No Piss. Or, whatever.

bagoh20 said...

Wisconsin Democrats must be human centipedes. I mean how many times can you shoot yourself in the foot before you fall down and shut up?

Dead centipede walking.

1775OGG said...

This is becoming the plot for a script for the coming action flick: "Day of The Gracchi," staring Bela Lugosi as Prosser, Sharon Stone as Justice Bradley, and Boris Karloff as Gov. Walker, plus a cast of 100s. The flick's subtitle will be "Revolt of the SEIU!"

ignatzk said...

"De-politicizing seems political to people who are as politicized as we are here in Wisconsin."

Do residents of insular DaneCo (Dane County) believe the rest of the state is as political as themselves?

Is it?

Robert said...

In other news:

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/127751463.html

The WEAC laid off 40% of its staff, 42 people.

Some teachers should start asking why the fuck their union needs 100 employees in the first place.

Garage? Any answers?

Pettifogger said...

Ann says: "See? You can't de-politicize it. De-politicizing seems political to people who are as politicized as we are here in Wisconsin."

Which makes it a metaphor for our society as a whole. Almost everything has become political.

Chuck66 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
damikesc said...

Yeah, electing judges seems like it is working out exceedingly well for Wisconsin.

DADvocate said...

The Democratic DA from Dane County is hereby nominated to be the subject of an chapter in the new "Profiles in Courage."

Kirk Parker said...

tradguy,

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. (Though Google and Amazon are both skillful enough to find it by 'chambers' too.)

Carol_Herman said...

Alas, the guy who really wrote "Profiles in Courage," is dead. And, he wasn't shot in Dallas.

This means, the guy who wrote "Profiles in Courage," (Schlesinger) didn't have much of it, himself. Or he sure loved JFK enormously, to let him claim to be the author of a book not his own.

Also, who killed Marilyn Monroe? Aren't we somewhere near the date of that anniversary? Wasn't it in August 1962? She was not a suicide.

DADvocate said...

Also, who killed Marilyn Monroe? Aren't we somewhere near the date of that anniversary? Wasn't it in August 1962? She was not a suicide.

Good question. My 18 year old son brought this up the other day. I've never talked to him about it before, that I remember. He thinks it was the Kennedys. The mystery lives on.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Just and Only William F. Buckley Jr.




…among academics there is a syndrome, identifiable even if it isn’t easy to describe. I remember the straw poll taken in Princeton some years ago which revealed that the faculty was divided as among McGovern (George), Nixon (Richard), and Gregory (Dick) for president. My recollection may be slightly inexact, but the poll came out approximately 65 McGovern, 8 Nixon, and 8 Gregory.

This may be dismissed as academic humor, in which case the obvious commentary is that one would be uneasy being governed by such folk as are given to academic humor. But one readily sees that 20 percent anomalies subtracted from both bodies leave you safer with the telephone directory than with the faculty directory. Raw ignorance, provided it is blended with something less than that, is less dangerous than raw hubris, all but unadulterated.

Michael Haz said...

I'll pre-write the special prosecutor's report:

"Nothing wrong really happened, even though some of the things that happened had the smell of wrongness.

"Mr. Justice Prosser did most of the smelly wrong things that didn't happen and must be held accountable, even though we have no precedent to hold someone accountable for uncommitted wrongness, even though it clearly happened".

hoop said...

Chuck66,

We could turn Wisconsin politics into a drinking game. I'm just not sure that the inevitably massive spike in alcohol sales is the kind of economic recovery we really need.

;-)

Meade said...

Gee, Michael... That really does stink.

Mr. Forward said...

Sauk County District Attorney Barrett is fond of overcharging . She recently tried to charge a concerned father who had responded to a phone call that his son was overdosing with kidnapping the son. She also tried to indict his friend a respected local doctor who had accompanied him. Bradley and Prosser will be lucky if they aren't lynched.

The TrogloPundit said...

I was a reporter in Baraboo for a couple of years, and I'll say this about Barrett: she doesn't give a rat's ass about media exposure. Toughest interview ever. She would literally walk past you as you asked her a question, and ignore you if you got to her office. Not every time, but a lot.

DID NOT WANT media exposure. Just didn't care. Very unusual for an elected official - they usually can't wait to get to the microphone.

Plus, she's retiring after her current term in office. I think those things bode well for her as special prosecutor.