[...] a blog that AG candidate Doug Wardlow wrote or contributed to while he was working as a law clerk for the Minnesota Supreme Court, specifically for Justice G. Barry Anderson in 2004-5.
And what a special blog it was. According to the articles cited, Wardlow’s posts included ones that said treating women differently was natural and fair because women’s bodies were designed to bear children, activist courts were “cudgels” to force acceptance of gay sex, gay marriage, and abortion and dismissing pro-choice arguments, writing that money was just like being eloquent for free speech purposes, saying there was no constitutional separation between church and state, supporting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry and “Give ’em Hell, Zell” in the 2004 presidential election, advocating for Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State after the election, lamenting efforts to expand, especially, early voting, and also lamenting the prohibition of the death penalty for minors.
These were all hot-button issues, naturally, and all but a few were things that might wind up before the court that Doug Wardlow was clerking for; it was his first job out of law school.
Most young people entering a new career or profession are eager to be successful and follow the rules. But writing this blog was a very un-judicial activity. According to these same linked stories, clerks were admonished not to do things like this: to engage in political political writing or activity. That is hardly surprising. It’s pretty obvious why.
The judicial branch is the non-partisan one. It often sits between the legislature and the executive and adjudicates partisan disputes. Judges are told to avoid impropriety and even the appearance of impropriety. It won’t do to have judges or staff offering opinions on a variety of topics outside of the actual published opinions of the courts.
Timmer ends the post:
Doug Wardlow claims to honor the rule of law, but from his very first professional engagement, he blew it off. He’s a dirty, rotten liar.
Please excuse my language, but I think Doug Wardlow is a pestilential little shit. Installing him at Minnesota’s top lawyer makes me gag. I don’t expect that most of you can understand how I feel about this. But I ask you to think about how you would feel to be cheated on.
Because that is what he did.
In between start and end, the Timmer hammer really drops:
The judge’s obligations are the clerk’s obligations. And when you are a lawyer, especially, you should understand that.
I am not going to parse these [Judicial Conduct Code] sections for you; you can do that yourselves. But you can see, for example, how calling women empty vessels for men’s seed might be a problem.
From the day you enter law school, or at least when I did about 46 years ago, well, and I know it is true today, too, you are taught that you owe your fidelity to the rules of the profession, as a lawyer, and certainly as a judge, or somebody who works for a judge.
Rules are for others? Doug Wardlow surely lacks any cause to view himself as Nietzschean special, beyond the fetters meant for others. If that is his cause to blog when wisdom and convention said not to, his hubris is too big for his britches; and if not that, he is plain stupid to have not known and acted better.
The Song: As to "please excuse my language" in quoted text from the Timmer item, it is excused but for it being too gentle and indirect. Earlier in a post I could not easily retrieve Timmer hit the nail on the head with a suggestion of a fitting Wardlow theme song which not only compactly defines the length and bredth of the entire Doug Wardlow Gestalt, it even spells it out. Do listen.
That Gestalt: Doug Wardlow from high school bullying a gay classmate including mocking a suicide attempt, per PiPress reporting, to now telling Republican event goers he loves the spoils system and will fire and replace massively if he has the chance while publicly saying he has no agenda. His agenda is what he posted at his career start, as Timmer summarizes Wardlow posting 2004-05, and as demonstrated in Wardlow's brief stay in the legislature.
Doug Wardlow IS an asshole. Ellison has the spirit of Paul Wellstone in his heart, and is the one for the job. Wardlow has shown a coercive will to run against Louis Farrakhan because he, himself, is unworthy as an alternative to be running against his actual DFL opponent's positive good will and record in Congress; a record of colleague respect in committee assignments and responsibilities, all suggesting Ellison is an exceptionally fit and promising candidate for AG.
Note, for example, Elizabeth Warren willing to defer to Keith as an earlier speaker in the queue:
Briefly:
Congressman Keith Ellison presently represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Fifth District includes the City of Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs and is one of the most vibrant and ethnically diverse districts in Minnesota. Rep. Ellison’s guiding philosophy is based on “generosity and inclusion” and his priorities in Congress are building prosperity for working families, promoting peace, pursuing environmental sustainability, and advancing civil and human rights. Rep. Ellison’s commitment to consumer justice led him to write legislation that was included in the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights of 2009. This law prevents an unfair practice called “universal default,” which allowed lenders to increase their customers’ interest rates if they had late payments with another lender. In response to the foreclosure crisis that began in 2008, Rep. Ellison also wrote the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act, which requires banks and other new owners to provide at least 90 days’ notice of eviction to renters occupying foreclosed homes. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, the congressman helps oversee the nation’s financial services and housing industries, as well as Wall Street. He also serves on the House Democratic Steering & Policy Committee, which decides committee assignments for Democratic Members and sets the Democratic Caucus' policy agenda. In the past he served on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Rep. Ellison was elected co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 113th Congress that promotes the progressive promise of fairness for all. He is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, founded the Congressional Consumer Justice Caucus, and belongs to more than a dozen other caucuses that focus on issues ranging from social inclusion to environmental protection. Before being elected to Congress Rep. Ellison was a noted community activist and ran a thriving civil rights, employment, and criminal defense law practice in Minneapolis. He also was elected to serve two terms in the Minnesota State House of Representatives. Keith was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He has lived in Minnesota since earning his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1990. Keith is the proud father of four children.
Compare two Strib headlines a day apart for a flavor of things; Oct.24 - "Keith Ellison says he backs Lori Swanson's insulin lawsuit - Doug Wardlow said he applauds efforts to lower health care costs, but needs to examine case.," and Oct.23 - "Doug Wardlow says he will return Globe University officials' donations - The for-profit college was sued for fraud by the state attorney general's office."
The first cited Strib item reports Ellison already has a blueprint for action:
Manufacturers are using a variety of tactics to keep drug prices high, including overuse of patents, Ellison said. The state needs to create a task force that includes health care professionals, nurses and patients, to come up with plans to combat inflating drug prices, he said. If elected, Ellison said he would start working right away to pull together that group.
Wardlow, the other Strib item:
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled last year that the schools issued thousands of student loans illegally and charged unlawfully high interest rates, and in 2016 a judge found the schools had defrauded criminal justice students. Attorney General Lori Swanson sued the schools for consumer fraud and illegal loans, prompting the court’s action.
“Because of recent litigation with the Attorney General’s Office, the Wardlow campaign is returning the donations,” Billy Grant, Wardlow’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
State DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin and Minnesota State College Faculty President Kevin Lindstrom condemned the donations at a news conference Wednesday, and said the next attorney general needs to be impartial and take on businesses that are hurting Minnesotans.
“It doesn’t take a campaign finance expert to really understand why the Myhre family would be donating as much money as they have to Doug Wardlow. It’s because they do want to get back into this state and ultimately they want to, for lack of a better word, buy off the next attorney general,” Martin said.
The DFL noted 10 people connected to Globe University, including owner Terry Myhre, donated to Wardlow. State Campaign Finance Board records show each of the donors gave either $2,000 or $2,500 on Sept. 17 and 18.
Now, an option is to go on and on, and readers will draw away at some point. The other option is to end it as long enough already, with one brief fifteen minute explanation by a man who knows how to describe and inspire a vision, and at the same time knows the nuts and bolts of gaining momentum to get it done -- Kieth Ellison giving the keynote speech at a 2018 Minnesota Medicare for All Conference:
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| This YouTube link. Watch it or wish you had. |
You watch that video and you will understand the ton of money being spent and the mud being slung by powerful and rich people who don't want their boat to be rocked. They work to engineer whatever it may take to suppress this man on behalf of the a convenient Doug Wardlow servility, because this man has the power to move a vision into a reality. That is what is at stake.
IN SUMMARY: Aside from Wardlow being an Asshole, Kieth Ellison is a sound man on worker rights with a sound progressive record, who will only prove better once in office as Attorney General. Because this post starts about Wardlow insufficiencies for the job, do not think this is a lesser evil endorsement. It is anything but that.
The top post on the blog - above this one - is locked into place until election day to remind everyone that "The People's Lawyer" won a primary election among several excellent DFL candidates, i.e., that the public taking part in that vote did select the best of the bunch to continue on to election day. Ellison has proven himself progressive and intelligent and sensitive to all rather than chasing big-money donors, a fault too many other Democrats fall victim to. It is a "night and day" choice, Ellison of course being daylight with a cool breeze and birds singing, Wardlow being a vile midnight cyclone of uptight rage and widespread havoc and destruction. End of weather report. End of endorsement. [One quick clarification of an ancillary detail, the song likely was written aimed at Bradlee Dean, who at the time had a larger public profile than Wardlow; e.g., "BD" references in the singing. But it fits ...]
**THESE TWO POSTS WILL BE KEPT ATOP UNTIL THE ELECTION**