A hint of the disorder which infects the mind of the Waukesha County clerk lies in this adulatory essay about the Dane County clerk. (Hint: it's called "corporation counsel.")
...McDonell was the first county clerk to promise he would keep his
office doors open nights and weekends to accommodate gay nuptials.
Crabb
ruled on the afternoon of June 6. Within hours McDonell marshaled
volunteers to issue marriage licenses and dozens of weddings took place
into the night, throughout the weekend and until the following Friday
when, at state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s request, Crabb stayed
her ruling pending appeals.
McDonell credited Dane County
attorneys, along with officials in Milwaukee and Rock counties, for
persuading officials, even in Republican counties, that while Crabb
hadn’t issued an injunction ordering anyone to allow gay marriages, her
ruling gave clerks the authority to issue license applications if they
so chose....
That's patently false, of course. Crabb's initial ruling did NOT delete the Wisconsin statute (nor Constitutional amendment) forbidding issuance of licenses for gay "marriage." The fact that she did not specifically do so was a clear sign that the stay was going to be issued. Crabb deliberately waited a week to issue that stay; but in the absence of clarity, Dane and Waukesha charged ahead with absolutely zero prudence. You'd expect that from Dane and Milwaukee, of course.
Novack--the befuddled clerk--followed McDonell's lead, but she did not do so on her own. That leads us to Corporation Counsel, folks.
Schimel's professional legal response to The Waukesha County Clerk's felonious indiscretions is legalise bull...and poor legalise at that. If this is how Schimel interprets/practices/enforces law, I don't know how the hell Schimel operates in the legal industry. Schimel's logic is like pushing pudding across a table.
ReplyDeleteSchimel is full of it on almost every point he makes to protect The Waukesha County Clerk.
Worrying about the rest of The Clerks around The State is completely irrelevant to what The Waukesha County Clerk CHOSE TO DO.
Common (legal) logic dictates in law to, when in doubt, error on the side of caution, i.e., if confusion exists and clarification is needed and The Clerk is unsure, DO NOTHING, DO NOTHING, DO NOTHING, until a clear legal path is staked by proper authorities. County Corporation Counsel is NOT a properly involved authority, i.e., they have no judicial/legislative decision power. The Waukesha County Clerk legislated law instead of administering it. The Waukesha County Clerk DID NOT KNOW what the law was at that point and that ignorance, in and of itself, proves intent to knowingly issue licenses contrary to law, i.e., a lack of law thereof based upon confusion, i.e., if The Waukesha County Clerk was unsure/confused of the law at that time, AND THE WAUKESHA COUNTY CLERK KNEW SHE WAS UNSURE/CONFUSED OF THE LAW AT THAT TIME, how could The Waukesha County Clerk ever have been sure she was issuing licenses properly?! That is like sending your kid to the bus stop without ever knowing if the school bus is coming or not...even after asking your husband if the bus is coming...your husband's word that the bus is coming is no guarantee that the bus is coming. The Waukesha County Clerk is guilty, at the very least, of GROSS ADMINISTRATIVE MISCONDUCT. The Waukesha County Clerk does not operate in a bubble nor is The Waukesha County Clerk overpaid as an uncivil serpent to NOT use her noggin when reaching difficult decision forks.
The Waukesha County Clerk simply made a personal choice...probably based upon personal preference.
That is a felony.
The Waukesha County Clerk's County Corporation Counsel is not responsible for The Waukesha County Clerk's actions...The Waukesha County Clerk alone is directly responsible. Seeking advice and stating she didn't know any better because of that advice is passing the (ir)responsibility to The Waukesha County Clerk's not-retained legally disinterested attorney. No matter how many accountants one uses to fill out tax forms, only The Principal Signatory is ultimately legally responsible for errors, illegalities, etc. RE: any issue, one attorney may tell you one thing, another another, another another, etc. There was NO guarantee to The Waukesha County Clerk that County Corporation Counsel's advice was right or proper...advice or no, The Waukesha County Clerk's actions were definitively her own. Thus, IF a defense (more like an excuse), County Corporation Counsel advice as a defense is an EXTREMELY weak defense. IOW, "I can break the law if my attorney-daddy says I can...nyah, nyah.". Uh Uh. Only a trial, judge, and jury could determine if County Corporation Counsel advice is an proper defense. I personally do not think it would fly at all. Schimel simply doesn't want the hype on top of his campaign run for WI AG. The real question Schimel is asking himself RE: all cases he is trying these days is, "...how will public exposure of this case endear me to the WI AG job?".
The State Bureau Of Vital Statistics in Madison accepting licenses for filing is IRRELEVANT to whether The Waukesha County Clerk broke the law. If The State Bureau Of Vital Statistics told The Waukesha County Clerk to jump off a bridge, would The Waukesha County Clerk do that too?!?! Waukesha County does NOT legally rely on the actions of The State Bureau Of Vital Statistics to conduct Waukesha legal business.