Judicial Elections are a Joke

I got a mailer from Linda van de Water this morning, who is running for the supposed "non-partisan" office of appellate judge (second district) and it's filled with so many dog whistles that she might as well be running as a Republican.

• She's featured in three separate pictures standing next to Scott Walker, Tommy Thompson and Paul Ryan (who is actually wearing a name tag that says "Hello, my name is Paul Ryan").

• She actually listed under "experience:" "Republican Candidate for Attorney General against Jim Doyle, 1998" -- emphasis included in the original.

• Under "professional/community/education" she has listed "Waukesha County Republican Party" and "NRA member."

• She brags about running an "efficient" courtroom. (What the hell does that mean? Even the craziest of murder trials in Wisconsin are over in about a week -- it's considered something of a "rocket docket.")

• On the back of her lit piece is a classic hit job whining about how her opponent only sent a "major marijuana supplier" -- no definition as to what constitutes "major" -- to jail for 15 months. Not the Devil's Weed! The only newspaper she cited by name is the Waukesha Freeman ... it's a wonder she didn't reference the Waukesha County GOP monthly newsletter.

She may as well just have "PARTY HACK" printed in big bold letters across the front.

Anyway, it's a very slick and well-produced lit piece that is certain to catch eyes, and given that van de Water has some prior political experience (which should be a complete turn off for a judge), she'll probably win, but shit like this just shows what a crock judicial elections beyond county circuit judge are.

MORE: I nearly forgot ... Do vote for Paul Reilly. He appears to be no less conservative -- having the backing of folks like Mark Green, Richard Graber and a host of GOP state Assembly reps -- but he actually has some legal and law enforcement folks in the mix too.