Candidates blast away in debate before Tuesday's election
(Published Friday, March 30, 2007 11:26:20 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - In a fiery final debate before Tuesday's election, Annette Ziegler accused rival Linda Clifford of running an unprecedented negative campaign for a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Clifford, a Madison lawyer, shot back that her ads told the truth in describing shortcomings in Ziegler's 10-year record as a Washington County judge, including a failure to disclose conflicts of interests and giving light sentences to sex offenders.
But Ziegler said Clifford's ads - and her campaign's hiring of an investigator to look into her public record - were misleading and had taken Wisconsin politics to "a new low."
Ziegler said she was proud of her record as a judge and told Clifford, a lawyer for 32 years who has practiced a wide range of areas: "What is your record? You don't have a record."
The debate was held in Wisconsin Public Television studios and broadcast statewide. We the People/Wisconsin, a coalition of media outlets, sponsored the event.
The two are competing to replace retiring Justice Jon Wilcox.
The outcome could tip the ideological balance of the seven-member court which could mean different rulings on issues ranging from crime to product liability to gay rights.
Wilcox is considered one of three conservatives on the court, along with three justices considered liberal and one swing vote.
Republicans and conservative groups have backed Ziegler, a judge for 10 years and a former federal prosecutor.
Democrats and liberal groups are aligned with Clifford, a former assistant attorney general and veteran lawyer.
Although Ziegler had a two-to-one lead after the February primary, the race seems to have tightened in recent weeks.
Under questioning from a panel of citizens, Clifford and Ziegler sat on stools across a table from each other as they touted their own experience.
Ziegler said her time as a judge and prosecutor makes her qualified; Clifford said her background as a lawyer would bring perspective to the court.
During one part of the event, the hosts played television ads from each side and allowed the candidates to debate about them.
Ziegler defended an ad that said Clifford could "pocket millions" by ruling in ways that could benefit her husband, a prominent trial lawyer. The ad points out Clifford's support for a 2005 court decision that struck down damage limits in medical malpractice cases.
By ruling on such cases in the future, "that could directly impact your household income," Ziegler told Clifford.
Clifford said she would recuse herself from cases involving her husband and work with regulators to avoid potential conflicts.
Clifford, meanwhile, said she ran an ad accusing Ziegler of giving light sentences to sex offenders to discredit Ziegler's claims that she was tough on crime.
"That's a value I don't think is shared by most Wisconsin parents and certainly not the victims of these crimes," she said.
Clifford's ad focuses on Ziegler's sentence for a man convicted in 1998 of abusing a girl more than 180 times. She sentenced the man to a year in jail and 20 years of probation even though prosecutors sought at least 20 years of prison.
The ad calls the case part of a pattern in which Ziegler has given a majority of sex offenders less than a year in jail. Ziegler said the ad unfairly focuses on one case when she has given lengthy sentences to many others.
"The fact of the matter is I do have a reputation for sentencing people fairly and appropriately," she said.
Clifford said Ziegler was unethical for failing to recuse herself or notify the parties in cases involving a West Bend bank where her husband was a director.
Ziegler said many of the cases never reached her for a decision and she followed the ethical guidelines.
Those cases and others in which Ziegler did not recuse herself involving corporations in which she and her husband had financial or business ties prompted the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to ask for an investigation by state regulators.
Clifford said it was unprecedented to have a judge running for Supreme Court while there was a complaint filed against her before the Wisconsin Judicial Commission.
Three days after the complaint, Ziegler announced she would put all her stock holdings into a blind trust. The commission will decide after the election whether to investigate.
