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.

There is little doubt that big business poured money into Gableman's campaign to unseat Justice Louis Butler with the goal of advancing the regressive Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce agenda, but that wasn't the only problem. Had Gableman played by the rules in the April election for the high court, he might well have lost, but he did not feel constrained to follow the rules.

His advisors told him he had to go negative against the popular Butler - positive campaigns are so yesterday. The problem for Gableman was Butler's exemplary record. What could they use against him? (Did he throw snowballs at cars as a kid? Didn't we all?)

Gableman and his advisers concluded they had to make up something and make it bad enough to shift a significant number of voters from Butler to Gableman. Apparently, winning was the goal -- no matter the price or the tactics or the impact on Gableman's ability to sit on the Supreme Court.

Some bright moral eunuch on the Gableman team got an idea: Find a really bad person, a convicted criminal that Butler represented as a public defender, inform people how bad the criminal was, and suggest that Butler got him off. Wisconsin's own Willie Horton! Tell voters that after the convict got out of prison because Butler found a "loophole," the bad guy committed another horrific crime. The TV spot would place the blame for the crime squarely on Butler's doorstep. By the time the voters figured out that the TV spot was untrue, Gableman would be winning the election. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

The advisers found a convict represented by Butler but, unfortunately for their story, Butler had not found a loophole - no, the guy remained in prison. (Years later he was paroled, no thanks to Butler.) One can imagine the consultants hollering: "So what? Go with it. He might have gotten him out. And if he had, it would be a travesty to reward Butler by electing him to the court. He's soft on criminals!"

Incredibly, Gableman followed the script. He approved the TV spot and paid for it. The message seems clear -- vote to exonerate those accused of crime at your peril. The TV spot was false and he knew it. Imagine that? Now he would have us believe that he can sit in judgment of convicted prisoners and give them a fair hearing?

This is an outrage. 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.

Ed Garvey is a Madison lawyer, political activist and the editor of the fightingbob.com Web site. comments@fightingbob.com

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