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Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz says she's weighing a lawsuit over
claims of decades-ago abuse, racism





SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE JANET PROTASIEWICZ SAYS SHE'S WEIGHING A LAWSUIT OVER
CLAIMS OF DECADES-AGO ABUSE, RACISM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Daniel Bice   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show Caption
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Judge Protasiewicz responds to allegations of abuse
During an editorial board meeting with the Journal Sentinel, Judge Janet
Protasiewicz answers allegations that she abused her first husband and has used
the N-word.
Bill Schulz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


Supreme Court candidate Judge Janet Protasiewicz says she's considering a
lawsuit over accusations made by her former stepson alleging abuse during her
first marriage and the use of the N-word decades ago. 



The unverified accusations have run on the conservative website Wisconsin Right
Now.

The Journal Sentinel didn't publish the claims earlier because they originated
from a single source with a checkered past and some inconsistencies in his
story. The news organization is addressing them now that the candidate discussed
the allegations on the record, misinformation about them has circulated widely
on social media and a second individual has stepped forward with similar claims.

Protasiewicz, a liberal, is squaring off against former state Supreme Court
Justice Daniel Kelly, a conservative, in the April 4 election.  The winner of
the increasingly testy contest, marked by the influx of national money and
outside TV ads, will determine the ideological direction of the state's
seven-member court.



"It's an absolute lie, 100%. It smacks of some type of desperation by any media
outlet that works to promote that," Protasiewicz said during a meeting with
reporters and editors at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.



More:5 takeaways from the only Supreme Court election debate. Daniel Kelly and
Janet Protasiewicz take the gloves off.

Asked if she planned to sue, she responded: "My family and I have been
discussing that, and right now my focus is on winning this election. On April 5,
we're going to pivot and make a decision about that." 



Protasiewicz said she plans to contact an attorney on that date. She did not
specify if she is considering litigation against her former stepson, the
right-wing website or both. Wisconsin Right Now has openly promoted the Kelly
campaign in this race.

"These claims are completely false, devoid of proof, and are only being made by
a bitter, discredited, drug-dealing felon who will say anything to get
attention," said Sam Roecker, spokesman for the Protasiewicz campaign.



Michael Madden, Protasiewicz's former stepson, has been convicted of two
drug-related felonies, including one for conspiring to distribute 220 pounds of
marijuana.

Reached Wednesday, Madden said he had no fear of any litigation.

"I invite her to sue me," said Madden, the original source for the claims. "I'm
an eyewitness. That's not secondhand information. It's not hearsay."

In response to the candidate and her campaign, he said he has not sold drugs in
three decades and has a clean drug history.

In a joint statement, Jessica McBride and Jim Piwowarczyk of Wisconsin Right Now
said Protasiewicz was trying to keep these "serious allegations" from being made
public.



"Janet Protasiewicz's threat to sue is a tactic to intimidate the news media
into continuing to censor these stories, which voters have a right to know about
and which she is desperate to hide," McBride and Piwowarczyk wrote. "She said in
the debate yesterday that voters have a right to know her 'values.' These
questions directly speak to her values."

In the Monday meeting at the Journal Sentinel, Protasiewicz said she expected
her former stepchildren to say she married her first husband for his money but
nothing beyond that.



"When I first started thinking about this race, I thought — the biggest mistake
I made in my life, my first marriage — I thought, will this come out in
public?" she said she asked herself.

In 1997, Protasiewicz, then a 34-year-old assistant district attorney, married
former Milwaukee County Judge Patrick J. Madden, who was 70. The marriage did
not last long, with the two splitting up after 10 months.



In court records, Protasiewicz said she did not know there was a divorce clause
in the prenuptial agreement, which she contended she never read. She said she
didn't know Madden's adult son Michael would be living with them. Madden
disputed both points.

Protasiewicz asked for a total of $115,145 in maintenance and divided assets if
the judge threw out the prenuptial agreement. But the judge found it valid and
granted a divorce. In the end, she received $12,000 for furniture she disposed
of to move in with Madden, $485 for a burial plot and a share of the wedding
gifts.

There was no mention of abuse or racial slurs in the hefty divorce file.

Madden died in 2018 at the age of 91.


OTHER SIBLINGS DID NOT CONFIRM ALLEGATIONS, BUT SAID CANDIDATE TOOK ADVANTAGE OF
THEIR FATHER

In recent weeks, Michael Madden has accused Protasiewicz of physically and
mentally abusing his father during the brief marriage more than 25 years ago.

Michael Madden, 61, told the Journal Sentinel that she "slapped" his father in
the head when she was frustrated with him or pushed him around when the pair
disagreed. Michael Madden said he never called the police or any other
authorities but simply sent the two to bed after an incident.




Michael Madden also accused Protasiewicz of using a racial slur when referring
to Black individuals involved in cases at Milwaukee County Children's Court
while she was a prosecutor there in the 1990s.

Some details of the stepson's story have changed, and his siblings did not
confirm either allegation.

Late last week, Jonathan Ehr, a longtime Madden family friend, told the Journal
Sentinel he witnessed Protasiewicz push Madden twice, neither time knocking him
to the ground. Ehr said he saw Protasiewicz push Madden when he wasn't moving
fast enough and another time when they were standing in the dining room. 

Ehr's father was an attorney and friends with Patrick Madden for decades, Ehr
said. Ehr was friendly with the Madden children growing up but said it wasn't
until the 1990s that he and Michael Madden became close. 



"Not a love tap, nothing like that. It was a hard push," Ehr told the Journal
Sentinel. "I haven't thought about that in a long, long time. But you know, it's
something you don't really forget."

When asked if he had any other relevant information, Ehr told the Journal
Sentinel: "Well, I don't know. It was a long time. ago. I mean, people can
change."

Madden's two other children — Mark Madden, 66, and Sheila Casey, 59 — said they
didn't have first-hand knowledge of abuse. Michael Madden initially told the
Journal Sentinel he did not contact police, his siblings or anyone else about
his accusations. On Monday, he changed his account to say that he did mention
the alleged abuse to his brother around the time of the divorce. His brother
declined to respond.



In interviews with the Journal Sentinel in recent weeks, all three adult
children accused Protasiewicz of taking advantage of their father at a
vulnerable time. The judge's wife had died just five months before he and
Protasiewicz started dating. Protasiewicz's father was also gravely ill at the
time.



The children said the pair lived a very active life while dating and during the
marriage, traveling around the world, going whitewater rafting, riding roller
coasters and attending blues concerts. They said their father told them that he
didn't always enjoy this activity.

Michael Madden also said Protasiewicz wasn't the progressive she is now when she
was married to his father, a staunch conservative. The other two children said
they never heard Protasiewicz say she was opposed to abortion, but they said
they would find it hard to believe that their father would marry someone who
supported abortion rights.

All three children said they are anti-abortion.

Earlier this month, Protasiewicz, who has made abortion rights the cornerstone
of her campaign, disputed even discussing the issue with her former
stepchildren: "I can't even imagine that I would have had any substantive
conversations with them about anything involving deep personal thoughts."

She added that this was a "very strange time" in her life.

"My dad had just died, and somehow I ended up getting married to (Madden),"
Protasiewicz said. "And it's a period of my life that was so uncomfortable; I
don't even really talk about it."




PROTASIEWICZ STUNNED BY ACCUSATIONS, WHICH HAVE CIRCULATED WIDELY AND SPURRED
CALLS FOR PRO-KELLY 'MISINFORMATION ADS'

Protasiewicz told the Journal Sentinel that she hadn't expected "this level of
lies by a twice-convicted felon who has never held a job," a reference to
Michael Madden. "I'm surprised that anybody's even giving those the time of day,
quite frankly," she said.



Protasiewicz said she has never used the N-word, and her family and friends —
including her assistant, who is Black — were stunned by the accusation. 

Wisconsin Right Now claimed last week that the NAACP was concerned about
Protasiewicz's alleged use of a racial slur. But a review of the email exchange
shows Clarence P. Nicholas, president the NAACP's Milwaukee chapter, was highly
skeptical of the claim and raised questions about its source. On Wednesday the
NAACP asked the site to retract its story.



Wisconsin Right Now's pieces have relied on accusations made by Michael Madden
and Ehr about events they said happened decades ago. But recently, anonymous
pro-Kelly tweets viewed thousands of times show discussions of creating
“misinformation ads” with doctored “videos or articles” relating to Protasiewicz
using the N-word.

Over the weekend, Protasiewicz said she went to Racine to campaign at
predominately Black churches. She said she called ahead to make sure they were
still interested in her attending. Protasiewicz said she told one of the bishops
that these types of accusations are why most people don't run for office. 

"He gave me a hug and said, 'the truth will be known,' and I didn't even know
him," Protasiewicz said. "There is absolutely no truth to those statements. This
has been incredibly hard for me and for my family." 

Erik Ugland, a libel law expert at Marquette University's Diederich College of
Communication, said a lawsuit by Protasiewicz would probably be a "losing
battle" given the standards required to win a libel suit.



In libel cases, public figures have to meet a more stringent standard than do
private citizens, even if a defendant has published false information. Courts
have ruled that public figures, including government officials, have to prove
the existence of actual malice “by clear and convincing proof.”

Because Wisconsin Right Now said it had both on-the-record and anonymous
sources, it would be hard to show the website was reckless with the truth, even
if the allegations turn out to be false, Ugland said.

Protasiewicz could win, Ugland said, if she could prove that Wisconsin Right
Now's sources were plainly not credible, but she would also have to show that
the conservative website knew these sources were not trustworthy.

In the end, Ugland said, "My guess is that she will not ultimately pursue the
case, but she probably feels (the threat of a lawsuit is) her only politically
viable option beyond simply a public denial."



Corrinne Hess of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter
@DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

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