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More Details Emerge in Wisconsin’s ‘Chokegate’
nationalreview.com ^

Posted on 06/28/2011 11:41:41 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

More Details Emerge in Wisconsin’s ‘Chokegate’ June 28, 2011 11:42 A.M. By Christian Schneider

With the Wisconsin Supreme Court devolving into a storyline only Vince McMahon could love, rumors are still swirling about what actually happened when two justices engaged in a physical confrontation behind closed doors on June 13. Justice Ann Walsh Bradley claims Justice David Prosser “choked” her. Prosser denies he choked Bradley, and claims she initiated physical contact. In the past two days, multiple sources with first-hand knowledge of the incident have been able to provide more details as to what exactly happened behind closed chamber doors.

The week before the legislature was set to re-pass the collective-bargaining provision, three of the four conservative justices were ready to issue a ruling reinstating the union law as originally passed. Prosser, on the other hand, wanted to wait longer, to avoid the appearance that the court was rushing their decision through. Prosser thought he had an agreement with liberal Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson to delay release of the opinion until Tuesday of the following week.

As Monday arrived, there was no word from Abrahamson on whether the decision would be issued the next day. At 5:30 p.m., Prosser and the other conservative justices marched around the chambers, looking for Abrahamson, who was found in Justice Bradley’s office. Prosser stood outside Bradley’s door, talking to the justices in Bradley’s office. The discussion got heated, with Prosser expressing his lack of faith in Abrahamson’s ability to lead the Court.

According to one witness, Bradley charged toward Prosser, shaking her clenched fist in his face. Another source says they were “literally nose to nose.” Prosser then put his hands up to push her away. As one source pointed out, if a man wants to push a woman who is facing him, he wouldn’t push her in the chest (unless he wants to face an entirely different criminal charge). Consequently, Prosser put his hands on Bradley’s shoulders to push her away, and in doing so, made contact with her neck.

At that moment, another justice approached Bradley from behind and pulled her away from Prosser, saying, “Stop it, Ann, this isn’t like you.” Bradley then shouted, “I was choked!” Another justice present replied, “You were not choked.” In a statement following the incident, Bradley maintained Prosser “put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold.”

On Monday night, Bradley called Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs to talk to him about the incident. On the morning of Wednesday, June 15, Tubbs joined the justices in a closed-door meeting, where he discussed “issues relating to workplace violence.”

During the meeting, Chief Justice Abrahamson actually reenacted the incident on Chief Tubbs — no doubt an amusing sight, as the diminutive Abrahamson mimicked choking the tall, portly police chief. During her demonstration, Abrahamson emphasized that Prosser had exerted “pressure” on Bradley’s throat.

“There was no pressure,” interrupted the justice who had initially broken up the incident between Bradley and Prosser. “That’s only because you broke us apart,” shot back Bradley. This exchange led several meeting attendees to believe Bradley was making up the charge, as they took her rejoinder as an admission that there was no pressure applied to her neck.

During the Wednesday meeting, Bradley urged the justices present to take a vote on whether Prosser should be forced into anger-management counseling. The threat was implicit — if they didn’t vote her way, she would be forced to “take the next step” against Prosser, which they took to mean filing a restraining order against him. The other justices balked, wondering whether they even had the authority to order Prosser into any type of counseling. Some thought it would be “demeaning” to Prosser to have to go to counseling when he had done nothing wrong. In the end, Bradley realized she didn’t have enough justices on her side and no vote was taken.

To date, Bradley has not filed any kind of charges against Prosser. Instead, the story was leaked to the George Soros–funded Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, who used three anonymous sources to back up Bradley’s story. There were six justices present at the time of the incident, four of whom would be more likely to back Prosser’s version of the story. That leaves Abrahamson and Bradley as the only two remaining justices present. One source present speculated the third source may have been Bradley’s law clerk, who likely didn’t actually see the confrontation but may have head Bradley shout “I was choked.”

Speculation is abundant as to why Bradley decided to forgo a criminal complaint against Prosser, deciding instead to go to the press ten days after the event. Some say Bradley’s complaint wouldn’t have stood up if given the scrutiny of a criminal investigation. Furthermore, others speculate that if any formal criminal proceedings had moved forward (a restraining-order filing, for instance), Prosser would be afforded evidentiary hearings, testimony, and discovery.

Furthermore, sources unanimously believed that it was Shirley Abrahamson who has been the impetus behind the story, managing the press operation from behind the scenes. Justices had been working together regularly since the incident without any signs of rancor until Abrahamson decided to make this an issue, sources believe.

While Bradley has not filed any charges against Prosser, an investigation was initiated by the Capitol Police, who then quickly turned the case over to the Dane County Sheriff, David Mahoney — who once actually appeared in a campaign ad supporting the reelection of Chief Justice Abrahamson. The ad also included not-yet-famous circuit-court judge Maryann Sumi, whose ruling the Supreme Court had to vacate in order to allow Scott Walker’s collective-bargaining bill to stand.

— Christian Schneider is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: prosser; wisconsinhowdown

1 posted on 06/28/2011 11:41:46 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

Just an fyi - previously posted at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2741085/posts


2 posted on 06/28/2011 11:44:00 AM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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To: Sub-Driver

RATS are scum. Sounds to me like prosser was the victim of the attack and defended himself when the woman rushed him. He should press charges against her.


3 posted on 06/28/2011 11:48:26 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: Sub-Driver

Mark Dais was discussing this on Rush’s show but he didn’t mention the obvious.

The Democrats are still pissed off beyond words that Prosser survived the recall election over Kloppenberger (sp) when the Dems had thought they had the election stolen.

As Bush-Gore 2000 proved, Democrats will never forgive a Republican win which they had thought they’d stolen fair and square. Dems were never anything but venemous and hateful with Bush after that and they are signalling they will not be any more civil with Prosser than they were with Bush.

This is for the next election when they will run ads accusing Prosser of physically attacking women and acting unethically with banner headlines flashing across the screen. I’ll guarantee you this is what that was all about.


4 posted on 06/28/2011 11:49:54 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Obama: The Dr. Kevorkian of the American economy.)
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To: ozzymandus
This is what scum sucking pigs do when they can't get their way......instigate and then blame the other side for their escalation.
5 posted on 06/28/2011 11:54:39 AM PDT by rightwingextremist1776
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To: rightwingextremist1776
That's what Hitler did just before the Nazis invaded Poland. Check into the Gleiwitz incident.
6 posted on 06/28/2011 12:05:08 PM PDT by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: Sub-Driver

Does anyone still doubt the effin’ leftists will stop at nothing? Rabid dogs should be treated accordingly.


7 posted on 06/28/2011 12:08:28 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: Sub-Driver
“There was no pressure,” interrupted the justice who had initially broken up the incident between Bradley and Prosser. “That’s only because you broke us apart,” shot back Bradley.

What brilliance abounds on our Supreme Court! Does anyone question this woman's competence? Remember, logic like this is deciding the rules under which we all must live.

8 posted on 06/28/2011 12:15:50 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Sub-Driver

liar liar panties on fire


9 posted on 06/28/2011 12:17:28 PM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: ozzymandus
There are no depths of mendacity to which the Left will not sink as they do not believe in God and, therefore, do not believe in the very concepts of right and wrong.

A Leftist on the bench can only make political decisions as he has no moral basis for making honest judgments.

10 posted on 06/28/2011 12:22:23 PM PDT by Dr. Thorne (Buy Gold and Guns Now!)
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To: ozzymandus
Sounds to me like prosser was the victim of the attack and defended himself when the woman rushed him. He should press charges against her.

He should have let her hit him until she was too tired to hit anymore. Then have her hauled off in a straight jacket.

11 posted on 06/28/2011 12:25:12 PM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
So in Justice Brawley's mind, her fantasy that there would have been pressure if something that didn't happen had happened equals actual pressure.

Where's that facepalm pic? Ah! Here it is:


12 posted on 06/28/2011 12:30:23 PM PDT by Hunton Peck (See my FR homepage for a list of businesses that support WI Gov. Scott Walker)
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To: Sub-Driver
Prosser is one of Dick Cheney's under studies. He needs to work on the more subtle methods.

However with liberals like Bradley, the impalement method is popular.

13 posted on 06/28/2011 12:35:31 PM PDT by sjmjax (Politicans are like bananas - they start out green, turn yellow, then rot.)
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To: OrangeHoof
"Democrats will never forgive a Republican win which they had thought they’d stolen fair and square..."



"What am I supposed to do, eh? Accuse him of cheating better than me????"
14 posted on 06/28/2011 12:47:30 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Can you afford to board the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
You are exactly right that she is totally incompetent and unfit.

“There was no pressure,” interrupted the justice who had initially broken up the incident between Bradley and Prosser. “That’s only because you broke us apart,” shot back Bradley.

IOW "Okay so he didn't, but he was gonna, he was gonna!!! I could tell just like John Edwards could tell what a fetus was saying in the womb!" (And never mind that SHE attacked HIM!!!)

I hope this simple-minded thug ends up just like Edwards and I hope she takes the even worse Abrahmson down with her NOW.

15 posted on 06/28/2011 12:49:08 PM PDT by Sal (Islamo Bamma is the star, writer, director and producer of AS THE WORLD BURNS.)
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To: Sub-Driver

“Don’t make me pull this court over.”


16 posted on 06/28/2011 1:08:49 PM PDT by lastchance ("Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis" St. Augustine)
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To: Sub-Driver
During the meeting, Chief Justice Abrahamson actually reenacted the incident on Chief Tubbs — no doubt an amusing sight, as the diminutive Abrahamson mimicked choking the tall, portly police chief. During her demonstration, Abrahamson emphasized that Prosser had exerted “pressure” on Bradley’s throat.

Hmmmmm. The description of the scene had Abrahamson all the way in the room with Prosser just in the doorway. So she was looking at Bradley's back and probably couldn't even see Prosser who is said to be smaller than Bradley.

Also, Abrahamson couldn't have missed "noticing" that Bradley rushed Prosser with her fists up. Besides the fact that Bradley basically admitted that Prosser hadn't exerted pressure when she implied that he would have if the other justice hadn't pulled them apart. And yet Abrahamson told Tubbs that Prosser HAD applied pressure.

Bottom line, both women are lying through their xxxx stained teeth, both to the police and the media. Prosser has a defamation suit against BOTH if he wants to pursue it. Also, I read on one of these threads that it's a crime to give a false police report. Both of these vile creatures should be impeached or otherwise forced out and Governor Walker should appoint two FUNCTIONAL and COMPETENT (not to mention SANE) people to replace them.

17 posted on 06/28/2011 1:24:50 PM PDT by Sal (Islamo Bamma is the star, writer, director and producer of AS THE WORLD BURNS.)
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To: Sub-Driver

b*tch set him up.


18 posted on 06/28/2011 1:24:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

b*tch TRIED to set him up, but she forgot to take into consideration all those witnesses who will NOT be perjuring themselves for her.

It will be interesting to see if Abrahamson will actually PERJURE herself for Bradley. Probably won’t come to that unless Prosser pushes it which I hope he does for real justice to be done.


19 posted on 06/28/2011 1:29:30 PM PDT by Sal (Islamo Bamma is the star, writer, director and producer of AS THE WORLD BURNS.)
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To: Sal

This definitely needs to go thru the whole process with a judicial review panel or something.. and fannies spanked as deemed necessary.


20 posted on 06/28/2011 2:20:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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