Guess who's paying the freight, for state Supreme Court candidates? By now it should come as no surprise: the big backers of these supposedly nonpartisan candidates have very partisan records, when it comes to campaign contributions. "Almost all of (Justice Louis) Butler's big contributors are Democrats and have given to lots of Democratic candidates, almost all of (Judge Michael) Gableman's big supporters are Republicans, with long histories of giving to Republican candidates," says Mike McCabe with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign , which did the analysis. McCabe worries about all this partisan spending on the race between Butler and his Gableman. McCabe's solution: full public financing of campaigns for the state Supreme Court. He maintains that would attract judicial candidates who are put off by the current partisan nature of the campaigns.
