Special Interest Groups Overwhelm Candidates in Wisconsin
Court Campaign
Wisconsin’s partisan and costly 2008 Supreme Court
campaign was dominated by special interest groups that wrote checks to cover
almost nine out of every ten dollars spent on television advertising (89%),
according to estimates obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School
of Law, a Justice at Stake partner.
Total spending in the five largest markets for the
entire duration of the race is estimated at $3,623,102. Combining spending by
interest groups and the candidates’ campaigns, 59 percent of the advertising
expenditures ($2,149, 804) supported the challenger, Judge Michael Gableman,
while 41 percent ($1,473,298) supported the incumbent, Justice Louis Butler.
"The Wisconsin campaign turned into a shameful race
to the bottom. Twenty states will elect judges this fall, and special
interests across the political spectrum are gearing up to use these contests to
intimidate courts into ruling their way," said Bert Brandenburg, executive
director of Justice at Stake, in a statement to the media.
The Brennan Center and Justice at Stake both called
for comprehensive campaign reforms to Wisconsin’s system of judicial elections,
including enactment of a full public funding program and a strong electioneering
communications law that would bring greater accountability to third party groups
running television advertising.
The fall-out from the Wisconsin campaign is featured
in the April 10, 2008 edition of The
Economist
