By: Brian Sikma
Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is not happy about the newest member of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. Frank Daily, a respected attorney, was recently appointed to the commission by a 4-3 vote of the Supreme Court’s justices. Abrahamson believes Daily is unfit to serve as a commissioner because a letter-to-the-editor written by him and critical of the commission’s proceedings against Justice David Prosser was published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. According to the Journal Sentinel, Daily’s letter was published in May at a time when Daily was not on the commission. The paper also reported that the letter was critical of Chief Justice Abrahamson’s handling of the complaint filed against Justice Prosser.
Abrahamson and Prosser are often at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum and their personalities have clashed repeatedly.
In making her case against Daily, Abrahamson said that individuals should not join the Judicial Commission with a predisposed agenda or preconceived notions about the commission’s work. The Journal Sentinel reports that Abrahamson summarized her objections to Daily at a meeting of the Court on September 19 saying:
“We have an institutional issue of being sure the people on the Judicial Commission have really what is desired of a judicial temperament and not have an agenda, not have an ideology or a position about the Judicial Commission that they’re coming onto the commission to advance.”
Abrahamson’s criticism of Daily may be no more than a shallow, partisan rant because not once has Abrahamson publicly criticized Franklyn Gimbel, the special prosecutor appointed by the Judicial Commission to investigate Justice Prosser. After law enforcement authorities cleared Prosser of thinly sourced allegations of misconduct, the commission nevertheless ordered special prosecutor Gimbel to resurrect the matter.
Gimbel’s report, which is still being processed, is highly critical of Prosser. But the validity of Gimbel’s claims were tarnished when Media Trackers found that Gimbel had signed a petition to recall Governor Scott Walker. Gimbel is also a Democratic political donor and Abrahamson ally who donated to the liberal candidate who sought to defeat Prosser just months before the smear allegations were thrown at him.
An old east coast liberal turned left-of-center justice, Shirley Abrahamson apparently believes that it is partisan to disagree with her views but balanced, neutral and professional to embrace and agree with her agenda. It is fundamentally dishonest for Chief Justice Abrahamson to call Daily a partisan while not once raising the same concerns about Franklyn Gimbel, the man the commission has asked to look into her arch nemesis on the court.
Cloaking inconsistent reasoning in the robes of judicial impartiality may be a favored tactic of judicial elites, but the effectiveness of such condescension decreases when watchdog reporters and organizations take their role seriously.
Both the governor and Supreme Court appoint a set number of individuals to the Judicial Commission.