Op-Ed from Supreme Court Candidate Linda Clifford
[we have received the following press release and are pleased to publish it here...]
This Tuesday, Wisconsin will select our next Supreme Court Justice for a ten-year term. As you compare the candidates' backgrounds and qualifications, consider who offers the principles and values you envision for the Supreme Court.
I come from modest beginnings. My father was a factory worker and my mother, who dropped out of school at the age of 16 to help support her nine siblings, was a homemaker. My parents couldn't have provided better lessons – the value of hard work, the importance of integrity, and the need for fairness. These are the values I will bring to the Supreme Court.
I also will bring 32 years of quality experience and leadership in the law. I have served as an Assistant Attorney General and as a lawyer in private practice for more than three decades, representing the State of Wisconsin, municipalities, individuals and businesses in a variety of practice areas before state courts and agencies. I understand the job of Supreme Court justice because I've handled more than 30 appellate cases. I'm the only candidate who has argued before the Supreme Court.
My work as a lawyer has earned awards and recognition such as “Leader in the Law,” “Wisconsin SuperLawyer,” and “Best Lawyers in America.”
My candidacy has earned the endorsement of some of the most independent-minded leaders in the state: Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, former Republican Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus and independent Ed Thompson.
I believe that the cornerstone of our justice system is public confidence in the integrity of the lawyers and judges who serve it. That's why for nine years I served the Supreme Court by investigating grievances against attorneys and recommending discipline for ethical violations.
And that's why I'm so troubled by the disturbing facts disclosed about my opponent’s performance as a judge. Court records in 46 cases reveal her conflict of interest involving a bank that loaned her over $3 million, that rents space from her family, and where her husband serves as a paid director. In each case, she failed to recuse herself or disclose her conflict of interest to the parties as required by the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Judge Ziegler has yet to take responsibility or explain whether she just didn't know about the rule -- or knew about it but decided not to follow it. Instead, she claims that discussing this serious issue with Wisconsin voters is “mudslinging.” I think Wisconsin voters are smart enough to see past Judge Ziegler’s rhetoric and understand the seriousness of her conduct.
People who come to our judicial system to resolve disputes deserve a level playing field free of favoritism – free even of the appearance of favoritism. That fundamental principle will drive my service as a Supreme Court Justice, as it has my legal career.
Judge Ziegler and big-business special interests have spent an unprecedented $2 million trying to mislead voters about her record on the bench, including a claim that she's “tough” on sex offenders. Putting aside the reality that Supreme Court justices don't sentence criminals, the public record shows that Ziegler actually has a record of leniency on sexual predators. In more than half of her cases, she let off child sex predators with a year or less in jail.
Wisconsin voters deserve to know the truth.
On Tuesday, the choice will be clear. I will bring the high ethical standards, integrity, quality experience, legal scholarship, independence, and commitment to justice you deserve on Wisconsin's highest court. I would be honored to have your vote.
www.lindacliffordforjustice.org
Press release sent on letterhead containing the following disclaimer...
Authorized and paid for by Linda Clifford for Justice, Mary K. Rouse, Treasurer
This Tuesday, Wisconsin will select our next Supreme Court Justice for a ten-year term. As you compare the candidates' backgrounds and qualifications, consider who offers the principles and values you envision for the Supreme Court.
I come from modest beginnings. My father was a factory worker and my mother, who dropped out of school at the age of 16 to help support her nine siblings, was a homemaker. My parents couldn't have provided better lessons – the value of hard work, the importance of integrity, and the need for fairness. These are the values I will bring to the Supreme Court.
I also will bring 32 years of quality experience and leadership in the law. I have served as an Assistant Attorney General and as a lawyer in private practice for more than three decades, representing the State of Wisconsin, municipalities, individuals and businesses in a variety of practice areas before state courts and agencies. I understand the job of Supreme Court justice because I've handled more than 30 appellate cases. I'm the only candidate who has argued before the Supreme Court.
My work as a lawyer has earned awards and recognition such as “Leader in the Law,” “Wisconsin SuperLawyer,” and “Best Lawyers in America.”
My candidacy has earned the endorsement of some of the most independent-minded leaders in the state: Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, former Republican Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus and independent Ed Thompson.
I believe that the cornerstone of our justice system is public confidence in the integrity of the lawyers and judges who serve it. That's why for nine years I served the Supreme Court by investigating grievances against attorneys and recommending discipline for ethical violations.
And that's why I'm so troubled by the disturbing facts disclosed about my opponent’s performance as a judge. Court records in 46 cases reveal her conflict of interest involving a bank that loaned her over $3 million, that rents space from her family, and where her husband serves as a paid director. In each case, she failed to recuse herself or disclose her conflict of interest to the parties as required by the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Judge Ziegler has yet to take responsibility or explain whether she just didn't know about the rule -- or knew about it but decided not to follow it. Instead, she claims that discussing this serious issue with Wisconsin voters is “mudslinging.” I think Wisconsin voters are smart enough to see past Judge Ziegler’s rhetoric and understand the seriousness of her conduct.
People who come to our judicial system to resolve disputes deserve a level playing field free of favoritism – free even of the appearance of favoritism. That fundamental principle will drive my service as a Supreme Court Justice, as it has my legal career.
Judge Ziegler and big-business special interests have spent an unprecedented $2 million trying to mislead voters about her record on the bench, including a claim that she's “tough” on sex offenders. Putting aside the reality that Supreme Court justices don't sentence criminals, the public record shows that Ziegler actually has a record of leniency on sexual predators. In more than half of her cases, she let off child sex predators with a year or less in jail.
Wisconsin voters deserve to know the truth.
On Tuesday, the choice will be clear. I will bring the high ethical standards, integrity, quality experience, legal scholarship, independence, and commitment to justice you deserve on Wisconsin's highest court. I would be honored to have your vote.
www.lindacliffordforjustice.org
Press release sent on letterhead containing the following disclaimer...
Authorized and paid for by Linda Clifford for Justice, Mary K. Rouse, Treasurer
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 11:15 PM
1 Comments:
The decision about whether Linda Clifford or Annette Ziegler is the newest justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is as important as any decision voters will make this decade. But you wouldn’t know that by the inane campaigns being run by both candidates and the coverage of the race by the Wisconsin news media.
First, here’s what isn’t important. It’s not important that the advertising crew Clifford sent to West Bend to shoot a commercial at the courthouse lied to a deputy about what they were doing. It’s equally unimportant that Ziegler owns stock in a few stores that brought small claims cases against people who bounced a couple of checks. Yet, both candidates have obsessed over these irrelevancies and the news media has moronically made them virtually the sole focus of the race.
What’s important is what they stand for and what they will do on the bench. It’s important because Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is divided right down the middle. There are three conservatives and three liberals. The winner of this election is the deciding vote on everything. She could serve for decades because no incumbent Wisconsin justice has lost re-election in 40 years. The election is also the last chance conservatives will have to get a favorable justice since Gov. Jim Doyle will appoint the replacements for any who retire in the next four years.
Here are the real issues.
CRIME. Ziegler is a former federal prosecutor with a strong law-and-order record in her years on the bench in Washington County. Clifford is an American Civil Liberties Union attorney with a long track record of defending bleeding heart causes and even aided a man who went to Iraq to serve as a human shield against American soldiers. Ziegler will uphold criminal convictions and Clifford will join the liberals who look for excuses to overturn them.
BUSINESS CLIMATE. Wisconsin businesses have been devastated by a set of court rulings that eliminate all caps on damage awards in lawsuits. The state has the potential to become a lawsuit haven as plaintiffs in class action cases realize there could be unlimited windfalls from our state. Clifford is married to a prominent trial attorney who stands to benefit if no tort reform is enacted. She is endorsed by every major trial attorney in the state. Ziegler, on the other hand, has openly courted business groups.
SCHOOL CHOICE. The Supreme Court has already upheld the legality of the wildly successful Milwaukee program that gets kids out of lousy public schools. Clifford has talked openly about "revisiting" the case. Her rhetoric is intentional. She’s sending a message to the teachers union and other liberal groups that numerous cases decided by the court could be reopened and reversed.
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM. Ziegler has made it clear she does not believe in "legislating" from the bench and will not try to usurp the power of elected officials. Clifford, on the other hand, has said in an interview she considers the Constitution to be a "breathing" document. That’s the word liberals use to rationalize saying the Constitution says whatever they want it to say.
Liberals control the Wisconsin governorship and one of two houses of the state Legislature. If Clifford wins the Supreme Court seat, it will be an absolute disaster for conservatives and will make Wisconsin a liberal playground. That’s what’s important - not who said what to a deputy or who had what conflict of interest.
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