Supreme Court of
Wisconsin
Judicial Conduct
Advisory Committee
Date Issued: January 18,
2001 OPINION 00-2
ISSUE
May
a judge sign the nominating petition of a partisan candidate for office?
ANSWER
Yes,
with caution
FACTS
The
circulator of a petition for a partisan candidate for office asks a judge to
sign the candidate’s nominating petition.
DISCUSSION
The
issue presented involves SCR 60.03(2), a portion of its comment, and SCR 60.06
(2).
A. SCR 60.03
SCR
60.03 provides:
A judge shall avoid impropriety and the
appearance of impropriety in all of the Judge's activities.
. . .
(2) A
judge may not allow family, social, political or other relationships to
influence the judge's judicial conduct or judgment. A judge may not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance
the private interests of the judge or of others or convey or permit others to
convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the
judge.
The
comment to SCR 60.03 (2) provides in part:
This subsection does not reach the matter of
the judge's endorsement of a candidate for judicial or other nonpartisan
elective office. That matter is left
for consideration together with other issues involving a judge's political and
campaign activity to the committee the court will appoint to study and to make
recommendations to the court.
B. SCR 60.06
SCR
60.06(2) recites:
(2) Party Membership. Except for activities concerning his or her own election, a judge
shall not be a member of any political party or participate in its affairs,
caucuses, promotions, platforms, endorsements, conventions or activities. A judge shall not make or solicit
financial or other contributions in support of its causes or publicly
endorse or speak on behalf of its candidates or platforms (emphasis
added).
Wis.
Stat. §8.10(2)(b) recites in pertinent part:
Each nomination paper shall have substantially
the following words printed at the top:
I, the undersigned, request that the name of. .
., residing at. . .be placed on the ballot at the. . .election to be held on .
. .as a candidate so that voters will have the opportunity to vote for (him or
her) for the office of (name of office).
I am eligible to vote in the (name of jurisdiction or district in which
candidate seeks office). I have not
signed the nomination paper of any other candidate for the same office at this
election.
An
elector is defined in Wis. Stat. § 6.02 as:
6.02 Qualifications, general. (1) Every
U.S. citizen age 18 or older who has resided in an election district or ward
for 10 days before any election where the citizen offers to vote is an eligible
elector.
If
the language of Wis. Stat. § 8.10(2)(b) or substantially the same language
appears on the nomination petition, a judge may sign the petition because the
judge is acting in his or her private capacity as an elector and joins with
other electors in requesting that voters be given an opportunity to vote for a
person seeking an office. By signing
the petition, the elector does not endorse the candidate.
If
the language on the petition departs from the requirements of the statute to a
degree that an elector signing it indicates support for a candidate, the judge
should not sign the petition. The judge
would then violate the terms of SCR 60.06(2).
The
committee is aware that certain partisan candidates have used photocopies of
petitions in their advertising. The publication of the petition does not change
its primary purpose,
but the public could perceive that
petition signers support the candidate.
The judge who signs a petition for a partisan candidate should consider,
1) whether the candidate intends to publish the petition the judge signs; 2) if
the petition should be published by the candidate, whether the public will be
aware that the petition’s purpose is to place the candidate’s name on the
ballot and does not imply support for the candidate by the elector whose
signature appears on the petition.
For
the reasons recited in the preceding paragraph, judges should not use their
titles if and when they sign nominating petitions.
CONCLUSION
A judge may sign a nominating petition for a partisan candidate for
office, but the judge should consider the precise language of the petition and
whether the petition may be used for any purpose other than filing with the
appropriate public official.
APPLICABILITY
This opinion is advisory only, is based on specific facts and questions
submitted by the petitioner to the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee, and is
limited to questions arising under Supreme Court Rules, Chapter 60-Code of
Judicial Conduct. This opinion is not
binding upon the Wisconsin Judicial Commission or the Supreme Court in the
exercise of their judicial discipline responsibilities. This opinion does not purport to address
provisions of the Code of Ethics for Public Officials and Employees, subchapter
III of Ch. 19 of the statutes.
I hereby certify that this Formal Opinion No. 00-2 issued by the
Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee for the State of Wisconsin this 18th day of
January, 2001.
Thomas H.
Barland
Chair