June 24, 2009 – The Assembly’s Committee on Elections and Campaign Reform approved the Impartial Justice Bill – Assembly Bill 65 – on a 4-3 party-line vote last week.
The bill – long-supported by the State Bar of Wisconsin and sponsored by Representative Gordon Hintz and Senator Pat Kreitlow – would greatly increase public financing for Wisconsin Supreme Court campaigns. Immediate Past President Thomas Basting testified in support of the bill on behalf of the State Bar at a public hearing on May 27.
Prior to last week’s vote, State Bar President Diane Diel wrote to committee members to oppose a suggestion that the public financing program be funded in part by an assessment on State Bar members. (That suggestion came from another speaker at the May 27 public hearing and not from a legislator.) Currently, the bill would fund public financing with an income tax check-off and general purpose revenues.
In 2005, North Carolina’s legislature enacted a $50 assessment on attorneys to fund its public financing program for judicial campaigns. The North Carolina Bar Association renewed its opposition to that assessment in January 2009. While unpopular, lawyers in North Carolina face suspension if they do not pay the assessment. “The North Carolina Bar Association opposes that assessment and lawyers in that state fought its enactment vociferously,” Diel told the committee prior to last week’s vote.
“Our justice system, our courts, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court belong to all the people of Wisconsin,” Diel reminded committee members. “The courts do not exist simply to serve lawyers, they exist to serve the people and the interests of democracy. Thus, it is the responsibility of all citizens of Wisconsin to ensure our supreme court is and will remain fair, neutral, impartial and nonpartisan. Imposing on Wisconsin attorneys a special burden of financing supreme court campaigns would have a corrosive effect on public confidence in one of our most important institutions by fostering a false perception that the courts do exist to serve lawyers. Public financing should be the responsibility of all taxpayers.”
No member of the committee introduced an amendment to add an assessment on lawyers, and the committee approved the bill in its original form. A recent newspaper editorial endorsing the Impartial Justice Bill floated the idea of creating a public foundation to which corporations and others could make tax-free donations to support public financing of supreme court campaigns, in addition to the income tax check-off.
Several years ago, the State Bar’s Board of Governors addressed the issue of public financing for supreme court campaigns and concluded that such a reform would “help maintain the integrity and independence of Wisconsin’s courts, where even the perception of bias destroys public trust and confidence in the justice system.”
In December 2007, all seven members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court wrote a letter to Governor Doyle and all legislators expressing their support for “realistic, meaningful public financing for supreme court elections to facilitate and protect the judicial function.” While the court made it clear it was not endorsing any particular bill, the justices stated “The risk inherent in any non-publicly funded judicial election for this court is that the public may inaccurately perceive a justice as beholden to individuals or groups that contribute to his or her campaign. Judges must not only be fair, neutral, impartial and non-partisan but also should be so perceived by the public.”
Continue to monitor WisBar.org and visit the State Bar’s Government Relations page for updated information on this legislation.
Adam Korbitz is the Government Relations coordinator for the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Related articles:
U.S. Supreme Court Issues Massey v. Caperton Ruling – June 9, 2009
State Bar testifies in support of the Impartial Justice Bill – May 28, 2009
Statement of State Bar President Diane Diel in Support of Senate Bill 40, the "Impartial Justice Bill" – February 10, 2009
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