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.