Judge enters race against Wisconsin chief justice
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Sounding the same campaign themes that succeeded in the past two hotly contest Supreme Court elections, a Jefferson County judge announced his candidacy Monday.
Judge Randy Koschnick, who will challenge Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, said he was a judicial conservative and that his opponent was an activist who legislates from the bench.
The two most recently elected justices, Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman, used similar themes in their races that were marked by vicious attack ads and millions of dollars in spending by outside groups.
Koschnick's campaign already has a partisan feel. His consultant is Darrin Schmitz, a Republican who ran Gableman's campaign for the court earlier this year.
Koschnick's spokesman is Todd Allbaugh, a Republican candidate for the state Assembly this year who lost in the September primary. He also formerly worked for Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center.
Abrahamson, a 32-year veteran of the court, has said in recent speeches that the independence of the judiciary is put in jeopardy with high-cost, partisan judicial races.
"Wisconsin judges have both an institutional and personal interest in the election of judges and the tenor of campaigns," she said in her annual state of the judiciary speech delivered last week. "We must ensure that judicial campaigns are worthy of the electorate."
Koschnick said he agreed with Abrahamson that judicial races should be publicly financed. He also offered a clean campaign pledge that includes a promise to repudiate false accusations made by third-party groups during the campaign.
Abrahamson issued a statement welcoming Koschnick to the race but did not address the campaign pledge. She said it was essential for judicial candidates to be as nonpartisan as citizens expect their judges to be.
"People of the state reject tired labels and divisive rhetoric," she said in the statement.
Koschnick's announcement sets the stage for what could be another expensive contest for the Supreme Court. About $6 million has been spent in each of the past two Supreme Court elections, with much of it coming from outside groups.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business group, spent $4 million combined on behalf of successful candidates Ziegler and Gableman, according to an estimate by the government watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
WMC spokesman Jim Pugh said he didn't know yet how big a role the group would play in the upcoming race.
"Our board hasn't considered it," he said. "We communicate the messages that we think are appropriate about the issues that affect Wisconsin. That's what we've done in the past and what we'll do in the future. We're going to leave it at that."
Abrahamson, 74, was appointed to the court in 1976 and has been re-elected ever since. She has served as chief justice since 1996.
Koschnick was elected judge in 1999 and previously worked 14 years as a public defender in La Crosse and Jefferson counties.
Koschnick said that while his record as a public defender may be used against him in the campaign, as it was against Butler, he believes that would be a losing strategy.
The officially nonpartisan election is April 7 and there are no other declared candidates.
In the past race, the court's ideological balance was at stake. But with the Gableman win, conservatives are generally perceived to have a 4-3 majority on the court.
An ethics charge from this year's race in which Gableman defeated Justice Louis Butler remains unresolved.
The Wisconsin Judicial Commission filed a complaint against Gableman in October, saying he committed misconduct when he ran a television ad that falsely suggested Butler helped free a child molester.
A three-judge panel will hear the charge and recommend discipline to Gableman's colleagues on the Supreme Court, which could range from a reprimand to removal from the bench.
Nov 18, 2008 at 10:28 p.m.
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Concerning hiring Darrin Schmitz and partisans: Sounds like a good idea to hire someone who can advise you that has been through the process before. That does not mean that the campaign will be run in the same manner. The only way of obtaining experienced consultants and managers of a state-wide campaign is to either hire former supreme court justice campaigners or governor/senate campaigners, which would be partisan. There will be criticism of these decisions. That is to be expected. Judge Koschnick is a good man - intelligent, thoughtful, well spoken, honest, and fair. I believe him when he says he wants a clean campaign. I have known him for over 15 years. I don't know of a better person for the job.
Nov 18, 2008 at 7:36 p.m.
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In State v. Post and State v. Oldakowski(1995), Abrahamson was the only Justice to vote to find the sex predator law unconstitutional (a law that has kept hundreds of rapists and child molesters confined). In State v. Picottee (2003), State v. Armstrong (2005) and State v. Stuart (2005), Abrahamson cast the deciding vote to overturn murder convictions. Anyone can verify this information by going to WisBar.Org and look up the cases themselves. These are just a few examples of dozens of cases where Abrhamson voted in favor of the criminal defendant. Some of the folks who responded to my post may agree with Abrahmson's hug-a-thug mentality, but my guess is that the majority of the people who will vote next April won't.
As for Janesvillean's suggestion that I am the spawn of the WMC, I work in law enforcement and I don't even know what astroturfing is.
As for Butler, he had a similar record of voting for criminals rather than crime victims. While it is true that sex predator was never released in the case mentioned by PanamaRed (no talking points in that post) that was only because a lower court later determined that he shouldn't be released. The cold hard truth is that he would have been released if not for this later decision. The case is In re the commitment of Richard Brown (2005). Look it up yourself. The fact that Doyle even appointed Butler to the Supreme Court (probably to appeal to a certain segment of his political base) after Butler got trounced earlier when ran for the job on his own, only shows Doyle's arrogance. That fact that Butler lost for a second time shows that the voters aren't as stupid as the elites in the legal profession and the media would have us believe.
Nov 18, 2008 at 5:12 p.m.
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Clean campaign pledge? Along these lines, I'd like them both to tell me what they didn't like about the last two Supreme Court races. I think it would be most interesting for the two candidates to discuss the accusations that were made in the Gableman / Butler race and the Ziegler / Clifford race.
Judge Koschnick, what you think about the WMC ads discussing Butler's work as a public defender?
Nov 18, 2008 at 3:26 p.m.
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Louis Butler was twice the judge Mr. Gableman could ever hope to be. Yet, because of Gableman’s slanderous advertising campaign against Mr. Butler (the WMC contributed more than $2 million toward Gablemans Supreme Court bid) the man with less knowledge and experience won the election. Gableman accused Butler of casting the deciding vote to overturn a sexual predator decision resulting in the release of a predator. Trouble is the predator WAS NOT RELEASED. It’s no wonder that Gableman refused to sign the Judicial Election Campaign Advertising Agreement created by the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee, a watchdog group formed by the State Bar to monitor judicial campaigns and advertising and promote “fair and impartial” courts. Evidently a “fair and impartial” court is not something Gableman endorses. "I am proud of the campaign we ran," Gableman was quoted as saying, even thought due to advertising tactics used during the 2008 campaign against sitting-Justice Louis Butler, Gableman faces complaints filed with the state's Judicial Commission. The same man who ran Gableman’s campign was hired by Justice Koschnick to run his campaign. Looks like we’ll have more lies and innuendos to look forward to from the “law and order” conservatives in the next campaign. Justice Abrahamson has served with distinction and deserves re-election.
Nov 18, 2008 at 12:21 p.m.
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I don't care if JusticeMan just landed from Mars. Could Janesvillean please answer the substance of his contentions? If not, and given his 75 cent cyber vocabulary, I'd guess it's Mr. Janesville who's astroturfing.
Nov 18, 2008 at 10:47 a.m.
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Janesvillean--Spot on!! Wisconsin Supreme Court ranks 6th in the nation with respect to other state supreme courts looking to the W.S.Ct. to guide their opinions. Justice Abrahamson can take a lot of credit for that. On the other hand, her challenger has more of a delusion, than a clue about the justice system--at least as measured by his press releases on the radio.
Nov 17, 2008 at 11:44 p.m.
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JusticeMan has no history of commentary on Gazettextra, and comes prepared with talking points, so I feel free to assume this is organized astroturfing. It's probably our good friends the WMC, who have bought two Supreme Court Justices in a row, and are looking for a threepeat. The only question is whether they'll be able to scare Wisconsin residents enough again.
Nov 17, 2008 at 9:36 p.m.
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Abrahamson has been a terrible Supreme Court Justice for anyone who believes criminals should be held accountable for their actions. She was the only Justice who voted to declare the sexual predator law unconstitutional when the law was first enacted and has frequently cast the deciding vote to reverse murder, sexual assault and robbery convictions. Anyone who believes a judge should be more concerned about crime victims rather than criminals should vote for Judge Koschnick.
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