The state's government watchdog agency won't let state officials place their personal investments in a blind trust under a new policy adopted Monday.

Supreme Court Justices Annette Ziegler and Patience Roggensack and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen have placed some or all of their investments in a blind trust, according to the Government Accountability Board, which oversees state ethics laws.

But the board voted 5-0 to require them to publicly disclose their investments like all other state elected officials do.

"We have a very open system of government and the public has a right to know if there are conflicts of interest," said Gerald Nichol, a retired Dane County judge who is on the accountability board.

The operators of a blind trust have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust.

Under state law, state elected officials, judges, district attorneys and others are required to file a statement of their financial interests, which is open to inspection by the public. Statements for the 2008 calendar year are due April 30, 2009.

Kevin St. John, a spokesman for Van Hollen, said Van Hollen set up a blind trust this year for some of his investments in consultation with the accountability board.

The purpose was to erase any perception of a conflict of interest in decisions made by Van Hollen, St. John said.

Van Hollen's most recent filing with the accountability board, for the year ending Dec. 31, 2007, detailed his investments, including mutual funds, real estate holdings and stock in corporations, according to a copy supplied by the Justice Department. He didn't have the blind trust in place last year, St. John said.

Ziegler and Roggensack were in Oshkosh on Monday for a Supreme Court conference and could not be reached for comment, according to a court spokesman.

After she was elected to the court in 2007, Ziegler placed her stocks in a blind trust.

The move came after she was scrutinized for presiding over cases as a Washington County Circuit judge that involved West Bend Savings Bank while her husband, J.J. Ziegler, served on the bank's board of directors.

Ziegler acknowledged she didn't disclose her conflict of interest in 11 cases. The State Journal has reported that she handled 46 lawsuits involving the bank since 2001 while her husband was on the board.

In May, the state Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Ziegler. She apologized last year and said her failure to disclose conflicts was unintentional.