Here is the forty-seventh article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is federal Judge Rudolph Randa. He is so honored for his blatant attempt to help the Republican Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan, Scott Walker, get away with his electioneering crimes.
In one of the first cases to rely on the U.S. Supreme Court’s McCutcheon decision, a federal judge just tried to open the door to new levels of corruption in Wisconsin elections — but the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals could still stop him.
On May 6, federal Judge Rudolph Randa ordered a halt to Wisconsin’s long-running "John Doe" criminal probe into allegedly illegal coordination between political campaigns (including Governor Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign) and non-profit groups like Wisconsin Club for Growth that spent millions during the state’s recall elections. Randa, who was appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush and is a board member of the Milwaukee Federalist Society, compared limits on money-in-politics to "the guillotine and the gulag."…
…Judge Randa’s May 6 decision halting the investigation is extraordinary. It involves a federal court injecting its own interpretation of state law into a high-profile criminal probe of political operatives of the party that appointed him to the bench, while state court proceedings are ongoing. It deploys a strained reading of U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the facts of the case, portraying the investigation — led by a bipartisan group of District Attorneys and a Special Prosecutor who voted for Walker, and approved unanimously by the bipartisan group of retired judges on Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board — as politically-motivated retaliation against Republicans. It green-lights electoral coordination between candidates and third-party groups, making it easy for politicians to bypass contribution and disclosure limits and solicit unlimited, secret donations for so-called "issue ads" timed to influence elections.
Randa even celebrated the intentional evasion of campaign finance rules by the players under investigation in the John Doe. He described their tactics as a means of promoting "speech."… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <PR Watch>
Because of the volunteer work I do, I am aware that if something is illegal at the time a crime is committed, and subsequent changes in the law make the same activity legal, it has no effect. I know men who are in prison for doing things that are currently legal, but were crimes at the time they did them. No Judge could fail to realize that.
Furthermore, much of the investigation this Republican tried to kill involves Walker using the public employees he supervised to assist in his campaign, which is still a criminal activity.
But if you still don’t believe that Republican Judge Randa rendered an intentionally corrupt decision to help Walker evade the law, consider this. Randa should have recused himself at the outset, because his assistant is married to one of Walker’s campaign lawyers.
Corruption doesn’t get get much more Republican than that!
12 Responses to “Republicans on Parade–5/10/2014”
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Randa is following the example of (in)Justice Thomas of SCROTUS fame. His wife's politics take precedence over the Constitution.
No, your Honor, you are missing the point. The guillotine is not LIKE limits on money in politics. The guillotine IS what you are going to get if you don't limit money in politics. Did you not hear about the guy who threatened to rip John Boehner's expletive head off because Boehner blocked unemployment extension?
As much as I undedrstand that guy's sentiment, I have to condemn his threats of physical violence. If leftys act like Republicans, how will people tell us ap[art?
I didn't get the impression he was a lefty – for one thing, he was too much in love with his guns. Plus, were he a lefty, I would have expected a big thing to be made of it by the Right, and as far as I can tell, it hasn't. By all means correct me if you know something I don't.
Good grief – the Right Wing really ARE the Reich Wing – and blatant about it!
Wingnuts, in all capacities, have given up any pretense of being "Fair & Balanced".
… OR they actually believe the Faux "News" model IS the model for being "Fair & Balanced"
The thing that scares me is that there are so many corrupt judges like this one. They were appointed, or "elected" by Dubya and are still serving his goals. We recently had a scandal in Kentucky involving a federal judge who was approving all black lung claims submitted by one attorney. Much money was involved. We have also had judges who denied all black lung claims and were taking money from the coal companies. We need oversight committees to see that the judges are doing their jobs honestly, too.
Good idea!
I have one thing to say . . . "Off with his head!" since he likes guillotines so much.
This smarmy assed idiot needs to be retired. This federal "mis-judge" has no place in the courts if he cannot be fair, balanced and impartial.
Because he is not a member of SCROTUS, an etghics complaint can be and should be filed against him.
Republicans are Rat Bastards… I feel better now… 😆