Voters lean against allowing ex-judges to hold public office

The Journal Sentinel staff

In what was easily the least publicized and least understood of the three constitutional changes on Tuesday's spring ballot, a referendum question which would have allowed judges to quit the bench and assume a non-judicial office of public trust was being voted down by Wisconsin voters.

With 61% of the precincts reporting, these were the unofficial totals:

State of Wisconsin Judicial office referendum "Shall section 10 (1) of article VII of the constitution be amended to permit a judge to assume a non-judicial office of public trust after vacating the judicial office during that term of office?" 2,185 of 3,554 precincts reporting

Yes251,480

No309,620

The provision, added in the 1840s when the Wisconsin Constitution was drafted and adopted, was so archaic that two judges who retired and resigned said they knew nothing about it when they made their decisions.

Sponsors of the change, led by Assembly Majority Leader Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), said the restriction on what former judges could do treated them unfairly and denied state and local governments a chance to use their proven skills.

In a newsletter summarizing the change, the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance said it was added to the constitution to remove any conflict-of-interest questions from judicial decisions.

The amendment easily slid through the Legislature, which had to pass it in the 1993-'94 and 1995-'96 sessions for it to be on Tuesday's ballot.

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