State justice’s hearing commences

by Richie Rathsack

Tuesday, November 20, 2007 01:57

A court of appeals judicial panel conducted a hearing concerning state Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler's violation of Wisconsin ethics code Monday.

Ziegler has acknowledged some wrongdoing on her part for hearing cases involving the West Bend Savings Bank, where her husband sits on the board of directors.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the WDC first filed a formal request with the judicial commission March 19. McCabe added he was disappointed about Monday's hearing.

"It was hardly confidence inspiring. The commission and the attorney were content to rest on the legal briefs," McCabe said. "I was assuming that the judges would ask questions that would turn over some stones that were left unturned, but they didn't do that."

According to McCabe, the commission focused on 11 cases involving West Bend Savings Bank, but ignored looking into other cases the WDC wanted to know more about.

"The commission chose not to pursue at least three dozen other cases in which the Zieglers own substantial amounts of stock," McCabe said. "We think she had conflicts of interest in those cases."

McCabe added cases of inquiry like this one are usually done in private without much public attention. However, the WDC did not want that to be the case with this inquiry.

"The only real tool of accountability here is the media scrutiny and public attention," McCabe said. "That will make other judges more attentive to follow the ethics rules because of the public attention that was drawn here."

During the hearing, it was said Ziegler did not think about the ethics code and that the job of the judiciary committee is not to punish, but to educate, McCabe said.

"If she didn't, then these educational efforts have been a miserable failure," McCabe said. "They don't hold them accountable to following the rules."

But Ziegler’s attorney, James Troupis, said his client was unaware she violated the ethics code, adding she has already received punishment for her actions.

"A penalty has been paid," Troupis said. "Don’t discount how incredibly hard the last six, eight, 10 months have been on her and her family."

The Wisconsin Code of Judicial conduct section 60.04 4 (d) says a judge should not knowingly participate in proceedings where the judge, his or her spouse or any family member "has an economic interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding."

The three judges from the court of appeals who heard the hearing Monday will make recommendations to the Supreme Court, which will decide what type of penalty Ziegler receives.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.