Litigation

Public Dollars Sought in WI Court Race

By Peter Hardin

Wisconsin’s new public financing system for state Supreme Court candidates comes into play for the first time this year, and three  candidates have applied four public dollars.

Incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and two challengers, Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg and Madison lawyer Joel Winning, filed campaign finance reports Wednesday that will be used by state officials to decide whether the candidates qualify, according to an Associated Press article.

Under Wisconsin’s new public campaign financing law, qualified candidates may receive up to $100,000 in advance of the February primary and $300,000 moving into April’s general election. The new law is facing a constitutional challenge in court (see Gavel Grab).

Marla Stephens, director of the state public defender’s office appellate division, is another challenger seeking Justice Prosser’s seat in what is one of the few state Supreme Court races in the country this year.

The contest is drawing attention from observers interested to see whether public financing may mean less spending and fewer negative ads, according to a WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio report.

?Recent Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have been absolutely ghastly spectacles, insane amounts of money have been spent. A lot of special interest involvement. Well this spring?s election could be very different,? said Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a partner group of Justice at Stake.

A commentary in the Madison Capital Times, meanwhile, suggested questions about appropriate political activity by the campaign of an incumbent justice already have begun flying. The column was headlined, “Plain Talk: Prosser’s conduct unbefitting a justice.”

In 2009, Wisconsin became the third state to adopt public financing for state appellate court elections, joining North Carolina and New Mexico. Its goal was to curb the influence of special-interest money on judicial elections and get judges out of the business of raising money from people who appear before them in court. West Virginia subsequently passed a pilot public financing plan for state Supreme Court elections there.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 05, 2011 (boomark / email).