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Washington County Circuit Judge Annette Ziegler, 43, defended her record and accused opponent Linda Clifford, a Madison attorney, of being behind the allegations.
According to an analysis by the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Ziegler presided over 22 cases in 10 years as a circuit judge that involved companies in which she owned at least $50,000 worth of stock. She also handled 12 lawsuits involving companies in which she owned between $5,000 and $50,000 in stock. Those companies included JP Morgan Chase, M&I Bank and United Healthcare.
If true, that would violate a 2000 state judicial panel advisory that judges owning $20,000 or more in stock in a company either should recuse themselves or proceed only after notifying both parties of a possible conflict.
Many of those 34 cases were uncontested administrative matters handled by an office clerk, Ziegler said Monday before speaking to the East Rotary at Forest Hills. She added she never financially benefitted from any of the more than 25,000 cases.
The State Journal story also said Ziegler withdrew from a case involving Wal-Mart after critics noted she owned at least $100,000 worth of stock in the retail giant.
But Ziegler said Monday her family doesn’t own Wal-Mart stock.
When asked if she knew the stocks she held, she said her investments are handled by another party and can change daily.
Ziegler charged that Clifford was resorting to “dirty tricks” to deflect from ways in which Clifford’s husband, a prominent trial attorney, could benefit from Supreme Court decisions.
Ziegler also claimed Clifford’s campaign hired someone to investigate her and her family, which Clifford campaign manager Nicholl Caruso has denied.
The campaign used a research firm to review Ziegler’s performance as a judge, Caruso said, and it is Ziegler who is trying to confuse the voters.
“Annette has said over and over that she welcomes an objective review of her judicial record,” Caruso said. “That’s why it’s so disingenuous of her to call our research into her public record a dirty trick.
Dan Springer can be reached at dspringer@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8269.
unohoo wrote on Mar 20, 2007 7:22 PM: