Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) says he is delighted he and his wife have been cleared by the Wisconsin Supreme Court over an incident from Joan Kessler’s 2004 election to the 1st District Court of Appeals in Milwaukee.
State regulators had sought to reprimand Kessler, a lawyer, for recruiting a woman to file a complaint against his wife’s opponent in the election. But the court today agreed with a referee’s ruling that he didn’t violate any professional rules of conduct for attorneys and shouldn’t be disciplined.
The complaint filed against incumbent Charlie Schudson, who lost to Joan Kessler that year, prompted him to acknowledge a violation of the judicial code after he wrote a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Charles Clevert asking for leniency in the sentencing of a friend. State judges aren’t allowed to use their positions to advance the private interests of others.
According to the referee’s report, Kessler was able to obtain a copy of Schudson’s letter through his wife’s old law firm and gave it to a friend, encouraging her to file a complaint against Schudson. Kessler told the friend he didn’t want his name associated with the complaint and encouraged her to tell others she’d heard about Schudson’s letter at a cocktail party.
The justices also backed a referee’s recommendation to dismiss a complaint against Joan Kessler, arguing that the Lawyer Regulation System "cannot prove by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence that Attorney Kessler knowingly made a false statement of fact in connection with a disciplinary investigation."
“There was no dishonest or deceitful statements or misrepresentations made by myself or my wife, and therefore no violation of the Supreme Court Rule,” Fred Kessler said in a statement, adding the complaint never should have been filed in the first place.
– WisPolitics.com
