Gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., filed a lawsuit to the state Supreme Court Monday to keep nearly half-a-million dollars in campaign donations the State Elections Board ruled were transferred illegally.

Green's campaign attorney Don Millis filed a petition stating the board is interfering with the campaign's ability to "speak to the people of Wisconsin at the most critical point in the campaign."

"Green for Wisconsin, at this very moment, is operating under a free-speech handicap entirely created by the Board," Millis said in the petition. "This abridgment of free speech will become permanent and irremediable unless this Court intervenes now."

The Elections Board voted Aug. 30 that Green must rid his campaign of $467,844 from out-of-state political action committees not registered in Wisconsin. The amount was part of $1.3 million Green transferred from his federal campaign account to his state campaign account in January 2005.

The board sent an official order Sept. 6, which Green's campaign immediately challenged in Dane County Circuit Court as a retroactive application of campaign finance law. Following a ruling from Judge Richard Niess that sided with the SEB, Millis withdrew the lawsuit to allow the opportunity to avoid a long appeals process and file directly with the state's highest court.

At the time of Niess' ruling, Green's campaign set aside the disputed amount in a separate account not to be touched until after a final ruling.

University of Wisconsin political science professor Donald Downs said Green's free speech claim could be upheld based on court precedent, which he said would be irrelevant if the court found Green's transfer illegal.

"The Supreme Court has said campaign spending is a form of free speech and cannot be violated by the government," Downs said. "I'm not sure if Green will win on the merits of his case, but it's at least a plausible claim [regarding free speech]."

But the case will be heard only at the discretion of the Supreme Court justices; four of the seven justices must agree to hear the case for proceedings to occur.

Downs said with the election coming up, the court could expedite the case and bump other cases on the docket to take Green's case earlier. But it remains uncertain if the case will be decided before the Nov. 7 general election.

Anne Lupardus, deputy press secretary for Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's campaign, said Green's latest court action is a "desperate attempt," as the non-partisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the bi-partisan State Elections Board, the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a Dane County Circuit judge all deemed the contributions to be illegal.

"Congressman Green is searching desperately for someone who will say he doesn't have to obey the law," Lupardus said. "But the law is clear, and it's time for him to get rid of his illegal campaign cash."