2011.03.23: March 23, 2011: Until recently, Botswana RPCV JoAnne Kloppenburg was a little-known assistant attorney general with the Department of Justice who, in any other year, would have little chance of unseating an entrenched incumbent. But now she is riding on a wave of anger that gives her a good shot
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2011.03.23: March 23, 2011: Until recently, Botswana RPCV JoAnne Kloppenburg was a little-known assistant attorney general with the Department of Justice who, in any other year, would have little chance of unseating an entrenched incumbent. But now she is riding on a wave of anger that gives her a good shot
Until recently, Botswana RPCV JoAnne Kloppenburg was a little-known assistant attorney general with the Department of Justice who, in any other year, would have little chance of unseating an entrenched incumbent. But now she is riding on a wave of anger that gives her a good shot
Kloppenburg, 57, started her career in public service in Botswana as a Peace Corps volunteer. "My husband and I got married the day before we left," she says. After graduating from a large Connecticut high school, Kloppenburg landed a scholarship at Yale, enrolling in only the second class of women accepted into the elite Ivy League school. She graduated with honors, majoring in Russian studies. "I wanted to be an ambassador," she says. With that in mind, she attended the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, but found the world of diplomacy in the 1970s dominated by nuclear deterrence, "and I was interested in a more people-oriented approach." So she switched her focus to Third World development, earned her master's degree in 1976, and joined the Peace Corps. In Botswana Kloppenburg became a rural development planner. After working in various districts for two years, the government of Botswana asked her to stay on for another year and direct rural development for the entire country.
Until recently, Botswana RPCV JoAnne Kloppenburg was a little-known assistant attorney general with the Department of Justice who, in any other year, would have little chance of unseating an entrenched incumbent. But now she is riding on a wave of anger that gives her a good shot
Enraged by Walker, activists put Kloppenburg's Supreme Court campaign on their shoulders
Enraged by Walker, activists put Kloppenburg's Supreme Court campaign on their shoulders
STEVEN ELBOW | The Capital Times | selbow@madison.com madison.com | Loading… | Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 6:45 am
Kent Hall is mad as hell at Gov. Scott Walker, but since Walker isn't up for re-election he wants to vent his anger on Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, who is. So he started his own political action committee to back Prosser's opponent, JoAnne Kloppenburg, in the April 5 election.
"We're moving from chanting, clapping our hands, shouting and marching to getting even," says Hall, a retired UW-Stevens Point biology professor, who with his wife, Sue, and several friends has printed and distributed hundreds of campaign fliers and made well over 100 yard signs to distribute throughout Portage County, 100 miles north of Madison.
"If we can tie Prosser to Scott Walker, then a vote for Kloppenburg will be a vote against Walker," he says.
It's a theme that's gaining traction as the Supreme Court race approaches. And Kloppenburg supporters see it as their first chance to give voters a statewide referendum on the Walker administration. Many of those supporters, like Hall, are acting on their own to take up Kloppenburg's banner as her campaign reaches the legal limit of what it can spend.
[Excerpt]
While Prosser and Kloppenburg differ on their approach to judicial matters, their personal stories, too, provide a stark contrast. Prosser's story is all about politics, but Kloppenburg, 57, started her career in public service in Botswana as a Peace Corps volunteer.
"My husband and I got married the day before we left," she says.
After graduating from a large Connecticut high school, Kloppenburg landed a scholarship at Yale, enrolling in only the second class of women accepted into the elite Ivy League school. She graduated with honors, majoring in Russian studies.
"I wanted to be an ambassador," she says.
With that in mind, she attended the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, but found the world of diplomacy in the 1970s dominated by nuclear deterrence, "and I was interested in a more people-oriented approach." So she switched her focus to Third World development, earned her master's degree in 1976, and joined the Peace Corps.
In Botswana Kloppenburg became a rural development planner. After working in various districts for two years, the government of Botswana asked her to stay on for another year and direct rural development for the entire country.
She and her husband, UW professor Jack Kloppenburg, next spent six weeks aboard Greyhound buses trying to decide where they wanted to move. They chose upstate New York, where Jack got his Ph.D. at Cornell University, and JoAnne started Women Infants and Children programs, a federally funded effort to support low-income families, in two counties. When the programs were up and running, she took a job as an associate dean at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y.
She decided to attend law school, and with a 3-year-old and a newborn - they eventually had a third child - she enrolled at UW. While attending law school, she interned for Abrahamson and clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb.
In 1989 she joined the state Department of Justice, eventually serving under two Democratic and two Republican attorneys general. She started with the civil litigation unit where she handled cases concerning civil and constitutional rights and prisoner litigation. In 1991 she moved to the environmental protection unit, where she enforces the state's environmental laws.
She's taught at the UW Law School since 1990 and coordinates the school's "extern" program, which gives students experience in public advocacy and litigation.
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Headlines: March, 2011; Peace Corps Botswana; Directory of Botswana RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Botswana RPCVs; Law; State Government; Jurisprudence; Wisconsin
When this story was posted in April 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Peace Corps: The Next Fifty Years As we move into the Peace Corps' second fifty years, what single improvement would most benefit the mission of the Peace Corps? Read our op-ed about the creation of a private charitable non-profit corporation, independent of the US government, whose focus would be to provide support and funding for third goal activities. Returned Volunteers need President Obama to support the enabling legislation, already written and vetted, to create the Peace Corps Foundation. RPCVs will do the rest. |
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
| Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
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Story Source: The Cap Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Botswana; Law; State Government; Jurisprudence
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