Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Louis Butler's Conflict?

Seems that a certain SCOWI Justice may have taken money from a group and then ruled on a case which involved that group's interests.

Hmmm.

A Wisconsin attorney is challenging a state Supreme Court decision that he should pay a $90,000 penalty because the deciding vote was cast by a justice who accepted money from the attorney's opponents

...The case that sparked attorney James Donohoo's dispute with the high court was brought against a "gay' activist group called Action Wisconsin, which later called itself Fair Wisconsin

Donohoo, on Storms' behalf, brought a defamation action, which a trial court judge, Patricia McMahon, dismissed as frivolous. An appeals level panel reversed the decision, concluding that the jury should have been given the dispute to resolve.

The state Supreme Court, however, stepped in and with the vote of Justice Louis B. Butler Jr., who had accepted campaign contributions from those opposing Donohoo, reinstated the order for him to pay about $90,000 in legal fees incurred because of the case

Well, well, well.

The article is informative, too.

Butler declined to return a WND call requesting comment on the situation. But Donohoo said Butler had reported a $300 donation from Lester Pines, a lawyer for Fair Wisconsin, but failed to report a donation of $125 from Peter Bock and donations of $100 and $1,000 from Ruth Irvings, both board members for the organization

Evidently Pete Bock keeps busy while Ms. Falk is running Dane County.

Of course, the defeated Justice had made promises:

Butler had made a public commitment not to take contributions from parties with cases pending during his re-election campaign, and to report any contributions from attorneys for parties in pending cases

Probably slipped his mind.

I think Loophole Louis should consult with Justice Ziegler on the issue of 'impartiality,' don't you?

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