Seemingly moments after Cap Times article today Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle appoints Pete Anderson, Nick McNamara and Amy Smith as Dane County Circuit Court judges.Cap Times: Doyle stonewalls request for open records on judge applicantsBy Mike MillerCapital TimesJuly 8, 2009More than a month after The Capital Times formally requested routine records from Gov. Jim Doyle's office about nine finalists for three Dane County judgeships, his aides have only now made the records available -- late on Wednesday afternoon.
But the release of the records may coincide with announcements of the governor's choices to fill three slots on the Dane County bench.
At the end of the business day Tuesday, the governor's office said the documents, which included letters in support of and in opposition to those who are seeking appointment, would be available Wednesday. An aide initially said the documents would not be available until 4 p.m., but The Capital Times received a later call around 2 p.m. to say that the records were open for inspection.
Asked if the release would coincide with an announcement of who the three new judges would be, gubernatorial spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said he did not know.
The defense bar in Dane County is particularly upset with one of the nine finalists for the job, former prosecutor Amy Smith, who now works for the Department of Corrections, and The Capital Times has been asking since early June to see letters written in favor or opposition to each of the nine candidates.
It was earlier
reported that public defender John Tradewell was among those who has written to Doyle in opposition to Smith's possible appointment, saying she "stands alone in my experience as someone who would stop at nothing to gain an advantage," according to WKOW-TV reporter and blogger Tony Galli. Tradewell was a public defender in Madison when Smith was a prosecutor in the Dane County District Attorney's office. Smith went on to work for Doyle when he was Attorney General.
After the first request by The Capital Times on June 4 for the letters concerning all of the applicants, Sensenbrenner said there would be no problem and that the administration would provide the documents, a position consistent with those taken by previous gubernatorial administrations.
But since June 4, Doyle's office has delayed providing the documents, and despite a June 29 letter from attorney Robert Dreps, who represents The Capital Times, the documents have still not been forthcoming nor has the Doyle administration sent any formal letter of denial of access to the documents. Various reasons for the delay have been given, including that the governor's legal counsel, attorney Chandra Miller-Fienen, had to review them first to address "privacy standards we have to meet for the applicants before their information is made public," Sensenbrenner wrote in a June 15 e-mail. Dreps said Miller-Fienen told him last week that the documents would not be made available until after the governor had reviewed them.
"This stonewalling is bizarre and raises the question as to what motivates this high level of secrecy," said Capital Times Editor Paul Fanlund. "It is really unfortunate."
Asked about the delay, Sensenbrenner said: "That's an issue that our legal counsel and your lawyer were debating."
Local judges had hoped the governor would appoint the new judges early enough so that the new members would step in when three judges are retiring this month, but so far that has not happened. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Steven Ebert retired last week, while Judge Diane
Nicks retired Monday and Judge James Martin is scheduled to retire Friday.
Because the new appointees will need time to finish up their old cases, or have them reassigned to others, it is uncertain when the new appointees could take office.
Under Wisconsin law circuit judges are elected to six-year terms but if a judge leaves office before his or her term is completed, the governor then appoints a successor who must run for election to a full term in the next spring election. So, the three who are appointed by Doyle to the vacancies must run for a full term next year.
Doyle has previously appointed Martin, and Dane County Circuit Court Judges John Markson and William Hanrahan to office in Dane County.
Documents concerning applicants for such positions have been open for inspection before an appointment is made for many years.
Some 28 Dane County lawyers submitted applications for appointment when the process began and by June 4 that list had been trimmed to nine and the governor said he was hopeful to have someone appointed in about a week. The nine finalists include attorneys from several government agencies and one lawyer from private practice. More information about the nine finalists is available
here.
Capital Times reporter Jessica VanEgeren contributed to this report.