In This Issue:
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1. 2008 Elections
2. It's called Civil
Rights Your Honor!
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State Election Results
 On Tuesday, America elected Democrat Barack Obama as our 44th U.S. President. Obama won Wisconsin by 13 percentage points, well above the margin of victory in the prior two presidential elections.
It's Called Civil Rights Your Honor!
 Calling it the most heinous violation of civil liberties in Wisconsin’s history, Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner has condemned Jackson County Judge Thomas Lister’s 11th-hour order to shut down television ads critical of a Democratic candidate for Assembly.
An ad, run by the Coalition for America’s Families, criticized candidate Mark Radcliffe’s support for the $15.2 billion tax increase known as “Healthy Wisconsin.” Lister, an appointee of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, took the unprecedented step of shutting down the ad, known in legal circles as “prior restraint” of political speech. Even the ACLU criticized Lister’s ruling, as it violated the sacrosanct First Amendment rights of an organization to engage in political debate.
Fortunately, Lister’s order was overturned by an appeals court shortly after it was handed down.
As was said in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, “Prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights. A prior restraint, by contrast and by definition, has an immediate and irreversible sanction. If it can be said that a threat of criminal or civil sanctions after publication 'chills' speech, prior restraint 'freezes' it at least for the time.”
In their decision the Court of Appeals said:
Based on our review of the cases cited in the petitioners brief, and arguments and authorities presented to the trial court that does not appear to be an adequate basis for prior restraint in the context of a defamation claim. In short, we are aware of no case law which permits prior restraint of speech before an adjudication on the merits of the defamatory nature of the statement at issue.
Therefore,
IT IS ORDERED that the motion for temporary ex parte relief is granted, and the trial court’s temporary restraining order – which was issued before any evidentiary hearing on the truth of the matter asserted was held – is hereby stayed.
So while the ads were allowed to run and the First Amendment was upheld, the question becomes: what happens to Judge Lister and the corrupt Democratic lawyers who filed the petition? According to Congressman Sensenbrenner, disciplinary sanctions should be taken against them for their egregious abuse of power and for using the criminal justice system for political dirty tricks.
If there is any ray of light for Republicans, it might be the U.S. Senate, in which Democrats picked up seats, but appear to have fallen short of the 60 seats needed for a veto-proof majority (up to four seats are still to close to call, but are currently led by the GOP.) And while Democrats picked up seats in the U.S. House, they seem to have fallen well short of projections that predicted they would win between 25 and 30 seats. (It seems closer to 19 at this point.)
At the state level, the Wisconsin State Senate remained in Democrat hands, but in a positive sign, Republicans didn’t lose any seats. When the Senate reconvenes in January, it will be a 18-15 split in favor of Democrats, with several winnable GOP seats in 2010.
The Wisconsin Assembly, on the other hand, switched over to Democratic hands, as three incumbent Republicans lost close races and two open Republican seats were won by Democrats. Several recounts look imminent in the Assembly, but they are not likely to change control of the house. Governor Doyle has already indicated this afternoon, just one day after the Democrats seized all levels of Wisconsin Government, that one of his first priorities will be to pass the $418 billion tax on hospitals that failed in the last session of the legislature.
Other major elections sent mixed signals.
In Milwaukee, voters approved an advisory referendum to triple the county sales-tax.(Ballot language, referring to the hike as "property tax" relief, may have lead to the narrow 51%-49% vote of approval). At the same time voters approved an employer mandate to provide nine days of sick leave for their employees, which passed by 68% of the vote. In each case, it will make doing business more expensive in Milwaukee, which will most likely drive businesses out of the area, adn the jobs they provide along with them.
In Madison, voters approved a school spending referendum by a 2-to-1 margin that will allow schools to spend millions over the revenue caps on an ongoing basis.Two spending requests in Jefferson for over $40.9 million were rejected, as were referendums in Kiel for $27.4 milliin, Brillion for $23.7 million, Germantown for $23 million and Rhinelander for $23.6 million. In all voters rejected $191 million in additional schools spending while approving $119 million.
You can view all school referendum results at the DPI website.
It will be incumbent on those who value freedom and individual liberty to make their voices known when Wisconsin residents see the inevitable tax increases and regulation that harm their families. Club for Growth will be active in educating voters about these choices in the coming months.
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