The three candidates vying to replace Justice David Prosser said today the Supreme Court has become divisive and dysfunctional, saying new blood was needed to restore the public’s confidence in the body.
But Prosser insisted he was not the source of any divisiveness on the court and instead blamed the perception, in part, on Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.
Appearing before the Milwaukee Bar Association for the first debate of the campaign, Prosser said when he was appointed to the court in 1998, he was “a little naïve” and defended Abrahamson when four members supported her opponent. But he said Abrahamson’s attitude has changed some since then and, “people who were not with her all the time were really treated almost as enemies.”
"I’m sensitive to what I’m hearing out there, but if anyone thinks I am the source of any division on the court, you are mistaken,” Prosser said.
Challengers JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general; Marla Stephens, head of the appellate division in the state Public Defenders office; and Joel Winnig, a Madison attorney, seemed to gang up on Prosser in their criticism. The top two vote-getters in the February primary will advance to the April general election.
Except for Prosser, who described himself as a judicial conservative and an impartial judge, the other candidates shied away from labeling themselves as liberal or conservative.
– WisPolitics.com
