Here we go again, another Conservative primary and one side has immediately gone negative.
If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I wrote an article where I called out Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Daniel Kelly for going negative against his opponent, Judge Jennifer Dorow. In an interview, he looked to be demeaning Dorow’s experience, and his attack backfired badly on his campaign.
Needless to say, I expressed my concerns about Dan Kelly’s ability to win in the general when he was making rookie mistakes like that. But never once did I attack Dan Kelly’s Conservatism, experience, judicial record, etc. In fact, I celebrated his record as a Justice. That record is beyond contestation.
Unfortunately, staunch Dan Kelly supporter, WI Appeals Judge Shelly Grogan took the ‘experience’ ball and ran with it in Twitter rants and Radio interviews over the past several days.
Let me start by saying that I supported Judge Grogan throughout her last campaign, and she’s been a good Appeals judge. Surely, she has every right to support Dan Kelly, after all, he was a solid Conservative judge. I am not faulting her for that, at all.
Sadly, her attacks against Jennifer Dorow seem very personal and oddly self-serving. She went on Newstalk 1130’s Dan O’Donnell show and aggressively attacked Judge Jennifer Dorow, questioned her Conservatism, and demeaned her experience.
Grogan even went so far as to attack Patience Roggensack and her endorsement of Dorow. WHAT? Why would she attack a solid Conservative Champion like Roggensack?
In his weekly column in the Waukesha Freeman this week, Newstalk 1130 Radio Host Mark Belling said, ‘(Justice Roggensack) is the most respected conservative jurist in this state in 30 years and her willingness to publicly commit to Dorow to replace her on the bench is as powerful an endorsement as could exist in a state judicial election.’ He also called Roggensack ‘beloved.’
The answer is simple, Grogan’s being petty. Apparently, Grogan is still upset that Roggensack endorsed her opponent in her 2021 race for WI court of appeals.
Then to attack Jennifer Dorow’s experience is beyond comprehension. In her interview with Dan O’Donnell, Grogan said she should run for Appeals Court first because being a trial judge is not enough experience.
I find this rather hypocritical, as Grogan was ‘merely’ a Municipal Judge for less than a year before announcing her run for Appeals Court. Using her ‘logic,’ shouldn’t she have been a County Trial Judge first? Asking for a friend.
What makes this nonsense even worse, Grogan’s comments would also discount Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Zeigler, who was elected to the WI Supreme Court as a Trial Judge. The same experience a Jennifer Dorow, and Zeigler has been excellent. Grogan’s ‘logic’ does not flow.
Clearly, Grogan is playing politics. She really needs to follow Justice Rebecca Bradley’s example. Bradley is publicly supporting Dan Kelly, and that’s ok. She has not stooped to the level of Grogan’s childish rants.
This does nothing but divide the Conservative base and damages the ultimate primary winner. And, as I’ve said before, this creates the real danger of suppressing the conservative vote so badly that the two Liberals advance.
In a nutshell, Shelly Grogan needs to stop it…NOW! This is doing the conservative cause a great disservice by going negative. She should stick to the positive things about Dan Kelly, the negativity is completely unnecessary. This will destroy any chance of cohesion by the losing camp when moving into the general.
Both Dan Kelly and Jennifer Dorow are HIGHLY QUALIFIED to serve on the Supreme Court. While I am clearly supporting Jennifer Dorow, because the is an excellent choice and has the statewide appeal to win, I have absolutely no issue supporting Kelly should he win.
That being said, I see that Jennifer Dorow is surging, and has the momentum to win and we would be better served if Kelly were to drop out. I surely hope he sees this sooner rather than later. The longer this primary goes, the more difficult the general election becomes.
I would like to take a moment and I would like to applaud the Dorow campaign and her thousands of surrogates for keeping it positive and not taking the negativity bait. O’Donnell did have Jennifer Dorow on his show to comment about Grogan’s rants, and I must say that she was absolutely phenomenal and stayed above the fray (listen below).
Dare I say it? She acted EXACTLY like someone worthy of being elected to Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.
