State Supreme Court justice wears blaze orange for flier

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — In an apparent appeal to hunters, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley appeared in a mailer before the February primary wearing blaze orange and holding a shotgun, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Bradley, who does not have a hunting license, took the photo in November at a Waukesha game farm where hunting licenses are not required, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Campaign manager Luke Martz said it was Bradley’s first time hunting and she did not hit a pheasant.

“She really enjoyed it and she looks forward to going again,” Martz said.

The flier does not mention hunting or gun rights but shows Bradley crouching in a grassy field at the Wern Valley Sportsmen’s Club with two black Labradors by her side and a shotgun tucked under her elbow. The flier also shows Bradley wearing a cap with the initials of the National Rifle Association.

In a statement, executive director Scott Ross of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now criticized Bradley for “giving a literal ‘hat tip’ to the gun lobby.”

Bradley and state Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg face off in the April 5 election.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has no record of Bradley having a hunting, fishing or boating license in the past five years, DNR spokesman George Althoff said. Kloppenburg also has not had those licenses in the past five years, the agency said.

Bradley is a gun owner who holds a concealed-weapons permit, according to her campaign. She is a former member of the NRA.

Kloppenburg does not own a gun or have a concealed-weapons permit, her campaign manager, Melissa Mulliken, said. She does not belong to the NRA and is not a hunter, Mulliken said.

The NRA is now reviewing whether it will endorse anyone in the race, said Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the group.

Neither candidate has spelled out her views on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.