Johnyt101
Regular Member
imported post
Looks like Wisconsin gun owners have to get out and vote.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/42481127.html
Waukesha - The state Supreme Court campaign is ending with a fight over a new issue: Who is the better friend of Wisconsin gun owners?
Challenger Randy Koschnick, a Jefferson County circuit judge, told Carroll University Republicans last week that a 2003 dissenting opinion written by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson showed a "hostility to gun owners" and their constitutional rights.
Responding later, Abrahamson said: "Nothing in my record is hostile to gun owners. Nothing in my record is hostile to any group, any individual, any entity.
"Judge Koschnick is doing anything at all to mislead the voters and distort the record."
Abrahamson and Koschnick compete in Tuesday's nonpartisan election for a 10-year term. She was appointed in 1976 and has been chief justice since 1996. He has been a circuit judge for 10 years.
The latest dispute centers on a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon that the Supreme Court overturned.
The charge was filed after Milwaukee police found Munir A. Hamdan, the owner of a grocery and liquor store who had been robbed several times, carrying a handgun in the store in 1999.
Koschnick said he was glad that a Supreme Court majority ignored Abrahamson and overturned Hamdan's conviction. He said voters approved a constitutional amendment that "enshrines" the rights of Wisconsin residents to have guns to protect themselves, to hunt and to use for any other legal purpose.
For gun owners such as Hamdan, the constitutional guarantee "supersedes" Wisconsin's law against carrying concealed weapons, Koschnick said.
The case involved "a guy with a gun, in his own store, who is protecting himself and his own family," he said.
When they amended the state constitution in November 1998, Wisconsin voters made it clear they want "pretty broad gun rights - including self-defense," Koschnick said. "That's what happened here."
Yet, Koschnick said, Abrahamson "missed that" and wrote that there was enough evidence to uphold the concealed weapons ban.
Abrahamson said Koschnick has spent months accusing her of judicial "activism," including using court cases to write new laws and finding reasons to toss out existing laws.
Now, Abrahamson said, Koschnick has reversed himself and is criticizing her for not striking down the law banning the carrying of concealed weapons.
"Now, he's advocating that the court overturn the concealed carry law," Abrahamson said, adding: "Who is the real Judge Koschnick? This is just another example of his conduct not matching his rhetoric. His claims do not match the facts."
A hunter who has repeatedly called himself the conservative candidate, Koschnick said he owns more than one gun, but he wouldn't say how many he owns. He has campaigned at gun shows.
Abrahamson said she and her husband do not own a gun.
Taking the offensive
In recent weeks, Koschnick has been the aggressor in his race against an incumbent who has been a fixture on the court for almost 33 years and the first female justice.
Koschnick accused Abrahamson of being soft on crime, of leading a court majority whose rulings have alarmed business leaders over potential legal liability and of accepting $30,000 from lawyers with cases pending before the court.
Responding, Abrahamson accused Koschnick of "cherry-picking" a few of the thousands of cases she has participated in to unfairly summarize her career. She also said business-liability rulings have not harmed any industry.
And because her campaign has raised more than $1.3 million, she said that no individual donations will influence her rulings.
Abrahamson proudly defended her record, saying it's why she is backed by Republicans and Democrats, most circuit judges and law enforcement leaders.
"I have a fierce commitment to a nonpartisan judiciary," she said Friday. "As a justice, I have decided cases on the facts and law - not on a personal ideology, or agenda, and not on the basis of outside influences."
She also said she's been an innovator. For example, she pushed to set up an experimental Iowa County program that invites homeowners facing foreclosure to agree to mediation to try and let them keep their homes.
Koschnick said he was satisfied with his campaign.
"I've run a clean campaign. I've stuck to the record - my philosophy, her philosophy," he said. "I think this race has been good for voters.
"There's plenty of information; if you want to get it, it's on the Internet. There's no excuse for a voter to be uninformed. . . . I think a judicially conservative philosophy better fits the voters, and they know that."
Koschnick has been heavily outspent in the race. For every $1 given to his campaign, Abrahamson raised $11.
Abrahamson's TV ads started March 18 and will run statewide through election day. She had raised $1.3 million by March 23.
Koschnick could not afford to run any TV ads until last week, and then only in Milwaukee. Koschnick said his campaign hoped to raise between $200,000 and $400,000. But it may spend $180,000.
Looks like Wisconsin gun owners have to get out and vote.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/42481127.html
Waukesha - The state Supreme Court campaign is ending with a fight over a new issue: Who is the better friend of Wisconsin gun owners?
Challenger Randy Koschnick, a Jefferson County circuit judge, told Carroll University Republicans last week that a 2003 dissenting opinion written by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson showed a "hostility to gun owners" and their constitutional rights.
Responding later, Abrahamson said: "Nothing in my record is hostile to gun owners. Nothing in my record is hostile to any group, any individual, any entity.
"Judge Koschnick is doing anything at all to mislead the voters and distort the record."
Abrahamson and Koschnick compete in Tuesday's nonpartisan election for a 10-year term. She was appointed in 1976 and has been chief justice since 1996. He has been a circuit judge for 10 years.
The latest dispute centers on a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon that the Supreme Court overturned.
The charge was filed after Milwaukee police found Munir A. Hamdan, the owner of a grocery and liquor store who had been robbed several times, carrying a handgun in the store in 1999.
Koschnick said he was glad that a Supreme Court majority ignored Abrahamson and overturned Hamdan's conviction. He said voters approved a constitutional amendment that "enshrines" the rights of Wisconsin residents to have guns to protect themselves, to hunt and to use for any other legal purpose.
For gun owners such as Hamdan, the constitutional guarantee "supersedes" Wisconsin's law against carrying concealed weapons, Koschnick said.
The case involved "a guy with a gun, in his own store, who is protecting himself and his own family," he said.
When they amended the state constitution in November 1998, Wisconsin voters made it clear they want "pretty broad gun rights - including self-defense," Koschnick said. "That's what happened here."
Yet, Koschnick said, Abrahamson "missed that" and wrote that there was enough evidence to uphold the concealed weapons ban.
Abrahamson said Koschnick has spent months accusing her of judicial "activism," including using court cases to write new laws and finding reasons to toss out existing laws.
Now, Abrahamson said, Koschnick has reversed himself and is criticizing her for not striking down the law banning the carrying of concealed weapons.
"Now, he's advocating that the court overturn the concealed carry law," Abrahamson said, adding: "Who is the real Judge Koschnick? This is just another example of his conduct not matching his rhetoric. His claims do not match the facts."
A hunter who has repeatedly called himself the conservative candidate, Koschnick said he owns more than one gun, but he wouldn't say how many he owns. He has campaigned at gun shows.
Abrahamson said she and her husband do not own a gun.
Taking the offensive
In recent weeks, Koschnick has been the aggressor in his race against an incumbent who has been a fixture on the court for almost 33 years and the first female justice.
Koschnick accused Abrahamson of being soft on crime, of leading a court majority whose rulings have alarmed business leaders over potential legal liability and of accepting $30,000 from lawyers with cases pending before the court.
Responding, Abrahamson accused Koschnick of "cherry-picking" a few of the thousands of cases she has participated in to unfairly summarize her career. She also said business-liability rulings have not harmed any industry.
And because her campaign has raised more than $1.3 million, she said that no individual donations will influence her rulings.
Abrahamson proudly defended her record, saying it's why she is backed by Republicans and Democrats, most circuit judges and law enforcement leaders.
"I have a fierce commitment to a nonpartisan judiciary," she said Friday. "As a justice, I have decided cases on the facts and law - not on a personal ideology, or agenda, and not on the basis of outside influences."
She also said she's been an innovator. For example, she pushed to set up an experimental Iowa County program that invites homeowners facing foreclosure to agree to mediation to try and let them keep their homes.
Koschnick said he was satisfied with his campaign.
"I've run a clean campaign. I've stuck to the record - my philosophy, her philosophy," he said. "I think this race has been good for voters.
"There's plenty of information; if you want to get it, it's on the Internet. There's no excuse for a voter to be uninformed. . . . I think a judicially conservative philosophy better fits the voters, and they know that."
Koschnick has been heavily outspent in the race. For every $1 given to his campaign, Abrahamson raised $11.
Abrahamson's TV ads started March 18 and will run statewide through election day. She had raised $1.3 million by March 23.
Koschnick could not afford to run any TV ads until last week, and then only in Milwaukee. Koschnick said his campaign hoped to raise between $200,000 and $400,000. But it may spend $180,000.
