Walker Appoints Political Crony To Appellate Court Seat
August 1, 2015

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A couple of months ago, I reported that Scott Walker had politically appointed a couple of cronies - Rebecca Bradley and James Troupis - to the bench even though neither one was really qualified for the position.

On Friday, Walker announced his biggest judicial political appointee yet when he announced that he was making his own legal counsel, Brian Hagedorn, an appellate court judge:

Gov. Scott Walker said Friday that he had appointed his chief legal counsel to fill a vacancy on the state appeals court.

Brian Hagedorn, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, will take the $139,059-a-year position in the District 2 Court of Appeals in Waukesha. He replaces Judge Richard Brown, who is retiring August 1 after 37 years on the bench.

"Brian Hagedorn is a person of integrity who has a deep commitment to service and a passion for the rule of law," Walker said. "Brian has been a great asset during a transformative time in Wisconsin history, as we worked to bring big, bold reform to the state."

In case you missed it, Hagedorn was appointed to be an appellate court judge even though he has never been a judge.

In fact, Hagedorn has precious little in the way of experience. Before he was Walker's legal mouthpiece, he worked at a right wing law firm and a member of the Federalist Society.

Perhaps Walker felt that Hagedorn was qualified for the things he did while Walker's counsel, such as fighting open records requests or keeping Walker from being held accountable for a death he caused by negligence as Milwaukee County Executive

Then again, in Walker's eyes, Hagedorn's greatest achievement probably was sabotaging the John Doe investigation into Walker and his illegal collaboration with dark money groups.

It should be noted that Hagedorn being appointed to the appellate court in Waukesha County (or Walkersha County, if you will) is no matter of chance either. Waukesha County is where Walker's campaign is headquartered and where Walker likes to go judge shopping when he is in trouble for his misdeeds, either political or as governor.

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