I want to thank the Monroe Times for first drawing my attention to the extremely misleading ads in the State Supreme Court race. After reading two stories from the Associated Press, I saw two of the ads on TV and then went on the suggested Web sites and found out a lot more.
One of these ads portrays Justice Butler as soft on crime and cites a Supreme Court opinion he wrote for the majority of judges that allowed a man convicted of rape and murder to get a new trial because the DNA evidence, that the perpetrators DNA did not match his, was not provided to the original jurors. Allowing him to have a new trial where all the evidence would be heard was not soft on crime, it was firm on justice.
The same ad also says Butler sides with criminals more than 60 percent of the time, but a count by Justice Butler's office shows that while on the State Supreme Court he has voted to uphold criminal convictions 75 percent of the time. So at most he has sided with criminals or those wrongly accused only 25 percent of the time.
As of March 10, more than 220 Wisconsin judges had endorsed Justice Butler, compared to nine who had endorsed Judge Gabelman, according to his own Web site.
Sen. Russ Feingold, who is known for his independent voice and high integrity, strongly supports Justice Butler for Supreme Court. To quote Sen. Feingold, "We need leaders like Justice Butler to continue to bring his values, experience, and impartiality to the highest court in Wisconsin."
One of these ads portrays Justice Butler as soft on crime and cites a Supreme Court opinion he wrote for the majority of judges that allowed a man convicted of rape and murder to get a new trial because the DNA evidence, that the perpetrators DNA did not match his, was not provided to the original jurors. Allowing him to have a new trial where all the evidence would be heard was not soft on crime, it was firm on justice.
The same ad also says Butler sides with criminals more than 60 percent of the time, but a count by Justice Butler's office shows that while on the State Supreme Court he has voted to uphold criminal convictions 75 percent of the time. So at most he has sided with criminals or those wrongly accused only 25 percent of the time.
As of March 10, more than 220 Wisconsin judges had endorsed Justice Butler, compared to nine who had endorsed Judge Gabelman, according to his own Web site.
Sen. Russ Feingold, who is known for his independent voice and high integrity, strongly supports Justice Butler for Supreme Court. To quote Sen. Feingold, "We need leaders like Justice Butler to continue to bring his values, experience, and impartiality to the highest court in Wisconsin."
