The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty takes cases in defense of the rule of law, individual liberty, and constitutional government. The recent television ad from Janet Protasiewicz is false and unfairly questions the motives of our organization. The false accusations it raises have been repeatedly demonstrated to be incorrect so this ad cannot even be defended as a honest mistake. The ad should be taken off the air and Ms. Protosiewicz should apologize.
Here are the facts:
- WILL was formed in 2011 and briefly had a Litigation Advisory Board of outside lawyers to help us decide what cases (or type of cases) to bring.
- Dan Kelly briefly served as a member of the LAB several years prior to his time at the SCOWIS. Membership was uncompensated (although lunch may have been provided at the only two meetings that the LAB ever had).
- Those two meetings took place in September 2011 and August 2012. These were the only two meetings of the LAB. We determined it was not necessary.
- While the group was not formally terminated, Dan Kelly did ask to be formally removed from it prior to his joining the Court. So, not only did the LAB become defunct after 2012, Dan Kelly formally disassociated himself from the defunct group prior to joining the Court.
- Neither the LAB nor Dan Kelly had any role in WILL taking on any of these six cases mentioned in the ad. The cases were never discussed with him.
- These issues have been publicly vetted before. All of them could have been discovered by a simple e-mail or phone call. Ms. Protasiewicz should take down the ad and issue a public apology.
Lastly, members of our board and employees of WILL are free to support candidates of any political persuasion just like any citizen of Wisconsin. Judges are not required to recuse themselves because one of the lawyers before them made a campaign contribution. See SCR 60.04(7).
