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Three battle for Branch 15 bench

By: dmc-admin//February 16, 2009//

Three battle for Branch 15 bench

By: dmc-admin//February 16, 2009//

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ImageAll three candidates for the vacant Branch 15 seat in Milwaukee County Circuit Court claim to have the necessary credentials for the job.

But prosecutors Ronald S. Dague and Daniel J. Gabler and attorney Jonathan D. Watts have different ideas as to which experiences qualify someone to sit on the bench in the largest court system in the state.

The spring primary will be held tomorrow with the top two candidates advancing to the general election on April 7.

While the trio all worked as assistant district attorneys in Milwaukee, their tenures differ greatly.

Dague, 55, said his 18 years and counting in the district attorney’s office handling a broad range of crimes gives him an edge in knowing how the courts in Milwaukee operate.

“There is no better training ground then the DA’s office,” said Dague, who estimated that he has done more than 150 trials and handled more than 1,000 cases.

He added that while Gabler has been a prosecutor for the last nine years, he lacks the same depth of experience. Watts was an assistant district attorney from 1977 to 1980.

“I think down the road Dan will make a good judge, if he chooses to run again, but he does not have that broad base of experience to do that right now,” Dague said. “Watts ceased being a prosecutor before there were cell phones and DNA testing.”

But Gabler, 47, said solely practicing as a prosecutor does not define the role of a qualified judge.

He said his six years in private practice handling business-related issues, as well as his experience as government relations manager for Time Warner Cable gives him a better balance of experience.

“Clearly, being on the circuit court isn’t one dimensional,” Gabler said. “To run from purely a prosecutor standpoint or defense lawyer standpoint, you are one-dimensional as a result of those experiences.”

Watts, 57, touts his experience as a prosecutor and as a private attorney, along with his experience as a municipal judge in Fox Point. He was elected to the bench in Fox Point in 2007.

In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully against prosecutor Jane V. Carroll for the Branch 39 seat in Milwaukee.

Though his role as a judge is part-time and he handles primarily pretrial motions and ordinance violations, Watts said his experience handing out punishment, instead of just being an advocate for or against it, gives him an advantage.

“When you are an advocate, the goal is your client,” Watts said. “As a judge, you are looking out for justice and my opponents have not had the opportunity to do that.”

Watts also maintains a general practice in Fox Point, where he handles primarily family law and children’s law issues.

But both Gabler and Dague suggested that presiding over the types of cases that come to municipal court does not compare to the complex jury trials which a judge may see in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Dague conceded that the judicial experience is an asset, but he said it does not qualify Watts to handle the heavy caseloads or serious responsibilities of a circuit court judge in Milwaukee.

“Just because you sing in the choir, that doesn’t mean you are an opera star,” Gabler said.

(No photo was available for Ronad S. Dague.)

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