Still our chief

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Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson is not going anywhere, nor are her beliefs in an elected judiciary and public financing of campaigns.

She easily fended off the challenge of Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Randy R. Koschnick in Tuesday’s statewide election with 59 percent of the vote, in a race which saw more than 750,000 people cast their votes.

Abrahamson, 75, said the victory was an example of how a candidate can still run a “positive” campaign and get elected.

“No negative campaigning on my part and I hope that is the lesson of the night,” Abrahamson said in an interview on Wednesday.

Koschnick, who garnered more than 300,000 votes, was seeking to become the third straight “judicial conservative” to win a seat on the high court.

Unlike the past two elections which saw third-party interest groups spend heavily for eventual winners Justices Annette K. Ziegler and Michael J. Gableman and their opponents, the only outside investment in this year’s race came from the Greater Wisconsin Committee, which backed Abrahamson.

While he did not count on third-party spending, Koschnick said he would have liked a group to respond to the negative ads run by the GWC, which portrayed the judge as a friend of business interests and against victims.

“I think it would have been beneficial to my campaign if there was an outside group that was going to respond to the false attacks,” Koschnick said. “That would have improved my chances of winning.”

Koschnick said he was pleased with the campaign he ran, but admitted he could not compete with Abrahamson’s fundraising. Koschnick said he raised about $180,000 compared to more than $1.2 million by the chief justice.

Abrahamson said it was her 30-plus years of experience that made the difference with voters. During her campaign, Abrahamson said she visited each of the 72 counties in the state.

“I put thousands of miles on my car, just in the final month of campaigning,” Abrahamson said. “I think my connection with voters was extremely important.”

Both said they still favor public financing of judicial elections and do not favor merit selection for justices.

But Abrahamson said she expects changes will be sought during her next 10 years on the bench, despite the encouraging tone of this year’s race.

“I always expect change,” she said. “There is no perfect way to do things, but that is something for the people of this state and the legislature to decide in a constitutional amendment.

“I’m up to the challenge, and don’t count me out for another 10 years after this.”