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Wis. Supreme Court justice won't talk about charge

MADISON, Wis. (AP) The newest member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has begun his 10-year term under the cloud of ethics charges, but Justice Michael Gableman refused to discuss it following his swearing-in ceremony Friday.

"I'll answer those questions in the proper time and place," Gableman said when questioned about it after the event. When asked for a third time about the charge, Gableman said to a reporter, "See my response to question two, buddy boy."

The state Judicial Commission complaint alleges that Gableman violated an ethics rule when his campaign ran a television ad with misleading claims about his opponent.

If a three-judge panel finds the complaint has merit, it will make a recommendation on Gableman's punishment to his colleagues on the Supreme Court.

A Milwaukee County supervisor also filed a complaint with the Burnett County district attorney, alleging the Gableman ad violated an obscure law prohibiting anyone from knowingly making "a false representation pertaining to a candidate."

The ad came during Gableman's successful campaign to defeat incumbent Justice Louis Butler in April.

Gableman, 42, declined interview requests this week. But after the swearing in he did reflect on his first two months on the Supreme Court, saying he felt "surprisingly natural" on the state's highest court.

"I've kind of taken to it like a duck to water," he said.

Even so, questions over the ad follow him.

The ad in question showed a picture of Butler, the state's first black justice, next to a shot of black convicted rapist Reuben Lee Mitchell. A narrator said: "Butler found a loophole. Mitchell went on to molest another child."

Butler was a public defender when he represented Mitchell on the appeal of his 1985 conviction for raping a girl. Butler persuaded an appeals court to grant Mitchell a new trial because of evidentiary flaws but the Supreme Court overturned that decision.

Mitchell served his full sentence. After his release he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl.

If the complaint is upheld, Gableman could face discipline ranging from a reprimand to removal from the bench.

Although Gableman began his term in August, the swearing in ceremony held in the state Assembly chamber wasn't until Friday. One of Gableman's former law school professors from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., spoke as did Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Madison Bishop Robert Morlino, Ozaukee County Sheriff Maury Straub, and former state Supreme Court Justice Donald Steinmetz.

"This is downright awesome," Dolan said of Gableman's swearing in. "This is blessed. This is America at her best."