Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Michael Screnock gets $30,000 from Republicans

MADISON – In the latest sign that Wisconsin’s officially nonpartisan race for Supreme Court is actually partisan, one candidate got more than $30,000 in help from the state Republican Party.

Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock received a $31,152 in-kind donation from the Republicans on Thursday, according to a filing made over the weekend.

His opponents, both of whom have made appeals to Democrats, criticized Screnock.

“Anyone think it is a coincidence that @wisgop gave my opponent an in-kind for 31k? I don’t. #StopTheFairyTale #ChangeSCOWIS,” Madison attorney Tim Burns wrote in a Twitter message Monday.

Burns — who calls himself a Democrat in his television ad — has said on the campaign trail that it is a “fairy tale” that candidates running for the state’s high court don’t have or can overlook their political leanings.

“From Act 10 to gerrymandering, Screnock spent his short legal career doing the bidding of (Gov.) Scott Walker and the Republican Party. He is intentionally misleading voters when he says he is nonpartisan,” said a statement from Jessica Lovejoy, the campaign manager of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet.

Her statement referred to work Screnock performed as an attorney assisting Republican lawmakers draw legislative districts that helped their party and defending Act 10 — the 2011 law that limited collective bargaining for public workers — in court.

Both Dallet and Burns spoke at the state Democratic convention last year, and Dallet recently debuted a TV ad critical of GOP President Donald Trump.

Screnock campaign adviser Sean Lansing defended the GOP help Screnock is getting, saying in a statement that Screnock “welcomes donations from anyone who believes in the importance of a fair and impartial judiciary that relies on the rule of law, our Constitution and the separation of powers.”

“It's also telling that two of the candidates in this race seemingly want to stifle free speech from sources they disagree with or find objectionable,” Lansing said in his statement.

A spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party did not immediately say whether that party will get involved in the Supreme Court race. The Feb. 20 primary will reduce the field to two for the April 3 general election.

On Monday, Dallet filed a report that showed she raised nearly $92,000 in January and had about $237,000 in her campaign account as of last week.

Burns raised about $79,000 during that period and had about $126,000 on hand, his report showed.

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Screnock had not filed his report as of Monday evening.

Past reports showed Dallet had a financial advantage in the race, in part because she put $200,000 of her own money into the race early on.