Supreme Court candidates spar with words

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During his opening statements at a forum sponsored by the Milwaukee Bar Association, state Supreme Court candidate Michael J. Gableman jokingly felt the need to introduce himself to attendees in light of recent television advertisements.

“Some of you might have a bit of difficulty recognizing me without my head moving up and down in a rhythmic, almost bobble fashion,” said Gableman, referring to a spot produced by the Greater Wisconsin Committee (GWC) regarding his rate of reversal on the circuit court.

Gableman added that he hoped to move beyond the false and misleading content of third-party ads, and the sentiment was reiterated by incumbent Justice Louis B. Butler Jr.

But throughout the debate, both candidates traded verbal jabs over the legitimacy of not only interest group ads, but of those produced by their respective campaigns.

As he has done in the past, Butler called for Gableman to justify his contention that the justice is a “judicial activist” and sides with criminals. A recent ad sponsored by the Coalition for America’s Families contended Butler sided with criminals in nearly 60 percent of cases taken up by the high court.

“I’m not trying to angle up to different groups and say if you vote for me, I’ll be with you,” said Butler. “One of the reasons I’ve been attacked, is because they know I’m going to make my decisions based on your cases and not some predisposed disposition of how the law ought to be.”

While Gableman maintained his view that Butler has a track record of siding with criminal defendants, he denied the numerical data was produced by his campaign.

“He’s implied it came from me,” said Gableman. “It came from an independent group. I don’t know if it’s 30, 60 or 90 percent.”

Gableman, who reiterated his stance as a judicial conservative, went on to ask for Butler to admit to being a “liberal judicial activist.”

“If he would simply say that, we could have the sharp, clear debate the great people of this state very much seek from us,” said Gableman.

Butler said his record on the bench speaks for itself, and a true activist is one who can be bought by interest groups.

“That’s not me,” said Butler.

He hoped that voters would be able to look beyond the “sleazy attacks from my opponent and his third party allies.”

Gableman said he intended to keep the tone of his campaign positive, and not cater to the interests of third party organizations, such as GWC.