Uppity Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce spent heavily to get State Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler elected, then helped finance a major tax in which Ziegler wrote the Court's pro-WMC, 4-3 ruling.

The case blows a $265 million hole in the state budget: who do you think will make up the shortfall?

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

"Epic Systems Corp., the Verona-based electronic medical records company, is threatening to pull its business from local vendors who support the state's largest business lobby over a political disagreement with the group.

In a statement to the State Journal, the company cited concern over Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's spending this year on behalf of state Supreme Court candidate Michael Gableman, estimated at $1.8 million, as a reason for working only with vendors whose officials oppose WMC's agenda."

James Sample, counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is introducing the nation to the ethics of the Wisconsin judiciary.

And it's not pretty.

Sample's Can $2 Million For A Judge Buy A $350 Million Tax Refund? in the Huffington Post rips Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler's corruption and the system allowing her to continue in her position.

Sample sees the Ziegler affair as emblematic of a national trend as state judicial systems become corrupt political machines.

Writes Sample:

In short, the influence of big money in our nation's state courts is nearing the point where, well, "you're going to want to tell your great grandkids about what happened to the rule of law in America back in the day."

Another Bad Air Quality Day: The WMC Has Said Suck It In Anyway