Former Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and state Democrats attacked state Supreme Court candidate Annette Ziegler at a Democratic Judiciary Campaign Committee conference Thursday, questioning the judge's stock holdings in pharmaceutical companies.
Lautenschlager said Ziegler holds at least $265,000 in stocks in nine pharmaceutical companies—including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Merck—that the state has pending lawsuits.
""Annette Ziegler has a personal financial stake in pharmaceutical companies,"" Lautenschlager said.
The DJCC, a national company that pushes to elect Democratic judges, accuses Ziegler of sitting in on cases where she had a conflict of interest and violating the Supreme Court code of conduct.
According to Lautenschlager, in 90 out of 92 cases where such conflict resided, Ziegler ruled in favor of the pharmaceutical company.
Wisconsin's former top prosecutor said she is certain these companies pump money into Ziegler's campaign.
""I would put my house, my husband, my kids and my dog on it,"" she said, but did not cite any specific contributions.
Referring to DJCC's gripe with Ziegler's stockholdings, spokesperson for Ziegler Marci VanAdestine said, ""This is going to be a non-issue because [Ziegler] will be putting all her stocks into a blind trust.""
VanAdestine added Ziegler's opponent Linda Clifford owns stock in the well-known drug store Walgreen's.
State Rep. Chuck Benedict, D-Beloit, said Ziegler's ties with pharmaceutical companies concern him both as a physician and as a taxpayer.
""As a taxpayer my gut check tells me there is a much better solution [than Ziegler],"" he said.
State Rep. Gary Sherman, D-Port Wing, said the state Supreme Court race is not generally viewed as a ""barometer for whether one is liberal or conservative."" Sherman said Wisconsin's nationally respected Supreme Court would be in jeopardy of upholding their reputation for fairness if Ziegler wins.
The solution for the DJCC is Clifford—all members who spoke at the press conference endorse her. However, Lautenschlager said the DJCC has made only small spending efforts for Clifford's campaign.
But VanAdestine said she finds it ironic that a ""shadowy interest group"" like the DJCC is accusing a candidate for laundering money from companies without disclosing it and being unethical.
""It's like the pot calling the kettle black,"" VanAdestine said.
Lautenschlager called the DJCC a ""small effort"" whose spending is made public. She did not disclose who funds the group.
