PolitiFact:
Another look at Supreme Court, county executive races.
In Tuesday’s election, two of the hottest races have been the battle for state Supreme Court and Milwaukee County executive.
In the Supreme Court race, recently appointed Justice Rebecca Bradley is facing challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, a state Court of Appeals judge who is making her second run for the high court. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is being challenged by state Sen. Chris Larson.
Here is a look at some of the claims we have rated in the two contests:
Supreme Court
Bradley
Says Kloppenburg “has told us she thinks it’s her job to promote a more equal society.” Our rating: Mostly True. Kloppenburg has said that, but she also says more. Kloppenburg declares that her judicial philosophy is to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and that in her view, the fundamental principles of the Constitution are to “protect individual rights and promote a more equal society.”
Says her representation of an ex-boyfriend “who was then my friend” in a family law case is “something that lawyers do on a regular basis.” Our rating: False. We found no evidence of that. Four of five longtime family law lawyers told us such representation is not done regularly — they had never seen a lawyer represent a former boyfriend in a contested family law case. The other expert said he could recall cases similar to Bradley’s, but couldn’t say whether they occurred on a regular basis.
Kloppenburg
Says the GOP is “helping pay for” Bradley's campaign and “she recently skipped court to attend an event paid for” by Scott Walker’s “lobbyist friends.” Our rating: Mostly True. The state and county Republican parties have given cash and in-kind contributions to Bradley’s campaign. She didn’t entirely skip court one day, but did leave oral arguments the Supreme Court was hearing early in order to speak at a Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce event. WMC, the state’s largest business lobby, is a major supporter of Walker.
Wisconsin Alliance for Reform
Says Kloppenburg agreed to use a technicality to give a convicted sex offender a new hearing because “he didn’t understand the charge.” Our rating: Mostly False. Kloppenburg agreed with two other appeals court judges in ordering that the sex offender get a hearing. They did not rule, however, that the offender didn’t understand the charge he had pleaded guilty to. Rather, they ruled there should be a hearing on the fundamental question of whether he did understand what he had pleaded to.
Milwaukee county executive
Abele
The Mitchell Park Domes “lose about $1 million-plus every year” and “the number of people going to the Domes has been going down.” Our rating: False. In the past five years, the tab for county taxpayers exceeded $1 million once. On average it was $630,000. Meanwhile, attendance has actually increased 28% under Abele’s watch.
Since he took office as Milwaukee County executive, “we have never raised” bus fares and “this year there’ll be a million route-miles more than there were five years ago.” Our rating: Mostly True. Budget reports showed constant fare prices and a million-mile increase in route miles. He didn’t mention, however, that some of the increased route miles were the result of a lawsuit against the state.
Says he balanced the Milwaukee County budget “without raising taxes five years in a row.” Our rating: Half True. Abele did propose a freeze in the property tax levy each year and he issued budget vetoes that would have kept the levy down.
But the County Board ultimately adopted a budget that raised the total property tax take in four of the five years — and Abele took advantage of those actions, using the higher level as his new base when proposing a freeze the following year. So, taxpayers are paying more than when he took office.
Larson
Says Abele “has had five years and he’s done nothing” about the Estabrook Dam. Our rating: False. News reports and county records show that Abele has pushed in a variety of ways — within county government and also by meeting with other local officials and community groups — to have the dam removed.
Says Abele “once proposed a plan to end county funding to homeless shelters.” Our rating: False. After we asked about the claim, the Facebook post disappeared, Larson’s campaign manager said it was wrong and apologized.
The Milwaukee County executive can sell the public “museum, the airport and the zoo” — all on his own, without County Board approval. Our rating: Mostly True. A recent change in state law that applies only to Milwaukee County allows the executive to sell any county-owned land not zoned as parkland without approval of the County Board. However, such sales would need the OK of at least one other person — either the elected county comptroller or a real estate expert appointed by elected municipal officials who lives in the community where the land is located.