(The Center Square) – Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford touted her history prosecuting with the Wisconsin Department of Justice protecting personal rights and freedoms while candidate Brad Schimel discussed being an impartial judge during talks this week with the Wisconsin Counties Association.
Schimel, circuit court judge in Waukesha County, vowed to be impartial and refuse to legislate from the bench while Crawford, a circuit court judge in Dane County, said she will treat everyone the same like she does in her current courtroom.
“The problem I see on our Wisconsin Supreme Court is we have justices wearing a jersey,” Schimel said. “If the justice system fails because it’s not objective and it’s legislating from the bench, then one branch of our republic is gone.”
Crawford said that she worked to hold big corporations accountable as a prosecutor and then worked for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the state’s public-school teachers as a private attorney “fighting for our fundamental rights and standing with those who have had them taken away.”
Crawford has reportedly raised $7.4 million and spent $4.2 million during the race while Schimel has raised $4.9 million and spent $2.5 million, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
That’s along with 12 independent committees spending more than $11.5 million on the race so far.
“The kind of money being thrown at this race is incredible,” Schimel said. “It’s insane. It’s not something I can control but it’s something I need to be competitive in.”
Schimel did not address his opponents’ record during his speech to the group but Crawford spent time addressing Schimel’s history as the state’s attorney general, saying he refused to sue opioid manufacturers despite 71 of 72 Wisconsin counties passing resolutions to encourage joining the nationwide cases.
Crawford brought up her history with Planned Parenthood, saying she fought to protect “women’s access to reproductive health care services.”
“My opponent, Brad Schimel, is the most extreme candidate to ever run for this office in Wisconsin history,” Crawford claimed.
Meanwhile, Schimel talked about the difficulty in getting the public excited about a race between candidate who are supposed to be impartial and not have policy opinions.
While 3.4 million voted on Nov. 5, Schimel said that a turnout of 2 million voters on April 1 would be huge.
“We need to go back to a court that’s objective, a court that doesn’t get headlines,” Schimel said. “And it’s boring when judges just follow the law and I’m perfectly happy being boring.
“One of the best things about being a judge is there aren’t politics. It’s liberating.”
