Tomorrow is April Fool's Day, and is also another election day.  I find this ironic bit of synergy to be most appropriate, because I always feel like a fool for continuing to vote, and there are always fools on the ballot.  This time is no different.  Sadly, nobody will jump out after I mark my ballot and say "just kidding" and make me feel better.  With that said, here are my choices for the upcoming election.

Wisconsin Supreme Court:  This has been a very contentious campaign with a lot of different accusations being thrown about by both sides.  I've been uncharacteristically quiet about this campaign because I honestly didn't have a good grip on all the issues being thrown about, and so I didn't want to spread incorrect information.  I still don't quite know what to think about the whole thing.  On judicial issues (gun ownership, I think I'd have to give the edge to Mike Gableman over Louis Butler.  Of course it's always hard to quite tell what you're going to get with a judge because they have to claim they're non-partisan and also generally refuse to give specifics over cases that haven't come before the court yet.

But of course, then we have the controversy over the various ads by both sides.  Shark and Shepherd has been concentrating a lot on the claims by the Butler campaign regarding how often he ruled for or against criminal defendants.  Of course even he admits that this sort of analysis has limited value because sometimes criminals should win appeals, and given many of the things I've read about the justice system in this country of late, I'm beginning to be of the opinion that they ought to be winning more appeals than they do.

On the other side of the fence is the controversy over the Gableman ads against Butler.  They're wrong and deceitful.  They border on illegal, and I believe at the bare minimum are unethical.  They are most certainly shameful and should have been pulled.  Mike Gableman lost my vote with those ads.  I simply can't in good conscience vote for someone who did what he did.  I just can't do it.  I wish it didn't come down to something like this.  I'd rather it came down to some kind of issue comparison, but when was the last time we were actually able to vote on just that?  So in the end, I'll be voting for Louis Butler.

County Executive:  Scott Walker.  Duh.  Look, I've had my issues with Walker, but that doesn't mean I won't vote for him again.  He's the lone voice in county government for fiscal responsibility and I believe adds a good counter-balance to the county board.  A lot of liberal commentators want to blame Scott Walker for the world of problems, but the fact is that he has been overridden many times by the board.  I believe that give and take is important, and the board should not have a rubber stamp on anything, which is what Lena Taylor would provide.

Partial Veto Question:  Governor's are not supposed to make law, only sign and execute the law as written by the legislature.  The so called "franken-veto" allows the governor's office far more power than it should have.  Vote Yes.  This is not a partisan issue, as Gov. Thompson abused it just as much as Gov. Doyle.  This is an issue about proper separation of powers and good governance, pure and simple.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 40:  These are always fun to vote for because unless you're a lawyer, odds are you don't know either of the candidates.  So what I always do is look at both candidates websites, look at their endorsement lists, and then pick the person who has the least offensive endorsements to my personal political beliefs.  It's far from foolproof, but usually it's cut and dry.  This time it's a bit harder to decide based purely off endorsements, but I'm going to go with Rebecca Dallet.  Is it the best choice?  Who knows.

Wauwatosa Issues:  I've also written about questions on the ballot specific to Wauwatosa at my other blog if you're interested.

And if you're interested in exactly what issues you'll see on your particular ballot, the State Voter Public Access website can provide that information for you.