Largest Bus. Org. in WI spends $600k to demote WI Supreme Court Justice

Shirley Abrahamson, a somewhat quirky although a liberal Justice appointed in 1976 to WI Supreme Court was the first woman in WI to be appointed to the court.

That's going on 39 years, the longest serving member on the WI Supreme Court. And that comes with something special...in WI that makes her the Chief Justice. And not just any Chief Justice but, the longest serving Chief Justice in WI history.

She's a thorn in the side of WI's conservative legislature. They get to control virtually everything in the state...except running the Supreme Court.

But, the conservatives have a fix. A referendum to the State Constitution that will allow the justices to elect their Chief. The Court is controlled by conservatives, it could become even more so if Justice Bradley (infamously the victim of strangling attack by her colleague Justice Prosser) is not returned to the court tomorrow.

Tonite Milw television (and probably all markets in WI) is being bombarded with ads supporting the constitutional amendment. This effort is supported by the state’s largest business group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which pledged last week to spend $600,000 to pass the amendment.

Why, would people spend more than half a million on an amendment that changes how the WI Supreme Court Chief Justice is chosen?