Critics say Judge Maryann Sumi deserves ouster, imprisonment, even death - Isthmus | The Daily Page

Critics say Judge Maryann Sumi deserves ouster, imprisonment, even death - Isthmus | The Daily Page

Held in contempt | Bill Lueders on Thursday 04/14/2011,

"Conservatives from all over, taking their cue from the harsh rhetoric of Wisconsin legislative leaders like Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, have unleashed a torrent of abuse on Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, who has confounded Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union agenda.

"You should be impeached," declares a letter addressed "Dear Comrade" from Richard McKee of Phoenix, Ariz. "Your alliance with large labor thugs and bullies is treasonous. Your salary should be confiscated, your pension cancelled, and you should be jailed as an enemy of democracy."

Judge Sumi, an Isthmus review found, has drawn more than 70 letters, postcards and emails since March 18. That's when she issued a restraining order against Walker's bill to gut public employee union rights, slash Medicaid payments and tighten his grip over state agencies, saying its passage likely violated the state's Open Meetings Law. She later extended her order indefinitely, until the named defendants show up in court.

The Republicans have responded by attacking Sumi (originally appointed by GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson) as a liberal activist judge and asking the state Supreme Court to rule that the judiciary has no business telling the Legislature what to do (not that the bill was passed legally)."
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