Thanks to watchdog group One Wisconsin Now’s revelations, we learned a lot about Rebecca Grassl Bradley, an interim justice currently running for a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. And what we learned wasn’t good. In fact, the revelations are so bad that we are calling on Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele to repudiate his 2012 endorsement of Bradley in her race for Milwaukee County Circuit Court, when he assured voters that he had known Bradley “for many years” and that she was “compassionate about people.”
If that’s the case, then we really question Abele’s judgment.
Last week OWN revealed that as a Marquette University student Bradley wrote a string of bigoted, hate-filled and vitriolic essays that would be too crude for even Donald Trump to spew. Bradley called gays “queers” and “degenerates,” said that those living with HIV/AIDS deserved none of her sympathy, claimed that gay sex “kills,” likened abortion to the Holocaust, showed unhinged hostility for voters who supported Bill Clinton, and implied that women were partly responsible for date rape.
Bradley, now Gov. Scott Walker’s handpicked candidate in the April 5 election, has claimed that she’s changed but has provided no proof.
Abele claims to be a Democrat and is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights and a woman’s right to choose, so we were expecting him to come out strongly in condemning Bradley’s ugly sentiments, the way that U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan did last week. But when we contacted his campaign, we were told he was “as shocked and offended by Justice Bradley’s writings as everyone else.” Sorry, that’s not going to cut it.
We are calling on Chris Abele to repudiate Rebecca Bradley and all of her hateful remarks. Abele’s tepid response definitely gives the appearance that he is willing to overlook Bradley’s bigotry.
