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Ziegler waits for response
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by Keegan Kyle
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The Wisconsin Ethics Board has one week to respond to Annette Ziegler's claim that the agency has no authority to investigate her legal history, the state Supreme Court said Monday.
The board announced its complaint of Ziegler two weeks ago after completing a preliminary investigation of her conduct as a Washington County Circuit Court judge. The board said it looked at 26 cases over the past three years and five involved Ziegler's direct participation.
The Ethics Board alleges Ziegler — who was elected to the state's highest court April 3 — mistakenly handled the cases involving a bank that employed her husband on its board of directors.
In an April 18 letter to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, Roth Judd, executive director of the Ethics Board, said the agency has probable cause to believe Ziegler's action violated state law. A spokesperson for the agency did not return messages from the The Badger Herald seeking comment Monday.
The Judicial Commission — which regularly investigates the conduct of legal officials — has also launched an investigation of Ziegler's conduct. Ziegler has accepted that investigation with confidence in her decisions but refuted the Ethics Board's authority.
"It's our position that the Ethics Board has no jurisdiction," Ziegler's attorney Daniel Hildebrand said. "The Ethics Board is an executive branch [agency] and under our constitution. We don't believe the executive branch should be regulating the judicial branch."
Ziegler filed the petition directly to the state Supreme Court, because, according to Hildebrand, the issue is "timely and important."
"We think we're on pretty good legal grounds asking them to do this," Hildebrand said.
Ziegler is slated to begin her new position on the high court Aug. 1. If found guilty of illegal conduct, she could face a multitude of punishments, including suspension or removal from office.
The controversy has drawn criticism from all levels of state officials, and today, the state Senate will debate a bill in public hearing responding to Ziegler's situation.
The legislation, proposed by Sen. David Hansen, D-Green Bay, would require county clerks to provide all parties in a lawsuit information on Supreme Court rules regarding recusal, the ability of judges to not hear cases in which there may be a conflict of interests.
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