The liberal media are hitting Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly hard for campaigning with a conservative activist who was “on the grounds” of the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots. But Kelly’s opponent, far left Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, has some interesting “friends” of her own.
Protasiewicz was photographed smiling next to Brett Blomme, the former Milwaukee County Children’s Court judge now serving nine years in prison for distributing child pornography.
Here's a cheddar blast from the past. Janet Protasiewicz with Brett Blomme, who's serving 9 years in prison for child sex crimes. Probably won't see that in Cap Times pic.twitter.com/ggOpPafxos
— Gregory Jon (@gregoryjon) March 23, 2023
Does that make Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County family court judge, a friend of child sexual exploitation? No. But you would think Kelly is an “insurrectionist” based on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s breathless piece on the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice’s appearance at a campaign event with Scott Presler.
“Scott Presler, a Virginia native and conservative activist who planned several ‘stop the steal’ rallies that promoted false claims about the 2020 election and was on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is backing Kelly and campaigning in Wisconsin on his behalf,” Journal Sentinel reporter Corrinne Hess wrote.
Hess asked Kelly about Presler’s “connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection,” or what many news outlets have described as the U.S. Capitol riots. Wisconsin Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer wrote a similar piece, noting Kelly posted a video on Twitter of himself standing side-by-side with Presler and thanking him for his work.
Presler was not arrested or charged for being involved in the protests, a point the stories did not note.
“I don’t ask people to sit for an examination before they help me,” Kelly told Hess. “There are people all over the state of Wisconsin that have all kinds of different beliefs and all kinds of different backgrounds who are doing their absolute level best to encourage the people of Wisconsin to come out to exercise their privilege and their power. I don’t ask them what their backgrounds are. I’ll take their help any day of the week.”
Kelly and Protasiewicz are facing off in Wisconsin’s critical April 4 election, which will decide whether conservatives or liberals control Wisconsin’s high court. Campaign spending has smashed previous judicial expenditure records.
Bauer and Hess don’t appear to have asked Protasiewicz about her chumming around with Blomme, who was charged with distributing child pornography from his house in Cottage Grove, WI, a residence in the Milwaukee area, and the Milwaukee County Children’s Court Center where he worked. Her old boss, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, is also in the photograph, of course, taken before Blomme was charged.
The judge in the case highlighted the egregious nature of the material and described it as the “worst of the worst.” Federal Judge James Peterson also noted that Blomme’s sustained pattern of illegal behavior while sitting as a judge was an aggravating factor that supported a significant term of imprisonment.
Protasiewicz’s spokesman Sam Roecker told the Journal Sentinel that Kelly’s willingness to take support from “violent revolutionaries” this week knows no bounds.
Yet, the press didn’t seem all that interested in the arrest of liberal activist Grace Martin, a recent fellow at 350 Wisconsin, for being part of the violent mob that attacked Atlanta police with “large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks.” Martin is a real “violent revolutionary”, according to law enforcement officials. She’s been charged with domestic terrorism.
350 Wisconsin endorsed “climate champion” Protasiewicz.
In fact, the judge boasts an interesting list of radical endorsements.
- Wisconsin Working Families Party: The party has been a major voice in the Defund the Police movement—which would seem to be at odds with Protasiewicz’s ads claiming she cares about “protecting public safety.”
- Voces de la Frontera Wisconsin: The liberal immigration group advocates for abolishing ICE, giving all illegal immigrants drivers licenses, and making Wisconsin a sanctuary state.
- MoveOn: The pro-defund ICE and police group has endorsed many defund-the police Democrats, including Mandela Barnes, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Cori Bush, Stacey Abrams, and Ilhan Omar.
“Janet Protasiewicz has no place on the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” said WisGOP Spokeswoman Rachel Reisner. “Protasiewicz can’t claim to be a ‘common sense’ judge who will ‘protect public safety’ while refusing to lock up child rapists and accepting endorsements from defund-the-police advocates like Mandela Barnes, Citizens Action of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Working Families Party.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Janet Protasiewicz” by Janet for Justice. Background Photo “Wisconsin Supreme Court” by Royalbroil. CC BY-SA 3.0.