Calls for reform increase after contentious Supreme Court race
(Published Thursday, April 5, 2007 10:28:40 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Scott Bauer Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - In the moments after her overwhelming victory for the state Supreme Court, Annette Ziegler was already talking about changing the way campaigns for the bench are run.
"I'm hopeful that there could be some changes," she said Tuesday, after soundly defeating Madison attorney Linda Clifford, 58 percent to 42 percent. About 20 percent of the state's voting age population cast ballots in the race, as predicted by the state Elections Board.
But although Ziegler said she wants reform, she wouldn't say what sort she'd push for.
"I don't go in with a particular agenda or anything like that," she said.
Her campaign spokesman Mark Graul said Wednesday that Ziegler was open to ideas that would make campaigns less costly and more focused on specific ideas.
Reformers will have plenty of ammunition following a state Supreme Court race that broke records for spending and negative advertising. This year's contest was the "nastiest and bleakest" in state history, said Mike McCabe, executive director of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, has said the Senate would consider bills to require more disclosure and provide more public financing for Supreme Court races.
Retiring Justice Jon P. Wilcox, who Ziegler is replacing Aug. 1, said Wednesday that this campaign convinced him reforms are needed. However, he does not support full public financing for campaigns because of First Amendment concerns. And the people appear to support electing judges rather than appointing them, he said.
"I don't have the magic bullet or the solution to it," Wilcox said. But the negative campaign seen in this race only hurts the judicial system, he said.
But with justices up for re-election to the bench next year and the year after, McCabe said this campaign was just the beginning of high-price, highly partisan fights for seats on the bench.
"I think this race will not be the last of its kind, unfortunately, unless some significant reforms are adopted," he said. "This race will only embolden the interest groups because they got to do all the talking, and they'll want to continue to have that monopoly on the debate."
Groups that spent money on Ziegler's side in the race included the conservative Club for Growth Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. The more liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee backed Clifford.
A recent tally showed at least $3.4 million had been spent on the race by the candidates and outside groups, and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimated the final total may reach $6 million - more than four times the previous record for a Supreme Court race set in 1999.
Former state Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske, currently a law professor at Marquette University, said she thinks Ziegler will be a thoughtful and independent judge, but some will question her decisions given the money outside groups spent to help get her elected.
"She will have to fight that perception," Geske said.
When asked about the special interests that spent money on her behalf, Ziegler said Tuesday following her victory, "There's no one I'm beholden to."
A complaint filed during the race by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is pending before the state Judicial Commission. It was filed over Ziegler's decision not to step down from cases in which she potentially had a conflict of interest.
The term of Justice Louis Butler Jr. is up next year, followed by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in 2009. Both of them are seen as among three more liberal members of the court. Ziegler joins two others who are generally seen as conservatives. Justice Patrick Crooks is considered a swing vote.
Butler joined the court in 2004 after being appointed by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle to fill a vacancy. Abrahamson is the longest-serving member of the court, having been there since 1976.
