Victim upset with new Supreme Court ad

GREEN BAY - A ad against a Supreme Court justice and candidate has a sexual assault victim upset. 

A new ad says Supreme Court Justice David Prosser refused to prosecute a sexual assault case. It refers to his time as Outagamie County District Attorney. The ad is paid for by the Greater Wisconsin committee.

"It is a smear ad," said Prosser, who is seeking re-election to the state's high court. "It is a disgraceful ad. And it is not true. It is going to be answered to the best of our ability. But I can assure people that the ad is one of the worst, most untruthful and misleading ads that has ever been run in a judicial campaign."

In 2004, Father John Feeney was convicted of abusing brothers Troy and Todd Merryfield more than 25 years earlier. The ad references a website where Todd Merryfield says he is misquoted.

Todd Merryfield issued a statement in response to the ad, saying he is upset to see his court case being used as a political tool against Prosser. Merryfield goes on to say he finds the ad to be offensive, inaccurate, and out of context. Merryfield says he hopes the Greater Wisconsin committee will remove the ad, and hopes Prosser's opponent, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg will encourage the organization to pull it.

• Click here to read Merryfield's full statement

"I appreciate the concerns he has expressed," said Kloppenburg. "I have myself not seen the ad and I guess it's up to the voters to decide how they'll handle it. As I've said before, my campaign is focused on my message and on informing the voters based on my record and my approach to the job and that's how I want the voters to decide how they'll vote this election.

"I have to defend my record because I acted conscientiously, fairly, and responsibly in the interest of all the parties, as I understood it at the time. And that was 33 years ago," Prosser said. "To have this ad come up, make statements in it that are categorically untrue, I think is despicable evidence of how far the people who want me off the court are prepared to go to achieve their objectives. It is scandalous. It is shameful. My opponent ought to completely disavow this ad and it ought to be withdrawn."

The Greater Wisconsin committee that paid for the ad issued a statement saying it stands by it...The organization also points out the ad does not name any victims, and the group has "tremendous compassion" for victims of Feeney's abuse.

• Click here to read the Greater Wisconsin committee's full statement