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Milwaukee County municipal judge rivals come out fighting

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//March 13, 2017//

Milwaukee County municipal judge rivals come out fighting

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//March 13, 2017//

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Valarie Hill
Valarie Hill
William Crowley
William Crowley

Candidates vying for a municipal judge seat in Milwaukee County got their first chance on Monday to talk about issues that are important to them.

The first critical words at the forum held by the Milwaukee Bar Association came from William Crowley, a lawyer at Disability Rights Wisconsin who is challenging Municipal Court Judge Valarie Hill in her re-election bid. His sharp words came in response to a question — the first one posed Monday — asking the candidates what they would do to try to ensure municipal fines are paid on time.

“People that have come through Municipal Court Branch 1 that are unable to afford their fines have not been … informed of their rights for alternative sentencing such as community service or mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, things like that,” Crowley said. “That needs to be addressed.”

In her rebuttal, Hill said that Crowley’s statement was a “complete untruth.” Hill responded to similar jabs from Crowley by defending herself but did not take a direct swipe at her opponent until the forum’s end.

In her closing statement, Hill contended that Crowley had never been to the city’s municipal courts, never been to her court and had no facts to support his allegations.

“What you are doing, sir, is relying on information from I don’t know where. … It is very disconcerting to me that someone who wants to be judge is making all (these allegations) when they themselves do not have the facts about that,” she said. “Just because you hear something does not make it so.”

Crowley said he has heard on the campaign trail from lawyers, defendants and social-work interns about general circumstances in her court and instances of her not following guidelines.

“Mr. Crowley, I’ve heard stuff about you but because I am a lawyer and a judge, I choose not to repeat them,” Hill retorted.

However, Hill and Crowley did say they agreed that the citizens of Milwaukee do not trust the justice system, that judges should be able to waive municipal-court fees in some cases and that judges should be able to invoke some sort of “civil Gideon principle” to appoint lawyers in non-criminal cases.

Crowley, who is the family care and IRIS ombudsman at Disability Rights Wisconsin, earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School.

Hill has been a municipal court judge for 12 years. Before that she was a court commissioner and worked for the state Public Defender’s Office. Hill earned her law degree from the University of Akron School of Law.

Last month, Hill fended off three challengers a primary election, taking 47 percent of the vote. Crowley beat two of Hill’s challengers: Assistant City Attorney Kail Decker and Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Staff Attorney Brian Michel, getting 19.2 percent of the vote.

The race for municipal judge is not the only judicial contest in Milwaukee County.

• On Thursday, two Milwaukee lawyers vying for a seat on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench will be facing off in a debate organized by the Milwaukee Bar Association. Scott Wales and Kashoua Yang will participate in a forum held from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Milwaukee Bar Association, 424 E. Wells St.

In addition to being a solo practitioner, Wales has been a municipal judge for the village of Fox Point for eight years. Wales has been practicing law since 1988 and has been admitted to practice in Wisconsin since 1991. He earned his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Fla.

Yang, also a solo practitioner, specializes in family law, family mediation, workers’ compensation and matters concerning social-security disability. Before her law career, Yang worked for the Kohler Co. She earned her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law school in 2009.

Voters will head to the polls April 4.

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