Business leaders survey not appropriate for judicial candidate

Editor’s note: We invited Dan Kelly’s campaign to respond to two points in an op-ed from Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, “Kelly’s failure to complete survey on judiciary, democracy troubling,” March 19. Here is his response:

The Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, an organization consisting mainly of Democratic party donors, posed several questions in a candidate survey that no candidate for Supreme Court should answer based on judicial ethics standards. Policy issues and preferences should have no place in a judicial election. Personal values and politics have no place in the work of the court, and in fact they undermine the basic premise that justices should only apply the law as it currently exists when deciding cases. If a Supreme Court Justice candidate does not like what the law allows, then she should be running for state legislator where she can attempt to change a law properly. The Business Leaders for Democracy survey would be more appropriate for that race.

Furthermore, trying to imply my consulting work for the Republican Party would send the court into a partisan tailspin is absurd. Over my many years as an attorney, I have represented numerous individuals and organizations whose political views spanned the ideological spectrum. Further, I have taken no money from the Republican Party of Wisconsin throughout this campaign. As a justice, I have always followed a rigorous recusal process and have recused myself on numerous occasions involving various organizations and will continue to do so on a case-by-case basis as required. The concerns of Business Leaders for Democracy are more appropriately addressed to Judge Protasiewicz, who has accepted millions of dollars in direct contributions from the state Democratic party.

Dan Kelly is a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He will face Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz on Tuesday, April 4 for a ten-year term on the court.