The Daily Reporter – WI Construction News & Bids Wisconsin's Construction Authority
By Steve Schuster and Ethan Duran
[email protected] and [email protected]
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Dan Kelly speaks at a Milwaukee Press Club and Rotary luncheon March 14, 2023 in Milwaukee (Staff Photo: Steve Schuster)
Questions about Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Dan Kelly’s deleted blog were raised at a Milwaukee Press Club and the Milwaukee Rotary Club luncheon earlier in this week now prompting new unanswered questions extending beyond construction and development.
A packed room full of Wisconsin journalists (including from The Daily Reporter) and Milwaukee Rotary Club members filled the War Memorial last week asking Kelly questions. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Reporter Corrinne Hess asked Kelly why he can’t talk about something he blogged about.
Kelly responded to a question from the Journal Sentinel that his political views had nothing to do with the court.
“A fair amount of (blog posts) were expressing my political views … In a campaign we should be talking about the things that are relevant to the work of the court. We know without question the politics and my political views are completely irrelevant to the work of the court,” Kelly said at the luncheon.
But how is collective bargaining not relevant to the work of the court? Kelly declined to comment and deferred to the legislature.
In 2016, then Governor Scott Walker appointed attorney Kelly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice David Prosser. It’s no secret how Walker felt about unions in the wake of Act 10. After Act 10, Labor membership in Wisconsin fell with the sharpest decline in the entire nation over an entire decade. As of 2021, Wisconsin reached a new low just shy of 8% of the total workforce unionized, PBS reported.
The Daily Reporter and Wisconsin Law Journal have recovered many of Kelly’s deleted posts and have questions of our own beyond collective bargaining. Kelly contributed to a blog from 2012 – 2015 called “Hang Together.”
In the blog posts, the Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate ironically attacked elected officials.
“When once a politician picks a pocket to satisfy a constituent, he will never stop … and the only limiting principle becomes how much can pinch without getting punched,” Kelly blogged.
In one of the deleted blog posts, Kelly titled “why you’re not the boss of me,” Kelly appears to contradict what he has most recently publicly stated. The blog post indicates that the people are not the boss of Kelly. However, recently Kelly has publicly stated how he serves at the pleasure of Wisconsinites and how the public is his boss. So which is it?
Other deleted posts refer to “homosexuals” and speak unfavorably about Muslims. Several of Kelly’s deleted posts discuss his views of Christianity, raising questions about how Kelly would respect the wall of separation between church and state.
In Kelly’s deleted OK Coral post, he attacked the media.
“The media, however, has been strangely silent on how destructive this is to women. They’ve even gone beyond silence– they actual run interference for radical Islam,” Kelly wrote.
Kelly also blogged about Medicare and Social Security.
Regarding his view on social welfare, Kelly wrote, our current system is “about as advanced as you can get without actually sliding into socialism.”
On Social Security and Medicare, Kelly said that he thinks that’s just for those folks who “have chosen to retire without sufficient assets to support themselves.”
Below is a list of some of the recovered blog posts Kelly authored. Click on each title to open each respective post.
A people who has a government, or a government that has a people? 9/5/2012
We Remember 9/11/2012
Where we are going and who is joining us? 9/11/2012
Thanksgiving….9/15/2012
Of Activist Courts and Self-Governance 9/18/2012
That’s not fair! 9/25/2012
MARRIAGE IS DEAD. LONG LIVE MARRIAGE 9/26/2012
Problem-Recognition And Football-Yanking 9/29/2012
The State’s Interest In Marriage Is Not Co-terminus With The Nature Of Marriage 9/30/2012
Ain’t no functionalism here 10/2/2012
The limits of state action: why you’re not the boss of me 10/9/2012
Epistemology-slinging at the OK Corral 10/16/2012
The folly of force compassion 10/24/2012
Do they know? How do we know they know? 10/27/2012
Compassion upon culture or consigned to it 10/30/2012
Does religion have added value 11/2/2012
Organizing compassion 11/6/2012
Of entitlements and majorities 11/7/2012
The role of the church in forming a clear, vibrant, winsome, and effective world view” 11/7/2012
A PRESENT MORAL CONSENSUS 11/7/2012
We must reject the false concept of governmental compassion 11/8/2012
Why Socialist is Not Morally Superior to Capitalism 11/13/2012 (Unavailable to recover)
You and your silly rights 11/20/2012
Re: Persevere (Or Keep On Keeping On!) 12/4/2012
Bringing Lombardi To Bear On Matters Economic 12/18/2012
The Power of Church Programs? 12/21/2012
Reality-Based Cultural Conversations What Corporations Can Teach Us 1/15/2013
An Irrational Lack Of Fear 1/29/2013
The Duty To Restate The Obvious 2/5/2013
The Infinitely Regressive Source Of Truth 2/12/2013
The Moral Consensus That Must Not Be Mentioned 2/19/2013
Not So Fast Riddler 2/20/2013
Involuntary Servitude: Big Bank Edition 2/26/2013
It’s Involuntary As Long As I Say It Is 2/28/2013
Our Curiously Disjointed Gun Debate 3/12/2013
Of Unmasked Riddlers And The Equality Mandate 4/9/2013
The perplexed riddler 5/5/2013
There is no dignity in compulsion 8/11/2013
The prudence of silence 5/16/2015
How to noisily concede your liberty 5/23/2015
Liberty is not a matter of permission 6/7/2015
Stigmas and free speech 6/13/2015
THE NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 6/28/2015
In response to the deleted posts, Kelly’s opponent Judge Janet Protasiewicz said, “Dan Kelly shares extreme right-wing views that go against everything Wisconsinites believe in. We believe in common sense, treating each other with respect, and following the law.”
The Daily Reporter reached out to Kelly’s campaign on March 16 for comment, but to date they have not responded.
As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, it’s no secret that the outcome of Wisconsin’s April Supreme Court election will have widespread national implications. Wisconsinites are anticipating that the state Supreme Court justices will be faced with decisions that will have a profound impact extending well beyond Wisconsin’s borders, especially given the fact that Wisconsin will once again be a battleground state for the 2024 presidential election. The opening 2024 Republican presidential debate will be hosted in Milwaukee in August, the Republican National Committee announced on Feb. 23. Suffice it to say, both candidates agree that the open swing seat on Wisconsin’s highest court is valuable real estate.
The April 4 election is only a little more than two weeks away. The one and only debate will be held March 21, 2023.
Officials with the State Bar of Wisconsin said that anyone can watch the debate by clicking here at 12:45 p.m. It will also be replayed at 4 p.m. on March 21.
“The streamed broadcast will also air on WISC-TV in Madison and WKBT in La Crosse,” said a State Bar of Wisconsin spokesperson.
