Online state Supreme Court debate turns fiery

by Emily Smolarek

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 00:57

A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student hosted the first live debate for the state Sureme Court race Tuesday, with unrehearsed questions from the audience.

Listeners called in with questions Tuesday night for incumbent Louis Butler and Mike Gableman, currently a circuit court judge. The two will face off April 1 for a 10-year term on the state bench.

UWM journalism student Kyle Duerstein hosted the radio debate and described the live broadcast, which streamed over the Internet, as an “innovative new format” that will allow viewers to ask what’s on their minds.

“The purpose of this is that blog talk radio is unique,” Duerstein said. “It gives the general public unprecedented access to these candidates.”

Butler spent part of the debate on defense, responding to Gableman’s accusation that he is “an activist and a liberal.”

Gableman repeatedly questioned Butler’s siding with criminal defendants, relating this concern to Butler’s early background as a criminal defense lawyer.

During the debate, Butler responded to being called an activist and a liberal, saying, “It’s easy to throw labels and pejoratives. My job as a justice is to interpret and to apply the law, and I’ve done so faithfully.”

Before the debate, Butler’s campaign manager, Sachin Chheda, disagreed with the claim that Butler often sided with defendants.

“The charge is ridiculous,” Chheda said. “Justice Butler has sided with criminal defendants who have brought their case to the Supreme Court less than 3 percent of the time.”

A caller from Appleton asked what each candidate thought about legislating from the bench.

“It is inappropriate for any judge to legislate from the bench,” said Butler. “I often take my colleagues to task if I think they go beyond what the case calls for.”

However, Gableman, who openly called himself a conservative, said Butler had often legislated from the bench.

The debate sparked some heated dialogue when candidates were invited to ask each other a question.

Butler asked why Gableman’s campaign would “take a very aggressive and negative approach” and included a critique of Butler’s record as a justice.

Gableman responded that Butler previously said that candidate’s records are fair game and that his campaign has been doing just that.

“I think to take a look at a public record, … it’s obviously something that everyone has an interest in doing,” Gableman said. “We are public officials.”
 
Both candidates expressed excitement about the medium of the debate — a live radio broadcast streamed online — and its potential to reach younger voters.

“It’s an innovative way to hold a debate for people who are online,” said Darrin Schmitz, spokesperson for Gableman. “It’s good for voters and the campaign.”

The debate aired on Duerstein’s weekly call-in program, PantherTalk Live, which he started in September 2007 as part of an ongoing project for his journalism class.