John Nichols: Abrahamson runs smart campaign for high court

John Nichols  —  6/24/2008 5:20 am

While Republicans have suffered a series of setbacks in statewide races in Wisconsin since 2000 -- losing two presidential contests, three Senate contests, two gubernatorial contests, the state treasurer's job, a traditionally conservative congressional seat and control of the state Senate -- party operatives like to suggest that they have won the last three statewide races that have involved law-enforcement issues.

The line goes this way: Republican J.B. Van Hollen narrowly defeated Democrat Kathleen Falk for state attorney general in 2006, while candidates with ties to the Republican establishment, Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman, won nonpartisan races for the Supreme Court in 2007 and 2008.

The scenario misses the fact that an incumbent Supreme Court justice who had angered corporate and conservative interests with some of his rulings, Patrick Crooks, was re-elected without opposition in 2006. Crooks, a moderate swing vote on the high court, kept his seat by organizing early and across party lines in a manner designed to scare off big-money opposition from a for-hire candidate like Ziegler or Gableman.

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, another target of the special interests and their bought allies in the GOP, is working even harder and smarter to seek a new 10-year term from a position of strength. In announcing her candidacy in May, Abrahamson declared that "whatever has changed since my first election in 1979, my own commitment to the fierce independence and integrity of the state judicial system has not changed. To keep that commitment, you can expect this from me: a campaign that speaks directly, forcefully and positively with a broad base of support from business and labor, from law enforcement, from farm and city, from Republican, Democrat and Independent. It's not only the right way to campaign for judicial office, it's the way to win."

Abrahamson proves herself right this month by unveiling an impressive list of backers from across the political spectrum.

Her campaign's latest fundraising letter observes that "after the last two judicial campaigns, you probably don't need a sermon on what's wrong with the way we elect judges in this state, or the embarrassingly small number of people who vote in judicial elections, or the tenor and content of the campaign advertisements sponsored by some organizations. We want to focus on what's right with the judicial system and, as the chief justice for almost 12 years, Shirley is very definitely one of the things that's right about the state's judicial system."

Signing the statement are a prominent Democrat, former Dane County Executive Rick Phelps; a prominent prosecutor with a history of appealing across lines of party and ideology, former Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann; and a leading Republican, former Republican National Committeewoman Helen Bie.

On the back of the letter are endorsements not just from Democrats -- including former Gov. Pat Lucey, who appointed Abrahamson to the bench in 1977 -- but also from Republicans such as former Gov. Scott McCallum, former first lady Sue Ann Thompson and former congressman and Nixon administration Secretary of Defense Mel Laird. Also signing on are business leaders, including the Kohler Company's Herbert V. Kohler Jr., and Oscar Boldt of The Boldt Co.

Republican operatives, in their drive to politicize court contests, may want to target Abrahamson for being too independent and too committed to the rule of law as opposed to the service of special interests. But they may have forgotten one thing. While Abrahamson may well be the most determined nonpartisan on the current court, that does not mean that she lacks political smarts.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times.

John Nichols  —  6/24/2008 5:20 am