Why We Won - The Meaning of the Supreme Court Race
While Michael Gableman was elected to the Supreme Court, the long term implications of the race make it clear that the dynamic of Wisconsin politics is changing for the better.
The close outcome, with a suppressed vote, demonstrated that the influence of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and their right wing companions, the Club for Growth Wisconsin and the Coalition for America's Families no longer have a magic bullet that guarantees they can win elections.
In addition to a number of legislative seats they own, this is the third statewide office purchased by these groups in the last two years. But the trend is moving against them. When they defeated Kathleen Falk in the November, 2006 Attorney General race, progressive forces in this state did not have a plan to deal with the influence of the right wing issues committees.
While Falk had name recognition, which the defeated Supreme Court candidates Linda Clifford and Justice Louis Butler lacked, her election campaign was left to fend for itself against the massive amounts of cash spent by the WMC Issues Committee.
In April of 2007, Linda Clifford, who was defamed and defeated by now tainted Justice Annette Ziegler, not only lacked Falk's name recognition but also suffered from the lack of a strategy to fend off WMC and its partners.
Louis Butler, sitting on the Supreme Court, was not in a much more advantageous position than Clifford. Early polling indicated that his name recognition was no better than Gableman's so that he had none of the advantages associated with incumbency.
But the Butler campaign, despite lacking the name recognition of Falk, did have an advantage over the the Falk and Clifford campaigns in that a statewide wide group of bloggers, political activists, and progressive leaders were beginning to peel back the onion that is WMC.
Justice Butler, an honorable and decent man, was not re-elected, but the closeness of his race demonstrates things are changing for the better.
As Wisconsin heads into the fall elections, there are important trends and factors to consider:
- WMC, despite the three victories, has paid a price for its swagger. The internal problems involving disgruntled members is growing and worsening by the day. The Gableman victory will please the smug Right but it only creates more problems for the moderate Republicans and Democrats within the organization.
- While WMC's Jimmy Buchen spins things by pointing out that his organization was outspent by the Greater Wisconsin Committee, he knows full well that the collective spending of his organization as part of the right wing cabal crushed the pro-Butler forces. This is important to recognize for two reasons:
- First, it means that if the overall financial playing field is leveled, progressives will be elected.
- Secondly, it is a reminder that while we can stop some of the Wisconsin corporate money going into the WMC Issues Committee, the cabal will turn to other right wing groups who will raise the money outside of Wisconsin.
- Moderate Republicans are estranged from WMC and the leadership of the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly. An examination of public supporters of Butler and Gableman indicates that while the incumbent received individual endorsements from the 'usual suspects,' Gableman received few personal endorsements from moderate Republican leaders thats used to line up behind Governor Tommy Thompson.
- The newspapers of this Wisconsin have had enough. An examination of the fifteen largest dailies in this state demonstrates that only one, the Beloit Daily News, endorsed Gableman. More importantly, virtually every newspaper in the state condemned WMC for its and Gableman's advertisements. (The Janesville
PressGazette, owned by a WMC board member, endorsed Justice Butler.)
As we enter the fall elections, hopefully every legislative candidate will be asked their position on legislation to expose the source of the money used to fund "issue" advertisements. Legislation is needed that will require:
- the identity of every individual donor with a business or personal address outside of Wisconsin.
- prohibit the bundling of money by out-of-state organizations. This means that money from a shadow front like the Institute for Legal Reform could not accept hundred of thousand of dollars from individual and corporations, bundle the money and report it as their own.
The wonderful thing about this country is the right of Americans to speak their minds freely. That right does not come with a promise that when using other people's money, it can be done anonymously. WMC has its right to free speech. The public has the right to know who is speaking.
Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing-Bob Dylan
Update: I want to thank a staff member of the Janesville Gazette for noting that I got the name of the newspspaer wrong. Thank you.
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