– Editorial – - Time to cut off junket junkies

If something looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Daniel Bice, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported Monday, on Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley’s taking $52,000 worth of lodging, meals, airfare and other expenses, paid for by conservative leaning organizations, to posh resort spots, in the name of attending conferences and symposiums, over the past 10 years. In comparison, this is more than three times more than any other justice has reported receiving, over the same time. Bradley was appointed to the state Supreme Court by former Gov. Scott Walker, in 2015, and was elected to a full 10-year term, in 2016. She is up for another term on the court in 2026, but has not formally announced if she will run for re-election. The 20 trips to posh resort locations included those at The Royal Hawaiian resort in Honolulu; the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska; the Henderson Beach Resort in Destin, Fla.; as well as those held in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Park City, Utah; and Laguna Beach, Calif. All the conferences and symposiums had grand sounding titles, and no-doubt, had lengthy and detailed agendas, providing Bradley and the other politicians present, with valuable information, along with visiting vacation destinations. While Bradley’s roughly more than $5,000 a year, in free trips is excessive, there are plenty of other ducks in Wisconsin state government, and beyond, who are willing to dip their beaks into any pond that pays them to be there. According to a review done by WisPolitics, state Democrat and Republican lawmakers reported receiving more than $200,000 in expenses, to attend events in the United States and abroad, in 2024. Civil War era U.S Senator and former newspaper editor Simon Cameron, is credited with saying, “An honest politician is one, who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” The organizations and donors who foot the bill for junket junkies, are doing so with the same intent as a person making a down payment on investment property. They may not see an immediate return on the money spent, but if there is any truth to Cameron’s observation, the rewards can be profitable for the organizations and their political ideologies in the long run. While it is great that Wisconsin ethics codes require judges and legislators, to report the gifts and all-expense-paid trips they receive, more needs to be done, to crack down to drain this swamp of corruption. Wisconsin citizens must hold their elected and appointed government officials to a higher ethical standard and impose tight limits on the amount of gifts, free travel and expense-paid junkets that officials are allowed to receive. At the same time, judges should be mandated to recuse themselves from cases involving groups and individuals, who have provided lavish gifts and free travel. True power rests in the hands of those who control the purse strings. Wisconsin voters must decide if judges, politicians and bureaucrats, should serve the people or if they should serve the motives of shadowy special interest group donors, whose lavish gifts and trips seek to hook the junket junkies. Members of the Courier Sentinel editorial board include publisher Carol O’Leary, general manager Kris O’Leary and Star News editor Brian Wilson.