Evers Has Appointed 63 Judges

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Jeramey Jannene

It’s a little-noticed responsibility of Wisconsin governors: Fill vacancies that occur in five important offices in county government — Circuit Court judge, district attorney, sheriff, register of deeds and coroner.

In his seven years in office, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made 140 of those appointments, according to press releases from the governor’s office and records kept by the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, which tracks judicial appointments made by governors.

Those 140 Evers appointments broke down this way: 63 Circuit Court judges, 35 district attorneys, 20 registers of deeds, 15 sheriffs and seven county coroners. The appointees hold those jobs through the end of the terms of those they succeeded.

One reason for the 63 appointments was the addition of 12 new Circuit Court judgeships in 2020.

Evers also appointed six Court of Appeals judges, including Maxine White, who just announced her retirement. Evers first appointed her as Milwaukee County Circuit Court  judge in 2020.

Responding to a Capital Times story last year noting that he had appointed a majority of Dane County’s 17 judges, Evers acknowledged he makes sure women and minorities are represented.

“Since Day One, an important priority for me as governor has been appointing a judiciary that reflects the communities they serve and working toward building a state where every person is treated with fairness, dignity and respect under the law,” Evers said in a statement to the Capital Times.

One example of that is Evers’ 13 appointments to Milwaukee County’s Circuit Court. Justice Initiative profiles show a majority of them were women or a minority, or both.

Wisconsin has 257 Circuit Court judges, including 47 in Milwaukee County.

Evers did not appoint Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was found guilty in December of a felony for helping someone scheduled to appear before her evade federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. She resigned on Friday.

Dugan, whose lawyers say she will appeal the conviction, became a judge in 2016 — two years before Evers was elected.

The process that fills judicial vacancies starts with aides to the governor issuing press releases that invite applications for a specific opening; the last one asked for applications to be a Circuit Court judge in Waupaca County on Dec. 18.

Although applicants for the Waupaca County judicial vacancy were given a Jan. 5 deadline to apply, the governor’s office often issues press releases extending those deadlines.

Interested candidates for the Circuit Court or Court of Appeals are required to complete a 16-page questionnaire, which is then reviewed by the Judicial Selection Advisory Committee. The governor’s chief legal counsel, Mel Barnes, and attorney Benjamin Wagner co-chair the committee, which reviews applications and interviews candidates.

The committee then recommends candidates to the governor, who makes the final decision.

The questions judicial candidates must answer include those about their education; work experience since they turned 18; areas of specialization; whether they have ever been dismissed by an employer and, if so, why; the subjects of past appearances; and whether they have ever been professionally disciplined or the subject of a misconduct complaint. They also must provide samples of published works.

It also asks:

– “Do you currently belong to, or have you ever belonged to, any organization that discriminates on the basis of gender identity, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation…? If so, identify the organization, the dates in which you belonged to the organization, and what, if anything, you did to change such requirements or policies.”

– “List any position you’ve held in a judicial, nonpartisan or partisan political campaign (e.g., treasurer, campaign manager, volunteer).”

Candidates applying for vacant county jobs as coroner, register of deeds and sheriff must complete a separate questionnaire. Evers has appointed Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, who are both Black.

Candidates for district attorney must complete a separate questionnaire, which asks about their past experience in courtrooms and with criminal law, their finances, whether they have endorsed or managed candidates, whether they have run for office, where they have worked for the last 15 years and for three references, including two from attorneys or judges.

Dale Knapp, director of research and analytics for the Wisconsin Counties Association, said a 1882 referendum authorized the governor to fill vacancies for the offices of district attorney, sheriff, coroner and register of deeds.

“Prior to the amendment, vacancies were filled in a special election,” Knapp added. “This led to irregular and sometimes frequent elections if you had more than one official leave office at different times. The [amendment] eliminated this.”

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com