MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - The race between two candidates for a crucial vacancy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has been tainted with bribery, according to a state lawmaker.
“The willingness of these groups to win by any means necessary should disgust Republicans, Democrats, independents, and all voters of Wisconsin,” said Rep. Janel Brandtjen, in a press release published on Wispolitics.com.
Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz is competing against former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly to replace conservative Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, who is retiring. Candidates do not represent political parties, but Kelly is described as a conservative and Protasiewicz a liberal.
Brandtjen was reacting to a bombshell report by Dan O'Donnell of News/Talk 1130 WISN that says a group known as Wisconsin Takes Action is offering voters up to $250 to influence their acquaintances to choose Protasiewicz over Kelly through the Empower app, which employs relational organizing.
“Wisconsin Takes Action seems to have reached out to hundreds, if not thousands, of voters around the state using Zoom calls to commit election bribery under Wisconsin Statute 12.11(1m),” Brandtjen said in her press release.
The statute directs that any person who offers, gives, lends, or promises to give or lend, or endeavors to procure anything of value, or any office, employment, any privilege or immunity to any elector or to influence any elector is in violation.
The balance of the court, currently 4-3 conservative-over-liberal, is at play in the coming April 4 election.
“Wisconsin Takes Action and its partners (Wisconsin Conservation Voters, WISDOM Wisconsin, AFT-Wisconsin, NextGen America, Freedom Action Now) have put our 2023 Supreme Court election into question even before ballots have been mailed,” Brandtjen said.
The Empower app rewards Wisconsin residents with $30 gift cards for downloading the app, then pays voters $60 for providing 75 names with phone numbers or emails in the app.
Each time users reach out to their friends to early vote, make a plan to vote or make contact on Election Day, they will get paid in gift cards on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to Brandtjen’s press release.
“This election has now been tainted with bribery,” she said.
Kelly is a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, having served by appointment from 2016 to 2020. At that time, Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Kelly to replace retired Justice David Prosser.
The race for the seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has drawn national attention and hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-state campaign contributions as Republicans and Democrats struggle for control of a court that has and will continue to play the role of political tiebreaker in contentious issues such as redistricting and abortion, not to mention high-dollar personal injury lawsuits.
Protasiewicz is winning the fundraising contest so far, having drawn heavy support from out-of-state Democrats since she began her campaign in earnest last year.
In February alone, she received more than $300,000 from contributors in New York, California, Washington, Minnesota, Massachusetts and elsewhere. Donors who hit the state’s $20,000 limit for Supreme Court races included Lee and Luis Lanier of Los Angeles; New Yorkers Martha Escobar, Hana Ginsburg, Sandor Lehoczy and Yaron Minsky; and Oklahoma oil billionaire Lynn Shusterman. Protasiewicz’s in-state contributions, by contrast, were less than $110,000.
Kelly’s sole out-of-state contribution this year was $20,000 from conservative Virginia billionaire Leo Leonard. He received $40,000 last year from billionaires Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Wisconsin-based shipping supplies company Uline. His total take this year is less than $60,000, according to state campaign finance records.
Protasiewicz is fighting claims she was soft on criminals as a state court judge.