Word Of The Day: Ethickiness

Stephen Colbert coined the word "truthiness," defining is at "truth that comes from the gut, not books."

In honor of Supreme Court Justice Annette "Gut Check" Ziegler, I hereby propose a new word: Ethickiness. It means ethics that comes from the gut, not books or the law.

Ziegler's ethickiness can be again evidenced in this article regarding a ruling that Ziegler must fully disclose what is in her family's blind trusts:

Gerald Nichol, a former Dane County circuit judge, said Ziegler has had "problems in the past understanding" conflict-of-interest rules, so her waiver request should be denied.

Shortly after being elected in 2007, Ziegler was reprimanded by her fellow justices for failing to step aside in cases involving West Bend Savings Bank - where her husband is a director - when she was a Washington County judge.

Jonathan Becker, director of the board's Ethics Division, said one "troubling aspect" of Ziegler's trust is the designation of a brother-in-law as trustee.

For the gentle reader that has memory problems, like Owen Robinson seems to experience, Ziegler took her seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court under a cloud of suspicion for failing to recuse herself from cases which involved either the bank her husband worked for or companies in which she owned stock.

Despite being reprimanded by her fellow Supremes, she apparently has not learned from her past "mistakes."

I for one would find it suspicious that someone with previous violations of the ethics code wouldn't be aware of what's in her blind trust. This is especially true with the fact that her brother-in-law is the trustee. I'm sure there's no chance of collaboration there. [/sarcasm]

Cory Liebmann has more on the issue.