In the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, a race dubbed the “most important” in America this year by The New York Times, huge scandals dogging one of the candidates — liberal ideologue Janet Protasiewicz — are going largely unreported in the mainstream media.
The race culminates with the April 4 election and will decide whether the majority on the Supreme Court in the Badger State will be liberal or conservative. Wisconsin is one of the states where abortion became illegal when Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, and left-wing forces are desperate to gain a majority for upcoming cases expected to challenge the state’s abortion law.
Conservative website Wisconsin Right Now broke the story last week but, thus far, media outlets who have been reporting nationally on the race have been loath to report on the story.
Two people who know Protasiewicz — her former stepson and a self-described liberal friend of Protasiewicz’s ex-husband — have come forward with explosive allegations that the candidate used the “N-word” to refer to black litigants while she was a prosecutor in Milwaukee County.
Protasiewicz’s former stepson, Michael Madden, reluctantly told a reporter that Protasiewicz used the racial slurs while she was drinking.
“The more drinking that was going on, the less filter she had,” Madden said.
Asked specifically if Protasiewicz said the “N-word,” Madden replied, “I’ve heard her say it, yes.” Madden was unable to say how many times the justice candidate used the slur, but said it was more than once.
In addition, Protasiewicz has been accused of hitting her elderly husband, retired Milwaukee County Judge Patrick Madden, while she was married to him a decade ago. At least four others have corroborated those allegations.
Protasiewicz denies the allegations, and has told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that she is considering a lawsuit against her accusers, her former stepson and former family friend Jonathon Ehr. Protasiewicz’s campaign later said that the candidate would not sue.
Meanwhile, her opponent, conservative justice Daniel Kelly, has called the allegations “credible” and would like to see an investigation into the matter.
“I think the work that they have done shows that there are credible allegations of this kind of, of horrible behavior, and, if those allegations turn out to be true, that’s really significant,” Kelly said on Wisconsin Right Now’s podcast.
“I think these things should be investigated, and I think that there is a great deal of responsibility to investigate those claims and bring those to a resolution,” Kelly added.
Incredibly, in a race that the New York Times calls the “most important” in America, local media outlets in Wisconsin and the national outlets who continue to cover the race have refused to even admit that the story exists, much less cover it objectively.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called out the media’s blatant double standard in ignoring the allegations against Protasiewicz.
“Can you just imagine if a Republican candidate was abusing their elderly spouse, might have a little bit of a drinking problem causing that, used the N-word liberally in their official duties — can you imagine how the press would be treating that? They would have broken into the original moon landing to bring you that news,” Johnson told supporters in Racine, Wisconsin.
“It is scandalous what the mainstream media is not reporting on this race,” Johnson added. “I’m here to tell you it’s not a fair fight, it’s not a level playing field.”
Kelly noted that Protasiewicz’s threat to sue might be an attempt to chill free speech in a campaign that has seen millions of dollars poured in from left-wing sources all over the country.
“When a jurist comes along and makes a threat to sue, that strikes me as something meant to chill free speech. I think that’s horribly irresponsible,” Kelly said.
Like Johnson, Kelly also called out the media for their negligence in ignoring the story.
“I just think the people of Wisconsin are owed an explanation at the very least about these allegations. They need to know,” Kelly added.
Polls currently show Protasiewicz leading Kelly by anywhere from four to eight points in the April 4 election, although it’s hard to see Protasiewicz holding onto that lead should the stories about her alleged racism and elder abuse become widely known.
