Judicial Candidates Talk Political Leanings

The three candidates for state Supreme Court are showing more of their political stripes.

Challenger Vince Megna has been the most openly partisan of the three judicial candidates. And Thursday at a forum, the Milwaukee attorney made it even more clear, “I am a Democrat, and when I was getting the nomination papers, people would ask me repeatedly, ‘Are you a liberal, are you conservative, are you Republican?’, over and over, because they want to know. They want to know what you are and I would answer that question.”

Challenger Ed Fallone, a Marquette University law professor, took a more neutral tone during the debate, “I absolutely believe as a justice on the state Supreme Court, I can focus on each individual case before me, the law and the facts of that case, and rule, independent of any personal feelings or any past political views.”

But later Thursday, Fallone released a list of endorsements from several Milwaukee Democrats including Mayor Tom Barrett and eight Democratic legislators.

Incumbent Supreme Court Justice Patience Roggensack also claims she can play it down the middle, “53 sheriffs throughout Wisconsin – Republicans and Democrats – have all endorsed my candidacy. Why? Because they know I deal in a fair and even-handed way.”

But a longtime GOP activist is helping run Roggensack’s campaign and the state’s largest business group has been saying nice things about the justice who many consider part of the court’s conservative wing.