Have you noticed that conservatives, who are always complaining about litigious lawyers and trying to limit victims' access to the court system, will sue these days at the drop of a hat?
They do it even when it should be clear that they won't win. Often, it's all about delay, as in the case of recalls, or simply harassment, to make life miserable for someone, cause them some stress, and threaten them financially. Or to generate some media coverage to cloud an issue and attempt to discredit political opponents.
When you have the big bucks on your side, it's easy to intimidate someone who doesn't, and who might actually have to pay his/her own legal bills. Sometimes just the threat of a lawsuit is enough. A Wisconsin blogger experienced that this week, with a barrage of threats of libel suits that in all likelihood would not have succeeded.
When it's not lawsuits, the right wing demands investigations of everything under the sun. The usual purpose: To intimidate those who disagree with them, maybe cause some damage to their reputations, and disrupt their lives.
Today's example, from WisPolitics.com:
A Missouri-based conservative legal group is asking the Wisconsin Judicial Commission to investigate 29 circuit court judges who appear to have signed the recall petition against Gov. Scott Walker.
Their complaint is based on a newpaper report, but apparently they are selective about their newspaper reading. This, from the LaCrosse Tribune, might have been instructive:
The code does not specifically mention recall petitions, said Jim Alexander, executive director of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. Alexander said he did not sign the petition because “it’s not something proper for my position.”
[Monroe County Judge J. David]Rice said he called Alexander for advice and was told that signing the petition would be OK.
“He said in his opinion that didn’t violate the judicial ethics, so I relied on that in signing,” Rice said. “If he’d have said, ‘No,’ I wouldn’t have done it.”
I rest my case.