|Election 2011 | Waukesha County Circuit Court

Prosecutor unseats Doyle appointee on Waukesha County Circuit Court

April 05, 2011

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

April 05, 2011 0

Waukesha — For the second time in as many years, a judge appointed by Democratic former Gov. Jim Doyle was defeated by a candidate who ran on a message of being the more conservative choice backed by prominent Republicans.

With 100% of the vote counted, Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Lloyd Carter easily defeated Judge Kathryn Stilling by a 2-to-1 margin in the race for Waukesha County Circuit Court.

The new six-year judicial term begins in August.

Conservatives in Waukesha County, one of the state's most Republican, worked for a large turnout to provide a conservative cushion in the hotly contested race for Supreme Court justice. County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus estimated turnout at about 42%.

Stilling, 56, of Brookfield, was a public defender before going into private practice, specializing in criminal defense. She was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Paul Reilly was elected appellate judge last year.

Carter, 51, of New Berlin, has been a prosecutor in Waukesha County for about 20 years. He campaigned that he made Waukesha County safer by putting criminals behind bars while Stilling, as a defense lawyer, worked to keep them out of jail. He had the backing of the Republican sheriff and district attorney, as well as all of the county's Republican legislators.

Stilling countered that as a judge, she had shown she was a conservative by applying the law as it was written. She also campaigned that besides her legal experience, she showed dedication to making the community better by volunteering in such things as Boy Scout leadership, her church and parish school board, and a prevention-minded anti-drug coalition.

Judicial races are nonpartisan, but this campaign, like one last April, had clearly partisan overtones.

A year ago, another Doyle appointee to the bench, Richard Congdon, was defeated in his first election by former state Rep. Mark Gundrum, a Republican from New Berlin. Congdon was a former longtime chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party.

Stilling said Carter was inappropriately inserting partisanship into the race.

While Stilling's campaign fund early on far surpassed Carter's, new finance reports filed with the state at the end of March show that both had similarly stocked campaign kitties - between $74,000 and $79,000 - with both heavily contributing to their own campaigns.

Stilling reported lending her campaign $45,200 while Carter lent his $56,600, according to the March reports.

Stilling reported spending nearly $34,000 with cash on hand of another $40,500. The reports do not reflect spending on television ads in the final leg of the campaign.

Carter reported spending $72,500, nearly all of his funds.

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.