Post Crescent Endorses Kloppenburg in Editorial, but Forgets to Mention Prosser was a Republican. Oops.

Something I didn’t notice but my significant other did was the omission of the word “Republican” in key sections of the Post Crescent’s electoral rejection of Justice Prosser, his hometown newspaper.

Editorial: Supreme Court: One issue doesn't add up… 

Prosser, an Appleton native, was appointed to the court by Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1998, and ran unopposed in 2001. He served in the state Assembly from 1979 to 1996; from 1989-94, he was the Assembly minority leader. In 1995 and 1996, he was the Assembly speaker. 

He is supported by groups perceived to be conservative, including the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which aired a TV ad backing him.

Perceived to be conservative…the Wisconsin Club for Growth? You’ve got to be kidding?

But was he a Republican? YES. Besides that oversight,  their criticism hit a home run:

In a brief filed by the attorney of former state Rep. Scott Jensen, a Prosser protege who was charged with three felony counts of misconduct in office (in a December 2010 plea deal, Jensen pleaded no-contest to a misdemeanor charge), Prosser said he basically did the same thing that caused Jensen to be charged. 

In the brief, after outlining how his leadership role involved getting more Republicans elected to the Assembly, Prosser said: "It was a different era and public expectations were quite different." Prosser said that the law "had never been interpreted that way."

So, what do we do? Let bygones be bygones? 

We can't. The Post-Crescent endorses JoAnne Kloppenburg.