ICYMI: Career Right-Wing Politician Brad Schimel Pretends He’s “Not Political” on the Campaign Trail

MADISON, Wis. — Today, reporting in the Wisconsin Examiner illustrated how career right-wing politician Brad Schimel is talking out of both sides of his mouth on the campaign trail, telling voters what they want to hear while carrying the torch of the far-right behind his back.

But Brad Schimel’s far-right record doesn’t lie. As Wisconsin’s Republican Attorney General, Brad Schimel sued to overturn the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for Wisconsinites with preexisting conditions—a right-wing pipe dream championed by the likes of Scott Walker and Donald Trump. Schimel still supports Wisconsin’s 1849 near-total abortion ban and tried to enforce new restrictions on abortion access as AG. And we can’t forget that Schimel has been happily in the pocket of far-right special interests since he was first elected attorney general, these days counting right-wing megadonors amongst his biggest supporters, including Stop the Steal backers Dick and Liz Uihlein.

Read more about Brad Schimel’s bad-faith campaign cover-ups:

Wisconsin Examiner: Supreme Court candidate Schimel tells voters he’s not political
By: Henry Redman

• When abortion comes up during the campaign, Schimel acknowledges his own anti-abortion views, which he says are informed in part by becoming an adoptive father to two daughters, but he says the issue should be decided by Wisconsin’s voters, not a judge.
   
• At some campaign events, Schimel has said the voters should decide the issue through a referendum, but Wisconsin doesn’t have a process that allows its voters to change state law through referenda. The only route is through the constitutional amendment process, which requires a proposal to be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions before going to the ballot. 
   
• More than once — including in his budget proposal this year —Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has pushed the Legislature to a referendum process that would allow voters to weigh in on abortion. Republicans in control of the Legislature have stymied that effort. 
   
• The winner will decide the ideological tilt of a Court that, in addition to abortion rights, is likely to hear cases on the fate of Wisconsin’s congressional maps, the role of state government in regulating polluters and the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches. 
   
• But Schimel, a career Republican official, told the audience of county government officials Wednesday that politics are irrelevant. 
   
• At the Marquette event earlier this month, Schimel said there’s a difference between a judicial conservative and a political conservative and that he’s an “originalist.” 
   
• “You interpret law when you have to, but you apply the law as it’s written,” he said. “When there are ambiguities in the law, well, now you’re going to be forced to try to interpret the meaning of the ambiguity, but you try to stay as faithful as possible to the intent of the Legislature.” 
   
• Schimel’s exposition of his judicial philosophy has shifted when he speaks to different audiences. 
   
• Speaking to law students and Milwaukee voters at the Marquette event, when asked about federal judges’ role in thwarting Trump’s executive orders to end birthright citizenship, give Musk access to massive troves of personal data and stop congressionally appropriated funds from being disbursed, Schimel said it’s a judge’s role to define the limits of executive authority. 
   
• However, in a radio appearance with right wing host Vicki McKenna, he accused federal judges of “acting corruptly” for issuing temporary restraining orders against the dismantling of federal agencies.
   
• At the WCA event, Schimel acknowledged he knows he needs to do a lot to re-engage the coalition of voters that narrowly swung the state for Trump in November.
   
• “I need to convince those voters that this is important.”

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