Court candidates discuss interests of outside groups

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As third-party advertisements become more prevalent in the state Supreme Court race, the two candidates spoke for themselves at an afternoon forum on Feb. 25, sponsored by the Dane County Bar Association.

Incumbent Justice Louis B. Butler Jr. firmly expressed his preference that outside interest groups “stand down” from affiliating themselves with him or his opponent, Burnett County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Gableman.

“I would kind of like to control the message of who I am, so that when the voters decide, they are looking at me and not some rendition of who I am from somebody I don’t know through funds that come from some group,” said Butler.

Gableman was less direct in calling for a complete end to third-party involvement, though he did call for Butler to publicly denounce a recent television ad run by the Greater Wisconsin Committee, which questions the method by which the judge was appointed in 2002.

Two organizations, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, have recently run radio and television ads promoting Gableman’s credentials.

“I asked him to take the particular ad down, which mischaracterizes and misleads the voters about certain aspects of my past, and I did not hear a particular response,” said Gableman.

Campaign Control

Butler said he hoped all third-party groups would avoid the campaign, but declined to single out a particular organization. Both candidates cited the difficulties in exerting any authority over “shadowy self-interest” groups because of First Amendment rights.

However, both Gableman and Butler acknowledged the control they have over their own campaigns and addressed whether an independent body should regulate the process.

In the last week, Gableman’s campaign manager, Darrin Schmitz, alleged the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee (WJCIC) communicated a bias for Butler through a series of e-mails among committee members.

Schmitz indicated that the campaign would no longer recognize the WJCIC as an authoritative body. Committee Chairman Thomas J. Basting Sr. said the e-mails did not compromise the group.

Gableman did not directly address the allegations, but cited two concerns with an outside group monitoring campaign activity, one of them being the composition of the organization.

“It would depend on who the group is,” he said. “Are they composed of my opponent’s supporters, what kind of agenda and what kind of hidden agenda do they have, and what kind of process they use.”

Intermediary is Unnecessary

Gableman also suggested that voters do not need an “arbiter” or a “broker” between their candidates to tell them who is acting appropriately or inappropriately.

Butler said he was unsure if an independent watchdog was necessary to supervise campaigns, but Wisconsin has one at this point and he planned to recognize them. He also indicated his campaign would continue to abide by the conduct pledge extended by the WJCIC.

“To the extent that there are organizations or individuals out there willing to assist in that pattern, I welcome that,” said Butler. “I know we signed [a pledge] long ago, not drafted by my campaign, and we will live by that pledge.”

Gableman declined to sign the WJCIC pledge and his staff recently drafted their own version, which was sent to Butler.

“We put the two pledges down side by side to see what was different and I think ours includes everything that their pledge does, but there’s a lot of things they haven’t agreed to,” said Butler.

Gableman defended his campaign’s tactics to this point.

“Despite everything we’ve heard from my opponent, there was not one thing that we heard about my campaign not conducting a positive one in terms of the ads,” said Gableman.