Current:Home > FinanceWisconsin justice included horses in ads as vulgar joke about opponent, campaign manager says-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Wisconsin justice included horses in ads as vulgar joke about opponent, campaign manager says
View Date:2024-12-23 19:14:02
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiwiecz’s campaign consultant inserted images of horses in ads as a vulgar joke about her opponent, her campaign manager told a liberal podcast last month.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday that Protasiewicz’s campaign manager, Alejandro Verdin, told The Downballot podcast on Jan. 25 that her campaign operatives had heard people make baseless jokes at campaign focus groups and functions that her opponent, Dan Kelly, looked like someone who fornicates with horses.
Protasiewicz’s media consultant, Ben Nuckels, inserted hidden images of horses in television ads attacking Kelly as an inside joke. A review of Protasiewicz’s ads on her You Tube site turned up horses in the background in at least three ads.
Nuckels also produced a radio ad with narrator with a western drawl saying “Dirty Dan” was riding off into the sunset as horses whinny in the background. That ad also was part of the joke, Verdin said.
“It was quite hilarious,” Verdin said during the podcast.
Kelly didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday. He told the Journal Sentinel that he found the joke “sick” and Wisconsin residents should be appalled.
“This goes a long way towards explaining why Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign was so dishonest, undignified and lacking in respect for the office of Supreme Court justice,” Kelly told the newspaper.
Verdin and Nuckels didn’t immediately return messages from the AP on Tuesday. No one immediately responded to an email sent to Nuckels’ communications firm, Strothers Nuckels Strategies.
State Supreme Court spokesperson Stephen Kelley said he would ask Protasiewicz if she has any comment. He did not immediately respond to a follow-up email.
Protasiewicz defeated Kelly in a race for an open Supreme Court seat last April. The win handed liberals a 4-3 majority on the court.
Protasiewicz leaned into anger over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn its landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, declaring on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights. Protasiewicz also declared during the campaign that she thought Republican-drawn legislative boundaries were “rigged.” Both moves were highly unusual; typically judicial candidates refrain from revealing their stances to avoid the appearance of bias.
The court’s liberal majority overturned the GOP maps in December and has ordered the Legislature to draw new ones.
The justices will likely decide in the coming months whether Wisconsin’s 174-year-old ban on abortion stands. A Dane County judge in September ruled the ban prohibits feticide — harming a woman in an attempt to kill her unborn child — but not abortion. Republicans have appealed the decision.
Republican legislators have called for impeaching Protasiewicz over her campaign comments, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has backed off that position and such a move appears unlikely.
veryGood! (22883)
Related
- Georgia State University is planning a $107M remake of downtown Atlanta
- Trader Joe's has issued recalls for 2 types of cookies that could contain rocks
- Massachusetts Utilities Hope Hydrogen and Biomethane Can Keep the State Cooking, and Heating, With Gas
- 10 years ago Detroit filed for bankruptcy. It makes a comeback but there are hurdles
- Volkswagen, Mazda, Honda, BMW, Porsche among 304k vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
- Why Chinese Aluminum Producers Emit So Much of Some of the World’s Most Damaging Greenhouse Gases
- The TikTok-Famous Zombie Face Delivers 8 Skincare Treatments at Once and It’s 45% Off for Prime Day
- Summer School 1: Planet Money goes to business school
- Taking stock of bonds: Does the 60/40 rule still have a role in retirement savings?
- Car Companies Are Now Bundling EVs With Home Solar Panels. Are Customers Going to Buy?
Ranking
- Certifying this year’s presidential results begins quietly, in contrast to the 2020 election
- Environmental Groups and Native Leaders Say Proposed Venting and Flaring Rule Falls Short
- Here's what happens to the body in extreme temperatures — and how heat becomes deadly
- Study: Higher Concentrations Of Arsenic, Uranium In Drinking Water In Black, Latino, Indigenous Communities
- The USDA is testing raw milk for the avian flu. Is raw milk safe?
- Environmental Groups and Native Leaders Say Proposed Venting and Flaring Rule Falls Short
- You know those folks who had COVID but no symptoms? A new study offers an explanation
- Summer School 2: Competition and the cheaper sneaker
Recommendation
-
Atmospheric river to bring heavy snow, rain to Northwest this week
-
Environmental Groups and Native Leaders Say Proposed Venting and Flaring Rule Falls Short
-
AMC Theaters reverses its decision to price tickets based on where customers sit
-
Denied abortion for a doomed pregnancy, she tells Texas court: 'There was no mercy'
-
Who will be in the top 12? Our College Football Playoff ranking projection
-
Uprooted: How climate change is reshaping migration from Honduras
-
Planet Money Paper Club
-
Summer School 2: Competition and the cheaper sneaker