Tuesday election is “crucial”

Editor,
On Tuesday, April 2, we face a crucial election when a new justice for our state Supreme Court will be selected to replace the retiring Shirley Abrahamson. To me, the choice is clear: Judge Lisa Neubauer, Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She is widely supported by judges throughout the state, regardless of their politics. Of all the judges who have endorsed a candidate, 98 percent have endorsed Neubauer.

As well-qualified as Judge Neubauer is, her opponent Brian Hagedorn is just the opposite. Hagedorn co-founded a school that allows teachers to be fired and students expelled because of their sexual orientation (in other words, the way they were born). Hagedorn has also frequently posted anti-gay messages on the internet. He is so bigoted against homosexuals and transgender people that even the Wisconsin Realtors Association, which normally supports conservatives like Hagedorn, withdrew its support and asked for its $18,000 contribution to be returned. As the Realtors Association recognized, no one with such wild prejudices should be making lasting legal judgements in our state.

The Supreme Court matters. Let’s make sure we have a fair-minded, widely respected new justice on the court. I hope you’ll join me in voting for Lisa Neubauer for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice on April 2.
Alan Reder, Elcho

Local judge supports Neubauer for Supreme Court

Editor,
It is said that the role of a judge is to say what the law is, not what the judge wants the law to be. Generally speaking, the state and federal constitutions, statutes, and published appellate court decisions (including decisions of the Wisconsin Supreme Court) are what comprise “the law.” What, then, happens when no statutory language, constitutional text, or existing appellate court decision directly addresses the underlying issue in a case? In such cases, the Wisconsin Supreme Court must render a decision where the existing law, as it is, does not provide a clear answer to the question or questions presented. In other words, while it is unquestionably the role of a court to “say what the law is,” sometimes the law is “what the Wisconsin Supreme Court says it is.”

A court’s role is not to enact policy. A court’s role is certainly not to advance a partisan political agenda. However, in the those cases where no existing statutory language, constitutional text, or appellate court decision provides a clear answer to the question or questions presented, a court is required to make a value judgment. Such judgments must be made consistent with the accepted legal principles underlying the area of law at issue. Nevertheless, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is often called upon to make value judgments which, at the time of decision, are undefined by existing law.

Making the sort of value judgments necessary to resolve the cases that will come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court requires a maturity of jurisprudence that only comes with time and experience. In my humble opinion, in the upcoming election for Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the candidate with that experience is the Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Lisa Neubauer.

After 19 years of private legal practice, in 2007, Lisa Neubauer was appointed to the District II Court of Appeals by then-Governor James Doyle. In 2008, she kept her seat by earning over 62 percent of the vote in a contested election in a district that includes some of the most conservative counties in the State of Wisconsin (in 2016, President Trump carried every county in District II). During her 11-plus years on the Court of Appeals, Judge Neubauer has established herself as a competent, reliable and, perhaps most importantly, non-controversial jurist. Judge Neubauer is overwhelmingly supported by current and former Wisconsin judges. She has received 98 percent of the judicial endorsements in this election. In recognition of her experience and the quality of her work on the Court of Appeals, in 2015, and again in 2018, she was appointed as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

If candidates are to be evaluated based on qualifications, experience, and a long-standing record of non-partisan jurisprudence, the clear choice in the upcoming election for Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is Chief Judge Lisa Neubauer. I urge all voters to join me in voting for her on April 2, 2019.
Hon. Michael H. Bloom
Oneida County Circuit Court, Branch II

Reader: Hagedorn most qualified for Supreme Court

Editor,
On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, Wisconsin voters elect a new Supreme Court Justice. A recent letter to [the Star Journal’s] Viewpoint claimed the liberal, Lisa Neubauer, is better qualified for Supreme Court Justice than the conservative candidate, Brian Hagedorn. And why? Because the writer feels the best way to look for guidance (on how to vote) is endorsements by fellow judges. I question that logic and believe the best way to be guided on how to vote is look at “all” endorsements, including those outside the judiciary. One of the shadiest people in American politics, Eric Holder, has endorsed Lisa Neubauer.

Eric Holder was President Obama’s attorney general and probably the most dishonest attorney general in history. Eric Holder’s political organization has pumped over $350,000 into Lisa Neubauer’s campaign. That much money from someone like Eric Holder does not smell right. Eric Holder is the only attorney general in history to be censured by Congress. He was censured because he refused to give Congress details about the failed Fast and Furious gun running operation in Mexico. A failed plan that got one of our finest border agents murdered and left Holder’s hands bloody. Do we really want a candidate like Lisa Neubauer sitting on our Wisconsin Supreme Court when she has been endorsed and financed by the likes of Eric Holder?

Vote on April 2, 2019, for Judge Brian Hagedorn, the most qualified and most independent candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.
Andy Loduha, Rhinelander

Reader states endorsements favor Neubauer

Editor,
346 to 5. In any contest, that would be an utter rout. When it concerns endorsements in an election, it is downright embarrassing.
The important election for Wisconsin Supreme Court is Tuesday April 2, in which Lisa Neubauer, Chief Judge of the Appellate Court, faces Brian Hagedorn. With a non-partisan race, the best place to look for guidance is the endorsements by fellow judges. Neubauer has 346. Hagedorn only five (that is not a typo).
With so many supporting Neubauer, it is obvious that the endorsements come from a wide range of political persuasions. With such a huge percentage favoring Neubauer, it is clear that she has had a career that has earned her great admiration from the entire judicial community. And Hagedorn has not.
The winner of the election gets a 10-year term on our Supreme Court. We need to vote on April 2 to ensure that Chief Judge Lisa Neubauer will be our next justice on the court.
David Barnhill, Hazelhurst