Letter to Honorable Michael J. Gableman

December 20, 2007

Honorable Michael J. Gableman
PO Box 71
Webster, WI 54893-0071

Dear Judge Gableman:

I am dismayed by the response issued by your campaign to the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee's (WJCIC) December 18th statement. First, it mischaracterizes the committee's position by claiming the committee "said Louis Butler's record as a Supreme Court Justice was fair discussion in the race for the state's highest court." While prior court rulings are clearly within bounds for discussion, the committee did not say anything about Louis Butler's record and certainly did not determine that the characterizations of that record in the campaign materials produced by your campaign and reviewed by the committee were fair.

Moreover, Darrin Schmitz exacerbated the problem when he asserted flatly that Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler "consistently sides with criminals over law enforcement."

This is precisely the kind of campaign rhetoric that I and other members of WJCIC hoped we would not hear or read. As you know, in our system of government judges do not "side" with or against any of the parties to legal proceedings who may appear in their courtrooms. The role of the judge is to rule impartially based on the facts of each individual case and applicable law, which is clearly jeopardized if he or she "sides" with or against one or another identifiable group.

This characterization of a Supreme Court Justice by the campaign of a candidate for Wisconsin's Supreme Court will almost certainly create (or, at least, add to) the public perception that judges in Wisconsin do, in fact, take sides. The point is that no candidate for any judicial office, let alone the Supreme Court, should create an expectation that judicial candidates can or should be evaluated by voters based on whose "side" they are on.

We recognize that rhetoric of this kind is common in legislative and executive branch elections, but they have no place in a campaign for judicial office. Accordingly, on behalf of WJCIC, I respectfully request that you repudiate this rhetoric and join us in promoting public confidence in a fair and impartial judiciary.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Basting, Sr.
Chair
Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee