Lena Taylor Is Running for Municipal Court

State Senator Lena Taylor wants to be a judge. Taylor announced Friday evening she’s entering the race to replace Derek Mosley on the Milwaukee Municipal Court.

“As a life-long resident of Milwaukee, I have had a singular focus: serve my Milwaukee neighbors and the people of Wisconsin. I am fortunate to have amassed the necessary skills and diversity of perspectives to be successful as a judge,” said Taylor in a statement.

Taylor won a special election to serve in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2003 and an open election for the 4th Senate District in 2004, succeeding Gwen Moore. She was most recently re-elected in November 2020. She previously chaired the Committee on Judiciary and Corrections and currently serves on the since-renamed committee.

The political veteran is a licensed attorney, having earned a law degree from Southern Illinois University. Taylor, 56, is a graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools‘ Rufus King High School and earned her undergraduate degree from UW-Milwaukee. Taylor previously worked as a public defender.

“Working in both the public and private sector, I have helped to create law and directly understand its application on those who engage our judicial system. I have toured the state to understand our court systems, end users, and those that are justice-impacted. I will use that knowledge to aid the work of the municipal court system to address public safety and create a judicial system where all are treated fairly,” said Taylor.

She joins Molly Gena, an attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin, in the open race for the second branch on the city’s three-judge court. Mosley, who had held the post since 2002, resigned in November to take a job with Marquette University. His resignation did not trigger a special election, with the seat scheduled for election in spring 2023. Municipal judges are paid $133,049 annually and elected to a four-year term.

A primary election, if three or more candidates submit the necessary signatures to run, would take place Feb. 21. The general election is scheduled for April 4.

Municipal judges are responsible for overseeing a wide variety of often lower profile ordinance violations including parking tickets and first-time OWIs. Misdemeanor and felony cases, as well as civil cases, are handled in the circuit court system.

Since being elected to the state senate in 2004, Taylor has pursued a number of different offices. She ran for county executive in 2008 and mayor in 2020 and 2022. Taylor ran briefly for lieutenant governor in 2021, before dropping out to enter the mayoral special election.

According to state court records, Taylor was active this year in her private legal practice, Taylor & Associates. She worked on at least two probate cases.

Taylor is also a landlord, having told the Common Council earlier this year that she’s owned up to 20 rental properties. She could possibly file suit against the city, a measure that would be heard in circuit court, after the council denied her claim that the Milwaukee Water Works was responsible for the repeated flooding of one of her properties.

Taylor has occasionally engendered controversy in recent years. She was removed in 2018 from the Joint Committee on Finance, a powerful state budget committee, by Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse). The move came after an investigation determined she bullied members of her staff and took retaliatory action against one.

Just weeks before that Taylor had an altercation at a Wells Fargo bank branch where she called a teller, who like Taylor is Black, a “house (N-word).” She was issued a citation for the matter.

In 2019, when launching her mayoral campaign, she insisted there were two sides to the story, but said: “that’s the past.” She said Shilling was wrong for taking her off the committee,

The other two Milwaukee municipal judgeships are held by Phillip M. Chavez and Valarie Hill.