The campaign of Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock, a candidate for the state Supreme Court, announced Friday that two more judges have withdrawn their support for his opponent, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet. They also announced another judge, Barron County Judge Jim Babler, never endorsed Dallet despite being on her list of endorsements.
Racine County Circuit Court Judges Robert S. Repischak and Wynne P. Laufenburg are now supporting Screnock, bringing the total to six judges who have either switched their support or disputed they ever endorsed Dallet, four of them in the last week.
“It seems like for every East Coast politician Judge Dallet gains the support of, she loses two Wisconsin judicial endorsements here at home,” said Screnock in a statement Friday. “I am proud to have so much support from our great state, whether it is a bipartisan majority of Wisconsin Sheriffs or a number of my colleagues on the court—including former supporters of Judge Dallet.”
Dallet was endorsed by former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Delaware) this week. Previously she was endorsed by former Attorney General Eric Holder who served in the Obama Administration.
Friday’s announcement of three more judges withdrawing their support for Dallet comes on the same day Screnock announced an endorsement by current state Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler.
Earlier this week, Judge John Yackel of Sawyer County said that while he spoke to Dallet on the phone, he never offered her his endorsement.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ellen Brostrom, the daughter of Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience “Pat” Roggensack, asked for her name to be withdrawn from the list of supporters after Dallet attacked the integrity of the current court members, including Roggensack.
Brostrom was followed by Florence/Forest County Circuit Court Judge Leon Stenz who also announced last week that he was switching his endorsement to Screnock.
Error page on Judge Rebecca Dallet’s website that appeared instead of endorsements.
Dallet’s list of endorsements was temporarily down following the news Stenz withdrew his endorsement, fueling speculation that more endorsement changes were coming.
Ironically, Dallet’s website error page that appeared instead of the endorsements was the city of San Francisco, the city where Dallet held a fundraiser and said San Francisco values were the same as Wisconsin values. While Dallet did not define those values, the state senator hosting the event was the author of the bill that decriminalized deliberately exposing someone to the HIV virus without their knowledge.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin announced that in advance of Friday night’s debate they are running a “San Francisco-style” streetcar in Madison, the city where the debate is being held.
“Rebecca Dallet got cozy with California liberals at her San Francisco fundraiser. We wanted to make her feel at home ahead of the final debate by bringing a San Francisco trolley to the streets of Madison,” said Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “After attacking Wisconsin values to a room full of liberal west-coast donors, Dallet doesn’t belong anywhere near the Wisconsin Supreme Court.”
The trolley can be seen around the State Capitol square in Madison late this afternoon, according to the Republican Party, as well as on the route to and around the site of the debate this evening.
