Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice alleged to have choked liberal colleague

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser -- part of the conservative majority that approved the legality of governor Scott Walker's union-busting legislation -- is alleged to have choked his colleague Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, a liberal. Prosser also called another colleague, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, "a total bitch" and threatened to destroy her. He justified this by blaming Abrahamson: "They (Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley) are masters at deliberately goading people into perhaps incautious statements. This is bullying and abuse of very, very long standing."

Meanwhile, an unnamed source who is on Prosser's side of the argument accused Bradley of initiating the violence. "She charged him with fists raised," the source told the paper, saying that Prosser "put his hands in a defensive posture" to block her, and made contact with her neck. Bradley is then said to have immediately complained of being choked, while another, unnamed Justice responded, "You were not choked."
In response, Bradley told the paper: "You can try to spin those facts and try to make it sound like I ran up to him and threw my neck into his hands, but that's only spin.
"Matters of abusive behavior in the workplace aren't resolved by competing press releases. I'm confident the appropriate authorities will conduct a thorough investigation of this incident involving abusive behavior in the workplace."

I think it was pretty chickenshit of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to allow its source who claimed that Walsh lied about being choked to be anonymous -- anonymous character assassination isn't news, it's just gossip.

Meanwhile, I don't expect that Justice Prosser would be sympathetic to "she was asking for it," as a defense from an accused before his bench.

Wis. Justice Ann Walsh Bradley: Justice Prosser 'Put His Hands Around My Neck In Anger In A Chokehold' (via Reddit)

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Daemon

I don’t know… conservatives are generally the ones who do believe “she was asking for it” is a valid legal defence.
taj1f

It’s all rotten. Game over. America, I hardly knew ye.
jphilby

Whatever happened to the sane times, when you never heard about Wisconson in the news? (Except when Joseph McCarthy was terrorizing the nation.)
AirPillo

May I suggest someone punch him in the face and accuse him of bullying? The damage his teeth do to their fist is more than enough evidence of his malice and violence!
bfarn

Why you little….
arbitraryaardvark

“I think it was pretty chickenshit of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to allow its source who claimed that Walsh lied about being choked to be anonymous — anonymous character assassination isn’t news, it’s just gossip.” So, for example, Mark Feltz aka Deep Throat revealing the Watergate break-in wasn’t news, just gossip?
hassenpfeffer

Ah, Wisconsin, the cheese cultures have truly taken root in your brain tissue.
bcsizemo

I know of only one fair way to settle this, Thunderdome.
knoxblox

All I know is if anybody at MY job tries to choke me, they’d better protect their balls first.
GeorgeStanton

In contrast, I think it was pretty chickenshit of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to allow its source who claim that Walsh is telling the truth about being choked to be anonymous.

Prosser is saying that she was coming after him and he raised his hands defensively. She is saying that he choked her. No witnesses are actually named on either side.

Maybe we shouldn’t draw conclusions until we know the facts just because we happen to politically agree with one side or the other. If it’s true that Prosser choked another judge then Walker should appoint a replacement.
Snig

If he presses his case on a “defensive choking”, I think it’d be hard to take his seriously in any cases involving assault.
UncaScrooge

I’ve been informed by various conservatives that being bullied is just part of growing up. Also: You should always physically assault a bully and then they’ll leave you alone forever. This has been proven true by the movies.
- Cowicide
  
  I’ve been informed by various conservatives that being bullied is just part of growing up.
  
  I’ve consistently found that they can’t take what they dish out (or nothing even close to it). Conservatives are the weak that prey upon the weaker.
  - blueelm
    
    This two views are not incompatible. The important thing is to negate anyone who is hurt, and if you are hurt you find some one else to abuse.
    
    The important thing is to abuse and victimize as many people as you can, while blaming them! Being abused in your past is a good thing as it may fuel this and make it easier for you to cause more damage to society while feeling entitled to do so and as if you are the *real* victim.
    
    For bonus points, apply this logic to countries and vast swaths of the population.
    - Cowicide
      
      This two views are not incompatible.
      
      Agreed. There’s a book out there, but for the life of me I can’t remember its title now, that shows that as children many conservatives are victims of “tough love” (or as I call it, “soft hate”).
      
      I remember it specifically mentioning the abuse Newt Gingrich suffered which now explains a lot of his adult hatred.
Snig

A Fox commentator, Greta Van Susteren, has gone on record saying the justice should resign because of this. The one who was choked of course, why would you think otherwise?
holtt

anonymous character assassination isn’t news, it’s just gossip.

Words to live by, but probably not blog by.
iconoclastgrin

“They (Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley) are masters at deliberately goading people into perhaps incautious statements. This is bullying and abuse of very, very long standing.”

Perfect example of the victimization tactic. This has become part and parcel of the way most mainstream conservatives operate. They cast themselves in the martyr role. It’s THEIR rights that are being violated.

It really sounds like this guy got pissed because the others had better rhetoric skills than he. Mayhap, they articulate better?

To cowicide:

Is the book you refer to Blowing Smoke by Woolraich (sp)?
- Cowicide
  
  Is the book you refer to Blowing Smoke by Woolraich (sp)?
  
  No, it was more about actual cases of child abuse of right wingers that shaped them to be the horrific people they are today.
MRKiscaden

Humans have been injuring each other since before recorded time. Yet somehow its important that the “conservative” choked the “liberal”, as if only conservatives commit violence. It is just as newsworthy for any judge to choke any colleague. Emphasizing party/ideological affiliation is just perpetuating the “us” vs. “them” mentality.
- Anonymous
  
  Not at all. We are talking about Wisconsin, where the current government has a history of very questionable means of dealing with its opponents. In that case, knowing whether someone is affiliated with that government or its opponents is a valuable detail.
- IWood
  
  Hush! You’re interfering with the narrative.
  
  It’s especially helpful when a conservative/rich person/Christian/CEO/etc. is abusive, hypocritical, or an asshole, because Cory can then selectively loft those particular stories higher using BB’s reach, as is his prerogative. I’ve noticed that errors in his summaries of those stories tend to reflect poorly on the rightward-leaning more often than not. Many of those errors are obviously caused by having a lot of material to read through during any given day, but the fact that such mistakes never seem to paint the leftward-leaning in a bad light leads me to (charitably) believe that the man just can’t help it. Cory was a red diaper baby, and emphasizing party/ideological affiliation is pretty much what he does. He’s got his worldview, like all of us, and that’s where his confirmation biases lead him (again, like all of us).
  
  The end result is a collection of writings that seems intended to use the stupid or abhorrent actions of individuals to suggest unpleasant things about the groups to which they belong.
  
  That said, BB isn’t a news site, makes no claim to be unbiased, and wouldn’t be BB anymore if it did–the filters of the principle writers here are what make the place worth visiting. But, in general, I stopped reading Cory’s political posts a long time ago. If I’m interested in the topic, I go to the bottom of the post and click on the source link instead.
  - Teller
    
    That being said – how ’bout that Caturday stuff!
    - IWood
      
      A clear example of feline confirmation bias.
      
      Which is fine. I like cats, so that fits in with my worldview and all that.
  - Anonymous
    
    But, in general, I stopped reading Cory’s political posts a long time ago.
    
    …then how do you know MRKiscaden wasn’t mischaracterizing this one? Which he was, I suspect; again, if you’ve been following Wisconsin, party affiliations are noteworthy.
    - IWood
      
      Hence my use of the term “in general.” Every so often I do. And nearly every time I do, I start to write a comment like the one I posted here, and then delete it. This time I didn’t.
    - IWood
      
      More to your point–maybe party affiliations are exceedingly relevant in Wisconsin, I don’t know. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel doesn’t seem to think so–its headline was “Justicesâ€™ feud gets physical,” it didn’t mention “liberal” at all, and it used the word “conservatives” once, at the end of the article. My observation (admittedly tangential) was that this particular post fits into a general pattern.
    - MRKiscaden
      
      No, it is not normal for Wisconsin conservatives to habitually abuse liberals. I find it hilarious that you actually suggest that.
      
      No, the world is not black and white. Where all conservatives are villains, all liberals are heroes. The world really isn’t that simple, and I really just feel sorry for you.
gnarlytrombone

“Prosser is saying that she was coming after him and he raised his hands defensively”

He didn’t say that; it’s attributed to an anonymous witness. All Prosser offered is a statement that the claims about him will be proven false. Bradley has made an on-the-record statement that Prosser choked her.
Anonymous

Well folks, you know what they say: If conservatives didn’t want to browbeat the whole world into their way of thinking, they’d be socialists. Or maybe its just me that says that?
TEKNA2007

This American Life further explores “us” vs. “them” mentality in Wisconsin:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/439/a-house-divided

My personal family background includes the Wisconsinite* cultural values of compromising, being reasonable and getting along, as mentioned in that episode. My forebears come from that area and liberal-secular Scandinavia before that. To someone like that, and me, this all looks like a world gone mad.

*To indulge in sweeping generalizations about large groups of people, since clearly not every Wisconsonian thinks that way.
Kwolfbrooks

If everything goes as should here… (and by that I mean that Prosser takes a hike) then the frightening prospect is that Gov. Walker goes on to install some higher order miscreant. Lose/lose…
- jer
  
  Prosser, hike. Reminds me of one direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosser#Characters_in_Literature
chgoliz

I love the excuse the (alleged) perpetrator made: that the victims caused their abuse (choking in the one case, hateful slur and threat of harm in the other) because *they* are the bullies.
Cowicide

If Wiener was forced to resign because of sending out dirty pictures then shouldn’t this Prosser idiot be forced to resign because of his dirty wrestling?
sterling

Prosser has a history of being verbally abusive, he called Chief Justice Abrahamson a “total bitch”. Which, by the way, Abrahamson was the one the FOX News hack said should step down. Prosser was also a very aggressive member of the state assembly. There is footage of him charging the Speaker of the Assembly at what point and he was known to be verbally abusive to other legislators.

The thing that sucks about this is the body that investigates this kind of stuff in Wisconsin does so in secret, they won’t even tell you if they are investigating until they release a verdict. Some crap about sparing lawyers and judges reputations while they are under investigation.

Anyway, Capitol Police Chief Tubbs is going to issue a statement today. Hopefully he will have more information.
- Anonymous
  
  @ sterling
  Is there a policeman named Crockett too?
  
  Anyway this Prosser guy sounds exactly like the violkent sociopath I had to survive beside back in high school.
Ugly Canuck

The old Bible saying, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, has imho been widely mis-understood and under-applied: it actually also applies to the parents of the child, and not only to the child herself; and of course (and again, as always) it must be the community itself which is to wield the rod of correction, as it must be applied to those unfit parents.

For an example which you may appreciate, Cowicide, see:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2010/02/11/mb-neo-nazi-custody-kids-winnipeg.html

…and I am NOT joking, although it may seem ‘funny’ when I put it as I do above.

The sad truth is that some people really ARE unfit to care for their own children.
And the rest of us HAVE to do something about it. That is the way it is and always has been (although this has not always been a process sanctioned by law). As always, our ideals must remain only that – ideal, that is – without those “meat-space actions” which give them their actual substance in our lives.