Last week, Governor Doyle quietly appointed William Pocan to be a Milwaukee County circuit court judge, replacing Michael Sullivan. As you may know, William Pocan is the brother of outspoken Democratic State Representative Mark Pocan.

By all accounts, Mark Pocan is a good guy. He\’s a royal pain in the backside to Republicans, but it\’s because he can afford to be, given his ultra-liberal district. For all I know, his brother\’s a decent guy as well.

However, I looked up his biography at his current law firm, Jastroch and LaBarge, and it says the following (my emphasis):

William S. Pocan received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Law School in 1984. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Bar Association and the Waukesha County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Wisconsin State Bar\’s Consumer Information and Protection Committee and the Milwaukee Bar Association Bench/Bar Civil Committee. Attorney Pocan concentrates his practice in the area of civil litigation, primarily representing consumers in automobile warranty litigation (Wisconsin Lemon Law and Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act cases) and other consumer matters.

So how exactly does one go from suing car dealers for warranty violations to a seat on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court? How in any way does drumming up Lemon Law violations prepare someone for dealing with Milwaukee County criminals? When someone accused of stabbing comes to trial, Pocan will likely sentence him to three years of driving a Yugo with a bent axle. Sleep well, Milwaukee.

So how did he get the job? Does it have anything to do with the fact that his brother carries Jim Doyle pom-poms around, publicly defending him at every turn? Wasn\’t it Mark Pocan that called a legislative hearing that aimed to get answers about criminal indictments in the Doyle Administration a \”dog and pony show?\” Wasn\’t that Mark Pocan somehow blaming gubernatorial candidate Mark Green for the failure of a bogus ethics bill to be scheduled for the floor of the Assembly, when Doyle himself won\’t even call a special session on the same bill? Isn\’t that Mark Pocan out campaigning for Doyle\’s hand-picked Democratic Attorney General candidate, Kathleen Falk? Need I go on?

Of course, William Pocan is a generous Jim Doyle donor, having given him $500 over the last four years. I don\’t hold this against him, because governors always have appointed financial supporters to positions, and always will. In fact, I plan on giving money to Mark Green in the hopes that he names me to the prestigious position of State Booty Inspector.

SIDE NOTE: If anyone at Pocan\’s law firm deserves to be a judge, it is Vincent Megna, fresh off his role of Carbone in Goodfellas. Brother is ca$h money.