Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Wisconsin supreme-court candidate Brian Hagedorn was labeled a bigot by the state's largest newspaper. His crime? He founded a Christian school that adhered to a Biblical model for human relationships. On February 14, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a negative headline against Hagedorn because the Christian school he founded  won't allow teachers, students or parents involved with homosexual relationships. In other words, the school is staying true to its religious convictions. A week later, another hit piece by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contended that Hagedorn gave a speech to a hate group. The so called “hate group” was the Alliance Defending Freedom— a respectable conservative nonprofit legal organization that defends religious liberty. Even though Hagedorn was smeared by big media and outspent, he ended up pulling off an upset, which reminds us that even voters in the blue state of Wisconsin know that religious belief isn’t incompatible with public service.