Sleaze Begets Sleaze

Hate begets hate. Violence begets violence. Words variously attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Words inspired by scripture. Gospel of Matthew, verse 26:52. Words thrown into sharp relief by the current race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Justice David Prosser has responded angrily to what he calls a "despicable ad" aired by a shadowy front group known as the Greater Wisconsin Committee. Prosser is correct. The ad is despicable.

He also claimed it is "the worst ad that has ever been run in a judicial campaign." Now that is a real stretch. It's vile, but when it comes to taking liberties with the truth, Greater Wisconsin's ad isn't nearly as bad as Michael Gableman's Willie Horton ad. When it comes to cynically playing on fear of crimes against children, this one is no worse than the lurid ad the state teachers union sponsored a few years ago. Then there were the hit jobs by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, including the infamous "Loophole Louie" ad and another that twisted the facts in the so-called "letter from the grave" case beyond recognition. Greater Wisconsin Committee is up against stiff competition in the sleaziest ad category.

David Prosser has every reason to be upset. There's no excuse for the kind of raw sewage this group is slinging in his direction. Just as there is no excusing Prosser for letting Gableman off the hook for telling an outright lie in what likely does qualify as the worst ad ever run in a judicial campaign in Wisconsin. What goes around comes around. Prosser allowed slime to go around without consequence. Now it has come around and he's been slimed.