Sunday, July 6, 2025
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Sunday, July 6, 2025

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Susan Crawford Bragged, ‘I Fought Against Act 10’

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Susan Crawford played a “huge role” in trying to invalidate Act 10 – attorney Lester Pines

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford bragged, “I fought against Act 10.”

The Democratic Party-endorsed Crawford made the comment in a column in the March 28, 2018, Capital Times. As a private lawyer for the firm Pines Bach in 2012, Crawford helped convince a Dane County judge to strike down “significant portions” of Act 10, according to the firm’s website.

“By the best estimate, the Act 10 reforms saved Wisconsin taxpayers between $18 billion and $31 billion since 2012,” per the Badger and MacIver Institutes.

The then conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Act 10 in 2014, and a federal appellate court did so as well that same year.

Fast forward to 2025. Crawford, a leftist Dane County judge and attorney, is battling former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for a seat on the court.

The court will almost certainly hear yet another constitutional challenge to the long-settled Act 10, which was just invalidated by another liberal Dane County Judge.

Crawford’s first case at the Madison law firm “involved challenging Act 10 — that required her to be sneaked into the state Capitol so state Rep. Peter Barca could sign an affidavit,” the Wisconsin Law Journal reported in 2018.

Susan crawford act 10
Capital times

When Democratic senators tried to thwart the governing process by fleeing the state, Crawford tried to give them public legal cover.

“Hoping to stall a vote on Act 10, 14 Democratic state senators left Wisconsin for three weeks. This infuriated Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who issued a memo announcing that arrest warrants would be issued for the missing senators,” according to Super Lawyers.

“Pines and colleague Susan Crawford immediately sent a press release to every media outlet in the state saying the Senate had no authority to have the Democrats arrested.”

The Wisconsin State Journal wrote in 2018 that Crawford “pledges to avoid conflicts of interest.”

But would she? They’ve switched the parties in the new lawsuit, which she may seize on to avoid recusal.

Susan crawford
Susan crawford/dane co

It’s explicitly clear that Crawford opposes Act 10 because she literally tried to get it overturned in court – and almost succeeded.

Even the liberal Wisconsin Watch concluded that “yes,” Crawford tried to overturn Act 10.

According to WUWM, Schimel, when he was attorney general, “said that he would defend Act 10 and took a stance that its restrictions shouldn’t apply to police and firefighter unions.”

Schimel’s campaign put out a statement when the Dane County judge recently overturned parts of Act 10. “Today’s decision by a Dane County judge is just the latest instance of the Left using the justice system to satisfy their donors and dismantle laws they don’t like. It’s why Democrats have anointed a radical Dane County judge (who helped lead the fight to overturn Act 10) to be their pawn on the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” it says.

In a 2011 segment on the constitutionality of Act 10, PBS Wisconsin described Crawford as “an attorney working on behalf of state public worker unions.”

She squared off against conservative lawyer Rick Esenberg in that interview.

“Yes, we do,” she said when asked if she and the other lawyers on her team believed Act 10 violated the state Constitution. Esenberg disagreed.

Rick esenberg
Rick esenberg

Crawford argued that Act 10 has provisions “crippling public employee unions.”

Esenberg said that collective bargaining was a creation of the Legislature. “What the Legislature has given – and it gave public employees broad collective bargaining rights in the late 1950s – it can take away or limit. And that’s all that Act 10 does. It’s something that is the case in a number of states in this country.”

He said that Act 10 “gives municipalities and school districts greater flexibility to deal with the absence of state funding.” School districts have been able to avoid layoffs and be more efficient because of Act 10, Esenberg said.

In 2012, Pines Bach wrote, “On September 14, 2012, Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ruled that significant portions of Act 10, the drastic revisions made in 2011 to the law that governed Wisconsin’s public employee unions and the scope of collective bargaining, were unconstitutional.”

The law firm’s statement crowed: “Among other things, the judge struck down Act 10’s severe limitation on the unions’ and municipal employers’ ability to bargain wages and prohibition against bargaining other employment terms, the prohibition on dues deductions from union members’ salaries, and the requirement of annual recertification elections by supermajorities. Plaintiff Madison Teachers, Inc. is represented in the case by CWPB attorneys Lester Pines, Susan Crawford and Tamara Packard.”

“Susan Crawford and Tamara Packard played a huge role in these cases,” Pines told the Capital Times in 2012, referring to Act 10 and a challenge against the state’s Voter ID law.

 

 

 

 

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(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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Wisconsin Budget Negotiations Reach Impasse Between Evers, Legislature

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin budget negotiations have reached an impasse with both sides pointing fingers at the other in Wednesday afternoon statements.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Republican Legislative leaders backed out of negotiations after he agreed to “an income tax cut targeting Wisconsin’s middle-class and working families and eliminating income taxes for certain retirees.” He said Republican leaders would not agree to “meaningful increased investments in child care, K-12 schools, and the University of Wisconsin System.”

Republican Assembly leaders said the two sides were "far apart. Senate leaders say Evers’ desires “extend beyond what taxpayers can afford.”

“The Joint Committee on Finance will continue using our long-established practices of crafting a state budget that contains meaningful tax relief and responsible spending levels with the goal of finishing on time,” said a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Finance Co-Chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam.

Evers said that there were meetings between the sides every day this week before the impasse.

“I told Republicans I’d support their half of the deal and their top tax priorities – even though they’re very similar to bills I previously vetoed – because I believe that’s how compromise is supposed to work, and I was ready to make that concession in order to get important things done for Wisconsin’s kids,” Evers said.

Senate Republican leadership said that good faith negotiations have occurred since April on a budget compromise.

“Both sides of these negotiations worked to find compromise and do what is best for the state of Wisconsin,” said a statement from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Senate Joint Finance Co-Chairman Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.

In early May, the Joint Committee on Finance took 612 items out of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, including Medicaid expansion in the state, department creations and tax exemptions.

Born previously estimated that Evers’ budget proposal would lead to $3 billion in tax increases over the two-year span.

Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that the proposal would spend down more than $4 billion of the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus if it is enacted.

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DOJ Begins California Title IX Investigation Over ‘Trans’ Boys Dominating Girls’ Sports

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced it is investigating California for violating Title IX by allowing males to participate in female student sports.

“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights. “It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies.”

In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning males from participating in female student sports, and he has threatened to block California's federal funding for continuing to defy his order. With California facing deficits in the tens of billions of dollars each year, it's unclear how the state would offset any losses or pauses in federal funding.

Notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom hosted conservative pundit Charlie Kirk on his podcast and told Kirk that he thinks it’s “deeply unfair” that boys are participating in girls’ sports.

When asked later at a press conference what this means for state policy, Newsom demurred, painting the matter as a marginal, non-issue not worth his time.

“You're talking about a very small number of people, a very small number of athletes, and my responsibility is to address the pressing issues of our time,” said Newsom.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs student sports in California, has since responded to Trump’s threat by announcing a new pilot program to allow girls who otherwise would have qualified for sports finals had the finalist spots in girls’ sports not been taken by transgender-identifying boys to participate in said finals.

Title IX was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972 to ensure that schools could not discriminate against female students. It requires they be provided with equal opportunities to engage in athletics, extracurriculars and education.

DOJ’s letter of interest says it is investigating whether California’s Assembly Bill 1266, which requires transgender-identifying students to be allowed to participate in sports consistent with their gender identities, violates Title IX.

“As a result of CIF’s policy, California’s top-ranked girls’ triple jumper, and second-ranked girls’ long-jumper, is a boy,” wrote the DOJ. “As recently as May 17, this male athlete was allowed to take winning titles that rightfully belong to female athletes in both events.”

“This male athlete will now be allowed to compete against those female athletes again for a state title in long, triple, and high jump,” continued the DOJ. “Other high school female athletes have alleged that they were likewise robbed of podium positions and spots on their teams after they were forced to compete against males.”

Should the DOJ find California is in violation of Title IX, it says it will “take appropriate action to eliminate that discrimination, including seeking injunctive relief.”