First, I think I can speak for us liberals when I say that whether you are a conservative or liberal, we all can agree that child sex offenders need to be severely punished. Both sides should be equally outraged by this sentence.

Second, where on gods green earth did you get your information from? According to the original Journal Sentinel article dated Feb. 4th 1999 this defendant was found guilty by a jury of his peers of repeated sexual assault of the same child. The Prosecutor from the case recommended 20 to 30 years in prison.” The assaults themselves were violent . . . and the defendant always managed to find a way to keep (her) quiet, and it worked,” words from the prosecutor. The suspects own lawyer was expecting prison time. The victim and mother where shocked over the sentence. The defendant even apologized in court for any pain that he caused. The defendant then lost subsequent appeal of the conviction.

There’s no simple way to spin this to make Ziegler look good.

And who cares if Clifford hasn’t been a judge. Is that a pre-requisite for the bench? It seems that someone like Clifford who has dedicated her career to fighting to uphold constitutional rights would be well qualified. Had she opposed constitutional rights, well that would be another story.

The defendant’s second lawyer moved to have the case overturned due to malpractice because the first defense lawyer didn’t mount an adequate defense to a poor set of facts brought to court by the prosecution.

Ziegler has been one of the toughest judges in Wisconsin.

And it’s very refreshing to see all of these liberals get so excited about locking up criminals for once.

Ziegler’s the experienced tough judge in the race.

Linda Clifford’s never been a judge and she’s spent her career as an immigration lawyer and ACLU activist.

Clifford’s never put anyone in jail for one day because she’s never been a judge.

I am almost certain its a bad sentence. I am almost certain I will not vote for her. But I am also certain that the reason I will not vote for her has nothing to do with her being “soft on crime”. Its the tough on crime nonsense of the last 30 years that have led to inequitable drug laws, expanding prison populations and costs, torn asunder families and all the other things people who care about the legal system are actually concerned about.

I appreciate the irony. I appreciate that this will hurt the right (who might choose a tougher candidate, btw). I don’t appreciate the rush to toughness that seems to happen every time.