A Banner Weekend for Conservative Leadership in Wisconsin

Bravo, Wisconsin GOP et al! You certainly know how to keep things interesting:

• First, Scott Walker fucks up a budget bill signing by scheduling it at a convicted tax evader's firm.

• Then Ron Johnson not only can't understand why folks would be suspicious of a $10 million pay-out in deferred compensation he gave to himself, but then he had to go and be a dick about it ("I don't have to explain it any further to someone like you.")

• And, finally, David Prosser had to continue to sully his legacy with whatever seemed to happen in Judge Bradley's chambers last week.

When it rains, it pours -- am I right?

The Johnson thing is relatively minor, but is emblematic of the guy's closet elitism and obliviousness to how his own financial situation reflects upon him and his office. Did he really not think that Ron Johnson, business-owner, could give Ron Johnson, U.S. Senator-elect, $10 million and no one would notice and/or care? I don't know of there's ever being a case in which someone has essentially bribed himself, but Johnson is a man of Gumpian fortune (and, according to many who know him, intellect) and would seem like just the kind of guy to trialblaze new ground in that area.

The Walker matter is also minor (at least in the grand scheme of things -- it's not like poor advance work is like a massive campaign finance violation or anything), yet also seems indicative of small administrative screw-ups by Walker's staff that seem to occur frequently. It does not provide a picture of a competent or well-managed office.

And David Prosser. Most guys his age spend time obsessing over their legacies, but Prosser seems hellbent on pissing his away. Whatever happened -- and I doubt anyone will ever know exactly what really did happen -- Prosser has been, once again, caught up in an unseemly incident. I'm sure their are a number of cause to the current acrimony on the state Supreme Court, but Prosser really is going out of his way to embody all of them and in so doing it's only a matter of time before he starts to earn a good deal of the blame.

Prosser has admitted to verbally threatening a female colleague in the past and has also owned up to breaking the law while in the state assembly, so he's lied about professional misconduct before. He also has a history of letting his temper get the best of him:

[W]hile serving as Republican minority leader, [Prosser] went ballistic on the Assembly floor because a photographer was there to film our legislators in action. He suspected the photographer, who was in the visitors gallery, was working for the Democrats - and even though Assembly rules permit cameras, Prosser made sure that everyone knew he didn't like it.

In the process, he got into a heated argument with the acting speaker at the time, Milwaukee Democrat Tim Carpenter, and wound up rushing the speaker's podium screaming and shouting irrationally, pounding the podium and accusing Carpenter of being a liar.

Then,

Then there was the contentious Supreme Court administrative hearing in 2009 when he not only blew up at Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, but launched into a tirade against witnesses who were there advocating tough rules for judges to recuse themselves when principals in a case had contributed big bucks to their election campaigns.

Prosser's temper is well-know around Madison and has been for years. His track record certainly seems to fit the accusations, or at least make them more plausible than they would be otherwise.