Molly Beck

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - A rift between some conservatives has emerged in this year's state Supreme Court race after a prominent organization withdrew its endorsement and donations from a candidate after learning he founded a school that allows the expulsion of students in same-sex relationships.

State Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn last week lost his endorsement from the Wisconsin Realtors Association, a behind-the-scenes player in Supreme Court races that often backs conservatives like Hagedorn, an appeals court judge.

"The real estate related issues that served as the basis for our endorsement have been overshadowed by other, non-real estate related issues — issues with which we do not want to be associated and that directly conflict with the principles of our organization and the values of our members," the organization said explaining its decision.

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Following the Realtors' decision, some conservative lawmakers blasted the group for what they characterized as attacks on Hagedorn's religious faith — one calling its members "anti-religious zealots."

"As a realtor and conservative, I am disappointed in the @WIRealtors hostility toward the faith of a candidate they endorsed based on his merits as a judge," Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, tweeted Thursday. "Anti-religious zealots should not force men & women of faith to self-censor their beliefs."

GOP Sen. David Craig of Big Bend in a tweet also condemned the group, saying it "didn't stand for religious liberty."

Longtime GOP strategists R.J. Johnson and Deb Jordahl on Sunday pushed back against the Republican senators — writing in an opinion column submitted to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the group's decision "in no way" challenges Hagedorn's Christian faith and that it was acting in the best interest of its members.

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"If WRA’s critics were being honest, they would acknowledge that the WRA has every right to consider Hagedorn’s extensive written record and determine whether those views are intolerant and outside the mainstream of public opinion and that of their members," Johnson and Jordahl wrote.

"Instead, some conservative opinion leaders, including some politicians, have viciously accused the WRA of being 'anti-religious zealots,'" they continued. "This is a bogus and cynical claim that is being used to suppress the rights of others to speak freely. No one, including the WRA, is disputing Judge Hagedorn’s right to his beliefs. And no one should dispute the WRA’s right to free speech and association based on their own values and beliefs."

Johnson and Jordahl said the group's membership is "as diverse as the voting population itself" and the attacks "are more likely to force other players off the field than to shame them into the game."

The state's Realtors Association has ties to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which Johnson and Jordahl have worked for as consultants.

Stroebel said in a statement late Monday he did not mean WRA members were anti-religious zealots.

"But they certainly are caving to those who are," he said. "Of course the WRA has a right to take such an action. I would ask the WRA to survey their members regarding their religious beliefs."

Stroebel, who is a realtor, said "the only reason some people are choosing to defend the WRA is because they hope to get a cut of the organization’s future political spending.”

"Our profession should not favor or disfavor individuals based on their religious faith, race, creed, color or sexual identity," he said. "The real estate profession and the organizations that represent it should not be in the business of deeming which religious beliefs are acceptable and which are not."

In response, Johnson said "unfortunately, Senator Stroebel has a habit of making baseless attacks on the integrity of people he disagrees with. First it was the Wisconsin Realtors Association, and now us."

"If he’s retracting his earlier statement and apologizing to the WRA, that is a step in the right direction," Johnson said, citing a Wisconsin State Journal article published Friday characterizing WRA as zealots.

Hagedorn in 2016 founded and now oversees Augustine Academy in Waukesha County, which partners with Ambleside Schools International, a Christian, college-preparatory school that blends private and home-based education.

The school's statement of faith says the school community believes that "Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church."

In its code of personal conduct listed on the school teacher application, school officials say teachers may be fired and students may be disciplined or forced to withdraw from the school if they or their parents violate the code's policies. The rules include no "immoral sexual activity," defined as any activity that occurs outside marriage between a man and a woman.

Private religious schools and colleges based in conservative Christian teachings often hold the view that sexual activity should occur only between a man and a woman who are married.

Broad opinions on same-sex marriage have also shifted dramatically in recent years.

In 2017, Pew Research Center polling showed 62 percent of Americans supported same-sex marriage compared with just 35 percent in 2001.

In Wisconsin, a 2016 Marquette University Law School poll showed 64 percent of Wisconsin residents polled supported allowing gay and lesbian residents to marry, while 28 percent opposed.

Among Republicans, 43 percent favored same-sex marriage at the time while 48 percent opposed. Among Democrats, 84 percent were in favor and 11 percent were not.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Wisconsin for nearly five years, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Judge Lisa Neubauer, Hagedorn's opponent, and liberal-leaning groups have argued Hagedorn's approach to same-sex marriage and same-sex relationships prevent him from being impartial on such issues should they come before the Supreme Court.

Hagedorn, who has worked as a judge on the state Appeals Court since 2015, has said he believes his religious views are under attack by critics of the school's policies and of his past blog posts questioning the legalization of same-sex marriage.

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The 2005 blog posts, written while Hagedorn was in law school, show he once characterized the overturning of an anti-sodomy law as a basis to legalize bestiality and called Planned Parenthood a wicked organization.

Hagedorn has said he puts aside his personal beliefs and would continue to do so if elected to the Supreme Court.