WEAC recommends JoAnne Kloppenburg for State Supreme Court

3/21/2011 4:02:49 PM

• Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg has been with the Wisconsin Department of Justice since 1989.
• Instructor at UW Law School since 1990.
• Former intern for Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.
• Former law clerk for Barbara Crabb, Chief Judge of United States District Court.
• Former Peace Corps volunteer.
• Honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School
• Undergraduate degree from Yale University, also with honors, and a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University.
• She and her husband, Jack, are parents of two daughters and a son.

Kloppenburg was recommended through the WEAC Candidate Recommendation Process, in which members decide through balloting which candidate to recommend.

Walker and Prosser: A History of Collaborating to Oppose Workers

The debate over Governor Scott Walker’s extreme attack on public employees and their collective bargaining rights is likely to face legal challenges that will ultimately be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Many believe that Justice David Prosser, running for re-election in the April 5 contest, will serve as a rubber-stamp for Walker’s anti-worker agenda.

Prosser and his campaign have done little to discourage this notion. In a December press release announcing his re-election bid, Prosser’s campaign director said he is committed to serving as a “complement to both the new (Walker) administration and Legislature.” In February, Prosser said there is no desire on his part to add an obstruction to Governor Walker or the Legislature.

There is another reason to assume these two will join together on anti-worker issues. Back in the 1990s, when Walker and Prosser served together in the Wisconsin State Assembly, they voted the same way 95% of the time. Those votes were consistently anti-worker. For example, they both voted for a bill that said school boards do not need to negotiate with employees over the school calendar.

Justice Prosser has a record of ruling against unions. In his decisions, Prosser has taken positions in opposition to due process, workers’ compensation, retirement benefits and family medical leave.

Big business is going to spend millions of dollars to re-elect Justice Prosser because they know he will back their anti-union and anti-middle class agenda. The only way we can fight back is by getting out to vote on April 5, 2011

WEAC’s recommended candidate for Supreme Court is JoAnne Kloppenburg, who will bring an impartial perspective and decide cases based on their merits. She has been a litigator and prosecutor at the Wisconsin Department of Justice since 1989, arguing cases before the Supreme Court and in courts around the state.

NEA Analysis of Prosser Record