Update, 6:45 PM: Gableman changes his story, now says altercation with Bradley was 2009, not 2008. Incredible.
But he had previously said that he knew it was 2008, because he had only been on the court a short while (“…reports also quote him as saying he had been on the court for about a month at the time. Gableman began his 10-year term on the high court Aug. 1, 2008.) Via Wisconsin State Journal.
Original post:
Over at the Wisconsin State Journal today, Dee Hall’s story about Justice Gableman’s flimsy recollection of an altercation offers reason to doubt his truthfulness, but reason also to believe in the quality of Wisconsin journalism. See, Justices dispute Gableman account of second altercation involving Bradley.
The lede: “Three Wisconsin Supreme Court justices are disputing an allegation by Justice Michael Gableman that Justice Ann Walsh Bradley rapped him on the head during a 2008 meeting at which they were reportedly present. Gableman relayed the alleged incident to Dane County Sheriff’s deputies during the investigation into a June 13 altercation between Bradley and Justice David Prosser.”
Gableman told Dane County detectives that he made a joke about Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson (apparently by using her first name, following a line from the film Airplane!), and said that Justice Bradley rebuked him for disrespect by hitting him on the head.
Although Gableman said he remembered the date (9.18.08) well because it was his birthday, the supposed encounter is unlikely — it turns out court was not in session, and the justices were not present in their offices that day.
This is a powerful contradiction: Gableman initiated the claim, was specific about the date, and the claim impugned Bradley’s reputation by describing her to be pugnacious, and willing to hit someone.
One more point, that deserves making, as Hall’s story does make it — many people over the years have called Shirley Abrahamson by her first name, and neither she nor those around her have ever seemed troubled by it. On the contrary, that’s very common.
Only a person ignorant of the social scene Abrahamson navigates would think calling her by her first name would incite a rebuke, let alone a hit to the head.
Gableman’s either given to deep confusion or shallow lies.