Judge Kloppenburg Response
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Judge Kloppenburg Response
After the post-debate press conference on Tuesday evening, March 15th, editor Steve Welcenbach asked Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg about the apparent lack of private sector experience in her professional experience portfolio. Please watch and listen to her response in this video:
Steve asks this question to the Judge:
“Have you ever had a job in the private sector or have you always worked for the government?”
After a long pause the Judge responds:
“I had lots of jobs when I was in High School and College and they were all private sector jobs.”
The Judge then later expands on this response by saying:
“I paid my way through school typing peoples papers. That was my little business.”
This comment raises some interesting questions. Did Ms. Kloppenburg create and own some sort of corporation or incorporated entity? That should be easy enough to find out. If not, was this income, which apparently was significant if it allowed her to pay her way through school, ever reported to the IRS?
A moment later the Judge makes the following statement:
“But I chose to serve the people of Wisconsin because I wanted the opportunity to..to work on cases that would have a direct and positive impact on all of our lives in the state........”
The first part of this comment (up to ..because) really expresses the ubiquitous mindset of most government workers - they serve the public while the private sector does not. Most people in the private sector know that their entire occupational existence depends upon their success in actually providing the public with something that they want or need. Most people would consider that serving the people of Wisconsin.
In the second part of Kloppenburg’s comment, the arrogance of the government worker toward the private sector gets reinforced by claiming that government cases apparently have direct and positive impacts while cases in the private sector do not.
This interview demonstrates why significant private sector experience matters, especially for a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.
After the post-debate press conference on Tuesday evening, March 15th, editor Steve Welcenbach asked Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg about the apparent lack of private sector experience in her professional experience portfolio. Please watch and listen to her response in this video:
Steve asks this question to the Judge:
“Have you ever had a job in the private sector or have you always worked for the government?”
After a long pause the Judge responds:
“I had lots of jobs when I was in High School and College and they were all private sector jobs.”
The Judge then later expands on this response by saying:
“I paid my way through school typing peoples papers. That was my little business.”
This comment raises some interesting questions. Did Ms. Kloppenburg create and own some sort of corporation or incorporated entity? That should be easy enough to find out. If not, was this income, which apparently was significant if it allowed her to pay her way through school, ever reported to the IRS?
A moment later the Judge makes the following statement:
“But I chose to serve the people of Wisconsin because I wanted the opportunity to..to work on cases that would have a direct and positive impact on all of our lives in the state........”
The first part of this comment (up to ..because) really expresses the ubiquitous mindset of most government workers - they serve the public while the private sector does not. Most people in the private sector know that their entire occupational existence depends upon their success in actually providing the public with something that they want or need. Most people would consider that serving the people of Wisconsin.
In the second part of Kloppenburg’s comment, the arrogance of the government worker toward the private sector gets reinforced by claiming that government cases apparently have direct and positive impacts while cases in the private sector do not.
This interview demonstrates why significant private sector experience matters, especially for a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.