Response to Erickson’s claims

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to last week's letter from Gregory Erickson who claims to be a "Constitution Defender". It has been my experience when reading letters to the editor or writings in general that people who make claims like this show in their comments how little they really know about the Constitution. Mr. Erickson claims Supreme Court justice Janet Protasiewicz is owned by the Democratic Party because they give her campaign $10 million. Truth be, over $40 million was spent totally by both Janet's and Dan Kelly campaigns. What Kelly's campaign lacked in money directly from the Republican Party was made up in what is referred to as independent spending by the Republican Party's PAC to the tune of millions of dollars.

Mr. Erickson claims Protasiewicz is unethical for taking money from the Democratic Party but it must have slipped Mr. Erickson's memory that Kelly was paid $120,000 by the Republican Party after the 2020 election to try to find ways to get fake electors votes to replace the legal electors who cast their ballots for Biden in the 2020 Presidential election. If Erickson is a "Constitution Defender"(which he claims to be) he should have been outraged by this attempt to subvert a peaceful transfer of  Presidential power on January 6th 2021--something that is in the Constitution and has taken place after every Presidential election since 1789.

Mr. Erickson claimed that Protasiewicz "fooled the Wisconsin voters and won". Actually, she was honest and told the voters what her views were concerning the two main issues in last Spring's election-- abortion and gerrymandering. Voters by large majorities support her views on those issues and that is why she won by overwhelmingly margin. Wisconsinites know where Kelly stood on the issues even though he refused to tell the voters where he stood. The voters were not fooled, they were informed.

Mr. Erickson claims that Justice Protasiewicz's one election victory is insignificant compared to the many elections that Republican legislators have won in the past decade. Of course the victories in the state legislature are the result of rigged redistricting called gerrymandering. In the past three statewide elections in Wisconsin where there is no gerrymandering  (2018, 2020, & 2022) most voters voted for Democrats. Yet Republicans hold the majority by large margins because of rigged redistricting. A true defender of the Constitution would be disgusted by what has happened in our state. So, while Mr. Erickson likes to sign his letters "Constitution Defender"....

Tom Osting

Truth Defender

Platteville, WI