wer-sal (n)

Another word for weasel. Greg Wersal, at least that’s the name he is using today, filed petition Friday for the investigation of past and current members of the Minnesota Supreme Court. You remember Wersal; he’s the knave who changed his name to “Carlson” in an unsuccessful run for the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2000. Here’s the story from the link:

Wersal? Carlson? Carlson-Wersal? What’s His Name?

In August 2000, Kiffmeyer ruled that Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Greg Wersal could use his wife’s maiden name, Carlson, on the ballot. Critics charged that the move was an attempt to pander to voters of Scandinavian descent. Wersal had not (at least not for any public purpose) used the name “Carlson” before the election, nor has he used it since. Wersal is an attorney, listed in the Martindale-Hubbell lawyer directory, but his name appears there as “Gregory F. Wersal.” Additionally, Wersal was the petitioner in a U.S. Supreme Court case relating to his candidacy (but not relating to this issue). His brief to the Court listed his name as “Gregory F. Wersal.” Greg and Cheryl Wersal also have their phone number listed under "G & C Wersal.” Still, Kiffmeyer decided that she would be engaging in gender-based discrimination against Wersal if she denied his request to adopt his wife’s name on the ballot, when wives have traditionally taken their husbands’ names.

Here’s what Carlson-now-back-to-Wersal seeks:

Wersal asked the Board on Judicial Standards and the Lawyers Board of Professional Responsibility to look into Chief Justice Russell Anderson, Justice G. Barry Anderson, Justice Paul Anderson and former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz.

"The public needs to know if judges on our highest court have engaged in unethical conduct by giving pledges, promises, assurances or mere hints as to how they would rule on an issue likely to come before the court," Wersal wrote in a letter to the two boards. He released the letter to reporters. [of course he did, Spot] [italics are Spot’s, too]

You can see how ol’ Greg might think it would be useful to have Scandinavian name!

The conduct that Wersal is complaining about arises, of course, out of l’affaire de johnson, the ethics charge made against Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson that was recently dismissed. Conservatives have been trying to keep the issue alive to try to hurt Dean Johnson politically and try to force a floor vote in the Senate on the gay marriage amendment ban bill. Captain Fishsticks has labored mightily at the project, and Spot comments here. Katie had a column excreting outrage, and Spot commented in post titled The feces-flinging monkey. Spot has a couple of other posts about the flap, too.

And now comes Wersal. For years, Wersal has been jumping up and down like the Eddie Murphy donkey in the movie Shrek shouting PICK ME PICK ME in a effort to get a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He can’t get a governor to do it, so he has run for the office – unsuccessfully – a couple of times. Wersal the weasel’s petition is just a transparent attempt to set himself up to do it again.

The person with the least amount of standing on planet earth to bring a petition alleging the discussion of issues by Justices outside the court is Greg Wersal. You see, boys and girls, Greg Wersal along with the Republican Party in Minnesota are the agents of destruction in dismantling the rules against party endorsements for judges and the discussion of specific issues in judicial campaigns.

It's not the first time Wersal has taken on Supreme Court or its members. He twice tried and failed to win a seat on the Supreme Court during elections. And he was the driving force in a federal lawsuit that successfully eased restrictions on judicial campaigning.

Ironically, he helped persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Minnesota rules barring judicial candidates from talking about disputed legal and political issues during campaigns.

Wersal said in his letter that the 2002 decision doesn't allow judges to make pledges or promises on issues that are likely to come before them. [italics are Spot’s]

Spotty says more than ironically, how about hypocritically? No one ever said, least of all Senator Johnson, that a Justice made a pledge or promise about a DOMA vote. Nor is this the first time that Wersal has tried to harm the reputation or position of a public official. In 2001, he was part of a scheme to have Attorney Mike Hatch recalled for not defending the State’s anti-sodomy law, which was struck down.

Wersal is just another Republican trouble maker. One who thinks that he and his agenda should be on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Tags: Greg Wersal makes a cameo appearance in l'affaire de johnson