Schimel running an “extreme partisan campaign,” says Crawford

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is heating up with less than three months to go before the general election. UpNorth News Radio host Pat Kreitlow interviews liberal candidate Susan Crawford. 

Susan Crawford, the Dane County judge running for Wisconsin Supreme Court, said in an interview on UpNorth News Radio that her opponent is running an “extreme partisan campaign.”

Brad Schimel, the current Waukesha County judge and former Republican Attorney General from 2014 to 2018, in a recent interview came to the defense of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, saying the defendants never got a “fair shot” in court. 

“I wasn’t surprised to hear Judge Schimel making those kinds of comments,” said Crawford in an interview with Pat Kreitlow, host of UpNorth News Radio. “It really is par for the course for him. He’s running a really extreme partisan campaign.”

Of those who stormed the capitol and attacked members of law enforcement, Crawford added, “I think it sends a strong message to the voters about what Judge Schimel stands for.”

During Crawford’s interview, available in full here as a video and here as a podcast, she also talked about some of Schimel’s campaign messaging on “rogue judges,” a message she characterized as “extreme partisanship.”

“He is running to bring a partisan agenda to the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” she said. “He is not running to be a fair and impartial judge. And that’s really the difference between the two of us.” 

Other topics discussed in the interview included Crawford’s background as a prosecutor, working in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and working for the Department of National Resources. 

“I’ve experienced and participated in our criminal justice system from a number of different angles or sides at this point, both as a prosecutor, then when I was helping lead the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, making sure that our communities were safe — particularly as offenders were being released from prison, making sure that they were being supervised appropriately,” she said. ““So if somebody’s got a substance abuse problem, that’s driving their criminal behavior to make sure that they have access to treatment resources when they’re coming back into the community. Because just about everybody who goes into the prison system is going to come out again. And we were really focused on that reentry process to make sure that we were doing everything that we could to protect public safety for those folks coming out.”

On being a judge, she said, “I’ve presided over criminal cases. I’ve not hesitated to send someone to prison or jail when that’s what’s necessary to protect public safety. Sometimes, that’s what you’ve got to do. And I’ve always been willing to do that and put public safety at the forefront as I’ve made decisions.”

On working with the DNR, she reflected on her work with the department and criticized Schimel’s actions as attorney general, saying, “He was allowing polluters, big global companies like 3M who were violating air pollution laws, not having the proper controls on their factories — he was letting them off with less than a slap on the wrist…Unfortunately, under Brad Schimel as attorney general, polluters just got away with it, and I’m afraid that is the record that he brings to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.” 

In the interview, Crawford also talked about issues like the Affordable Care Act, reproductive rights, and more.

Watch the full interview here: