Eau Claire Leader Telegram. April 21, 2024.
Editorial: Judge’s intemperate remarks warrant official review
One of our sister papers, the Sawyer County Record, published the results of a yearlong investigation last week. It focused on the accounts of former employees of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, who accused the former director of repeatedly sexually harassing women in the organization.
Four of the women accused Michael “Mic” Isham, who previously served as the organization’s executive director, of directly harassing them with continuous “sexual banter” and comments about the women themselves. The fifth said she was not harassed, but witnessed the behavior.
The women, who we are not naming here, put their complaints in writing and submitted them to the commission. One wrote she “came to understand that there was nothing I could do to respect me as a professional or engage on my projects; politely listening to his inappropriate and insulting commentary was an ineffective strategy. I began to use direct and indirect (nonverbal) communication to express my disgust. In response, he stopped talking to me almost entirely.”
Another told the commission that Michael Isham, upon seeing interns arrive and have supervisors assigned, nudged her and said she should guess “which one I banged.” One of the 19-year-old interns later filed her own report of harassment.
The women’s stories aren’t identical, but do have enough overlapping details to reinforce one another. That’s particularly clear from the submission from the woman who said she wasn’t harassed but witnessed his behavior. She said she watched as, during an all staff meeting, “he was making comments about women that wear, not wearing bras. And it was just very uncomfortable, very unprofessional.”
Another allegation that shows up repeatedly? The women said they brought their concerns to the commission’s board, but it failed to act.
Such serious accusations usually, when directed against a high-profile member of the community, elicit strong responses from that person’s allies. That’s not the case here. In fact, after cancelling an interview, Michael Isham suggested the Record contact four people who would back him up. Only two responded, and neither of them would put themselves on the line and go on the record. That silence speaks volumes.
Only one person has publicly attacked the paper, and that’s Isham’s daughter. A family member’s comments wouldn’t normally warrant concern or space here. Monica Isham’s wouldn’t either — except for the fact she’s a judge in the Sawyer County Circuit Court.
Judge Isham referred to the women’s complaints in a Facebook post as “old, unfounded stories” and referred to the Record as engaging in “in a pathetic attempt to become a tabloid to save their failing newspaper.”
Those intemperate comments aren’t the first of this nature she has made. Last year she said news and media “are no better than gossip columnists or tabloids.”
As we’ve said before, it’s not enough for judges to be unbiased on the bench. They need to be seen to be. We can’t believe that, given Isham’s comments, any woman bringing sexual harassment complaints to her court would feel like she would get a fair hearing. Nor do we believe she could preside fairly over any complaint involving the Record.
The comments may also violate the code of conduct for Wisconsin judges. SCR 60.05 says a Wisconsin judge “shall so conduct the judge’s extra-judicial activities as to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial obligations.” We see a reasonable argument for the comments violating that standard.
Do such comments from a sitting judge warrant removal? We don’t think so. But any judge who so flagrantly airs biases compromises the ability to be seen as fair. That should earn a slap on the wrist from the State of Wisconsin’s Judicial Commission.
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Wisconsin State Journal. April 21, 2024.
Editorial: That could have been any one of us in path of wrecking ball on wheels
It’s terrifying to think about: You’re driving down the road, and suddenly another vehicle is speeding right at you in your lane. You might have seconds to swerve, or maybe it’s already too late.
Wrong-way crashes kill innocent people with startling frequency in Wisconsin. Our state has the highest rate of wrong-way driving fatalities in the nation, and simple things are not being done to prevent it, such as more conspicuous signs with flashing lights at confusing highway ramps.
Wisconsin leads the nation in fatal crashes involving wrong-way drivers.
Wrong-way crashes killed 484 people in Wisconsin over a decade, which is nearly 1 in 10 of all fatal crashes and more than twice the national average, according to “ Headed the wrong way,” a powerful series by State Journal reporter David Wahlberg and photographer and videographer Amber Arnold.
Drunken drivers cause most of these crashes. They need to sober up and face tougher restrictions and penalties — before they kill somebody. They also need treatment for alcohol abuse and strict testing if they want to drive again.
Far too many Wisconsin families have lost loved ones to these horrific head-on collisions.
Paulina González and stepfather Kurt Schilling lost four children — Daniel, 25, Fabian, 23, Lilian, 14, and Daniela, 9 — in December when a pickup driver and repeat drunken driver went the wrong direction on Highway 10 near Weyauwega, slamming into the family’s SUV.
Kristin and David Peterson lost their son Grant, 20, in a wrong-way crash a year earlier on Interstate 90-94 near Wisconsin Dells. The driver of a pickup with a blood alcohol level at twice the legal limit drove west in the eastbound lanes, striking the vehicle Grant was riding in near the exit to Mt. Olympus Resort.
That could have been any one of us in the path of that oncoming wrecking ball on wheels.
Wisconsin’s scourge of drunken driving is largely to blame for wrong-way crashes. The Legislature still hasn’t increased the penalty for a first offense of operating while intoxicated. Instead of a traffic ticket, first-time drunken drivers should be charged with a misdemeanor crime. Wisconsin is the only state to go so soft.
The Legislature still hasn’t required first-time violators to spend a night in jail.
The Legislature still hasn’t forced everyone convicted of operating while intoxicated to install ignition locks on their vehicles. The devices prevent a vehicle from starting without a clean breath test.
As “Headed the wrong way” reports, ignition locks have stopped inebriated people from starting their vehicles 357,946 times from 2006 to 2020 in Wisconsin. That was second only to the much-bigger state of Texas.
Yet many first-time offenders aren’t required to breathe into a tube before starting their car. And for those drivers who are forced to install ignition locks, repeated attempts to drive impaired should extend how long the devices must stay installed.
Wisconsin doesn’t allow sobriety checkpoints like most states. Nor has it joined a national compact to treat out-of-state violations as if they occurred here.
That needs to change.
Yet some of the blame for wrong-way crashes falls on traffic engineers. Poorly designed ramps have confused even sober motorists as they turn onto ramps leading to major highways. In too many cases, the entrances and exits are next to each other, which can fool people, especially at night.
Simply enhancing and increasing “wrong way” signs will help save lives.
Lawmakers and state transportation officials must respond to the findings of “Headed the wrong way” with serious investment. Wrong-way driving isn’t a fluke. It’s becoming more prevalent and demands greater attention and technology to deter.
Iowa reduced wrong-way driving incidents by 94% at confusing intersections with better and more strategically placed signs, Wahlberg reported.
“Everybody should do this,” an Iowa traffic safety engineer said.
“Everybody” must include Wisconsin.
A Brown Deer company near Milwaukee makes a promising alert system to detect a driver who turns onto a highway the wrong way. Wisconsin started using the technology in Milwaukee County in 2012 and 2016 but hasn’t expanded or evaluated the effectiveness of the systems.
Like Wisconsin, Florida has lots of older people and tourists more prone to becoming disoriented. Florida has installed better signs and pavement markings at nearly all freeways. Arizona is using thermal cameras to detect drivers who head the wrong way and alert authorities and other drivers to the danger.
Just a few million dollars can go a long way in the right direction.
State leaders need to hit the brakes on wrong-way driving and turn this dangerous trend around.
END