Do Wisconsin Judges Contribute to Campaigns?

By Kyle Maichle, Editor of Wisconsin Election Watch, 

MADISON – Despite Wisconsin having a non-partisan judiciary, records show there are judges that do contribute to political campaigns.   However, the ones that do are limited on who they can donate to.

The Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct places strict prohibitions on what types of political activities that members of the judiciary can participate in.  Under SCR 60.06 (2) in the Code of Conduct, Judges are prohibited to “Make or solicit financial or other contributions in support of a political party’s causes or candidates.”  Judges are allowed to contribute to another judicial campaign, but they are restricted on who can raise money for their campaign efforts.

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Under SCR 60.06 (4), judicial candidates cannot personally accept or make appeals to raise money for their campaigns.  A judge can serve as the Chairman of the fundraising committee for their campaigns, but they are to avoid any direct involvement in raising money.  A judicial candidate is not prohibited from seeking contributions from practicing Attorneys.  However, judicial candidates are not allowed to seek contributions from an individual who is a party to a pending case for the judicial office they are seeking.

From sampling Government Accountability Board Records (GAB) from the 2013 spring elections, cases were found of judges contributing to a fellow judge’s campaign.  In February and March of 2013, Judge J.D. Watts contributed $800 to Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign for the Branch 45 seat in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Her opponent, Rebecca Bradley, received $25.00 from Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge Kevin Martens in March of 2013.

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In the hotly contested race in the Ozaukee County Circuit Court for the seat in Branch 2, Joe Voiland, who defeated long-time incumbent Tom Wolfgram, received $250.00 after his campaign ended from Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, along with receiving $1,000 from Justice Mike Gableman’s campaign committee.  This strikes in contrast to when Justice Gableman endorsed Judge Wolfgram during the campaign.  Wolfgram also won the endorsements of Justice Annette Ziegler along with two judges on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and twelve circuit court judges.

When looking for campaign finance information on Judge Wolfgram, none was available on the campaign finance database provided by the GAB.  Registration records show that Wolfgram’s re-election committee was terminated.

Editor's Note-Our article can be found at: http://wisconsinelectionwatch.com/12475/wisconsin-judges-contribute-campaigns/