Another candidate forum, another no-show for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.
The far-left Milwaukee County Judge was apparently too busy to attend Tuesday’s Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon, as she was for last week’s American Constitution Society debate.
Her critics say she’s hiding.
Protasiewicz did have time to retweet a message from presidential also-ran Hillary Clinton not long after the noon event with her opponent, conservative former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, wrapped up.
Clinton insists the “progressive candidate” will stand up for “reproductive rights” — aka abortion on demand. But Protasiewicz keeps standing up debate planners.
She's with her. https://t.co/2mB5mUAaJJ
— Judge Janet Protasiewicz (@janetforjustice) March 14, 2023
The American Constitution Society, a liberal organization and friendly host for the judge, was forced to cancel its scheduled debate last week in Milwaukee. Protasiewicz has agreed to be present for only one face-off with Kelly before the crucial April 4 statewide election that will determine whether conservatives or liberals control Wisconsin’s high court. Protasiewicz, so far, says she will be at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s debate, slated for March 21.
Kelly was at Tuesday’s Press Club event. He has said he will attend all scheduled debates and forums he’s been invited to.
Kelly campaign adviser Ben Voelkel has said Protasiewicz is practicing the same “duck-and-cover” playbook as some prominent Democrats in recent years “because she can’t defend her soft on crime record.”
Protasiewicz has a lot of money, and a lot of rich liberal friends, however. She can just keep dumping record levels of campaign cash into ads in key media markets, and benefit from her far-left allies doing the same.
With three weeks before the election, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court contest is already the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
Political ad tracker AdImpact puts the costly race in perspective during Sunday’s Academy Awards.
“’Everything Everywhere All At Once’ has 11 noms tonight, most of any film. Its budget was $25M, the same as WI’s 2023 Supreme Court race ad spending (so far),” the organization tweeted.
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" has 11 noms tonight, most of any film. Its budget was $25M, the same as WI's 2023 Supreme Court race ad spending (so far).
In honor of tonight's #Oscars, we wanted to revisit our comparisons of 2022 political ad spending to Hollywood budgets⬇️ https://t.co/LQkCSgp95n pic.twitter.com/LB8abbgEwm
— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) March 13, 2023
The top spender, at least according to the most recent data available, is Protasiewicz. She and her supporters have outspent Kelly and his backer by nearly 2-to-1 — $8.3 million to $4.9 million, according to AdImpact.
And, as it is in war, truth is the first casualty of a high stakes, nationally-watched election.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday reported Protasiewicz’s recent barrage of ads attacking her opponent on being influenced by donors “leave out significant facts.”
“I won’t go through all the specifics, but the ads that she is paying to be run against me are nothing but a dirty pack of lies,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “They’re simply not true.”
Protasiewicz’s campaign has failed to return multiple requests for comment from The Wisconsin Daily Star. Her campaign spokesman Sam Roecker did speak to the AP. He said, “Dan Kelly’s entire record is a sham,” accusing Kelly and supporters of “lying about Janet from day one.”
Protasiewicz may have some credibility issues with some of her friends on the left. According to WisPolitics, Protasiewicz praised conservative jurists Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack, whom Protasiewicz is running to replace, when she was seeking judicial appointments from then-Republican Governor Scott Walker.
Protasiewicz, in her 2012 and 2013 applications for spots on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, however, did note she had been a member of the Democratic Party and had organized a fundraiser for State Senator Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, when he was in the Assembly, according to the publication. She didn’t get the judicial appointment. It probably didn’t help that the former Milwaukee County prosecutor signed a petition seeking to recall Walker in 2012.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Janet Protasiewicz” by Janet for Justice. Background Photo “Wisconsin Supreme Court” by Daderot. CC0 1.0.
