Joanne Kloppenburg was a virtual unknown when she began her campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice earlier this year. By the time the election happened, she had become a household name in Wisconsin. She lost the election, but now she is running to replace a retiring judge on Wisconsin’s 4th District Court of Appeals, one step below the Supreme Court.
The incumbent she nearly defeated in the April, 2011 Supreme Court race, David Prosser, is and was a close ally of Wisconsin’s divisive governor, Scott Walker. When Walker revealed plans to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights and gut funding for public services, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites took to the streets to protest. The Supreme Court race went from a snoozer for Prosser to a dead heat when union employees and their supporters embraced the Kloppenburg candidacy as a way to slow down Walker and the Republican legislature.
The officially non-partisan race eventually ended with a controversial recount that declared Prosser the winner despite dozens of "anomalies" in the way ballots were counted and stored. In the process, though, Kloppenburg impressed everyone left of Atilla the Hun as even-tempered, smart, and well-qualified to be a judge.
This is from the Kloppenburg campaign site:
Wisconsin residents expect and deserve Judges who are fair and impartial, and whose decisions are based on the facts and the law, not partisan politics.
That is the kind of judge I pledge I will be. I hope to earn your support for Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
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My campaign committee will voluntarily limit all contributions to the campaign to $1000 per individual or political action committee. The $1000 limit follows the limits set by Wisconsin’s previous public financing laws and falls within guidelines recommended by national groups. State law allows for contributions of $2500 per individual and political action committee in the Court of Appeals race. But justice should not be for sale and judicial elections ought to be different. People need to have confidence in our courts and our judges. Voluntarily limiting contributions will help send a clear message that I will be an impartial decision maker.
While Kloppenburg got a big, unintentional boost from the events surrounding the labor strife, she showed herself during the Supreme Court race to be more than worthy of the extra support. What started for many as simply a way to block Prosser and Walker became genuine respect and admiration for Joanne Kloppenburg. As she says on her web site, we need someone on the Court of Appeals who is "fair and impartial, and whose decisions are based on the facts and the law, not partisan politics." That someone is Joanne Kloppenburg.
You can learn more and make a donation at her campaign's web site.