Kremers predicts vacancies won’t be filled quickly

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Milwaukee County Circuit Court Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers predicts that Milwaukee county will be without three of its 47 judges for at least the first few months of 2009.

Kremers outlined the process for filling the three vacancies on the circuit courts.

First, former Chief Judge Kitty K. Brennan left the court to join the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in September. Gov. Jim Doyle has declined to appoint a replacement, and therefore her spot will be filled in the spring election in April.

Second, because Judge Michael B. Brennan made his resignation effective Nov. 30, likewise, his seat likely will be filled by an election in April 2009.

Gov. Doyle has the option of appointing someone to fill the remainder of his term, Dec. 1, 2008 until July 31, 2009, but practically speaking, that’s not expected, says Kremers.

The appointee would have to gather all the necessary signatures to get on the April ballot before the end of December 2008. If the governor did not appointed someone until January 2009, the new judge would not be on the April ballot.

It’s not likely that the governor could act that quickly to fill the vacancy, he continues. The typical process for most Wisconsin governors has been to solicit applications, then form a committee to review them. The committee winnows the applications down to a workable number and conducts interviews before giving the governor a short list of names. He then interviews them, before coming to a decision. The entire process usually takes at least a couple of months usually. In addition, it’s customary for the search to begin once the resigning judge has actually left, because it’s possible that he could withdraw that resignation.

Kremers says that in October 2007, when Judge Joe Wall left the Milwaukee bench, the governor did not appoint anyone to that seat, but let it remain unfilled for the voters to decide until April 2008. That suggests to him that Doyle won’t fill Michael Brennan’s vacancy, given the similar, short time frame before the election.

Because Franke is leaving Dec. 31, 2008, an election to fill his spot will be held in April 2010, says Kremers. It’s much more likely that the governor would appoint someone to replace him, giving him or her time on the bench as an incumbent. He will urge the governor to do that, so a backlog of cases doesn’t develop in that branch.

Along these lines, he says that when Wall’s successor, Rebecca Dallett, won the election, the governor then appointed her to the empty seat early, before the term officially began Aug. 1. He hopes the governor will do the same for the seats vacated by Chief Judge Kitty K. Brennan and set to be vacated by Judge Michael B. Brennan.

A representative from the governor’s office said the governor has not decided whether to appoint someone to those seat or let the vacancies be filled via election. Should Doyle decide to appoint, the office will issue a press release calling for applicants.