Two for the Show

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It was an unfortunate end to 2007 for attorney Charlie Schutze.

On Dec. 27, the candidate for state Supreme Court announced his withdrawal from the race due to health concerns and days later dealt with significant flooding in his law office in Madison.

“It’s been a rough week or so,” said Schutze, 57, who was scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery on Jan. 3 and will also have an operation to alleviate a partially obstructed airway in early February.

His departure leaves Burnett County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Gableman as the lone challenger to incumbent Justice Louis B. Butler Jr.

Schutze said his decision to withdraw was made after he consulted with his doctor the day after Christmas.

“I was hoping to put off the shoulder surgery until April, but I was told that I could not delay the other one,” said Schutze. “The recovery time would have made it impossible to appear at debates or forums before the primary.”

When he declared his candidacy in August, Schutze did not anticipate any health-related obstacles during his campaign. In July, he underwent what he thought was successful surgery for the same breathing complication and did not experience significant shoulder pain until Nov-ember.

“I thought I was in good shape, but physical therapy didn’t help the shoulder and the surgery I had in July was only partially effective,” said Schutze.

He estimated that “only a few thousand” dollars had been personally invested into the campaign, but he plans to return all uncashed checks to campaign contributors and refund accepted donations from supporters.

“Fortunately we haven’t spent a tremendous amount of money and most of it has come out of my office,” said Schutze, who suggested that had he survived the primary, he could have defeated Butler in the general election.

“If it came down to Butler and myself, I definitely think I could beat him,” said Schutze. “I don’t know what’s going to happen now.”

Sachin Chheda, a campaign advisor to Butler, said Schutze’s withdrawal and lack of a primary will have little impact on the justice’s election strategy and fundraising efforts.

“We still have someone out there attacking and we need to have the resources to defend Justice Butler’s record,” said Chheda. “It just means (Butler’s) name will be on the ballot once instead of twice.”

Darrin Schmitz, campaign manager for Gableman, said it was too early to determine what impact a two-candidate race will have on strategy. He did acknowledge that the remaining candidates have distinctly different styles and voters should have a clearer contrast as the April 1 election nears.

“Judge Gableman certainly welcomes people who were supporters of Charlie to the campaign, but at the same time I’m not aware of his campaign announcing any endorsements,” said Schmitz.

Despite the immediate setback, Schutze said he may run for a seat on the Dane County Circuit Court in the future.

“I understand that there may be two seats opening up soon and I may very well choose to run for one of those,” said Schutze.