As District Attorney for Green County, I am following judicial race for Branch 1 Circuit Court Judge closely. I ask voters to vote for the candidate they’d hire to represent them. Three of the candidates mislead the public about their qualifications and experience. Only Dan is being forthright about his experience and qualifications; I vigorously endorse Daniel Bartholf as our next Circuit Court Judge.
I know all of the candidates and we get along well, but the truth matters and should matter to everyone who lives in Green County. Dan is the candidate with the broadest and most significant experience in this race. He has respect for the law and is fair. As a former coworker with Dan for more than 6 years, I can attest to Dan’s strong character and even-handedness. He is a hard worker and practices across many areas of law, which is what is required of a Green County Circuit Court Judge. Unlike other candidates, I know he will put in the effort to make a fair and just decision based solely upon the admitted evidence and the law.
A judicial election is a non-partisan election and Dan will be apolitical in his conduct as judge. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about two of the other candidates.
Jane Bucher openly associates herself with the Democratic Party, including advertising endorsements from Democratic Party representatives. Bucher has closely tied herself with Kriss Marion, including holding a campaign event in Lafayette County at Marion’s residence and accepting a donation from Marion’s campaign committee. (Marion did not donate from her personal funds.) Bucher’s campaign is significantly funded by non-residents of Green County: her contributions include over 40 non-residents of Green County, more than four times that of any other candidate. Bucher’s campaign is motivated by partisan politics, not her skills and experience in the law.
In my years serving as District Attorney, I can only recall that Bucher has filed two substantive motions in cases where I was the prosecutor and both motions were easily rejected by the Court. Moreover, Bucher has not had a single criminal jury trial in Green County during my tenure as District Attorney, despite being one of two Assistant State Public Defenders for Green County. Bucher may claim that she’s the most experienced based upon case numbers alone, but empty numbers do not make a good judge. Frankly, I am concerned about public safety should Bucher be elected as I expect her to be unreasonably reluctant to impose prison sentences or otherwise actually hold people accountable for their own behavior, including matters such as contempt where a parent fails to pay child support.
The Republican Party of Green County is strongly supporting Peter Kelly’s campaign, while refusing to let other candidates speak to the group. They accuse Dan of being a Democrat, despite party leadership’s knowledge that I, a Republican, support him. Dan is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, he is non-partisan, which is what we deserve in a Judge.
Kelly campaigns on his experience as Court Commissioner, his academic background, and previously providing domestic violence group counseling. Kelly is one of three Court Commissioners and his role is limited to approving search warrants that have already been approved by my office and approving probable cause statements to hold a person in jail who has been arrested for a crime. Kelly’s experience as Court Commissioner is not anything like the daily duties of a judge.
Kelly’s academic credentials may sound impressive, but at least two of those degrees were obtained by him during his time while acting as an attorney, as well as writing a novel entitled “Cleansing Fire: Welcome to the New Springtime”, which contains a significant number of concerning statements on subjects, such as homosexuality. Kelly attempts to portray himself as having a robust practice, but his in court practice in largely limited to the role of acting as Guardian ad Litem, which is an advocate for the best interests of a person. This has largely been Kelly’s court practice over the past decade. Kelly claims that he is precluded from acting as a criminal defense attorney due to his role as a Court Commissioner. To my knowledge, Kelly is not prohibited from acting as a criminal defense attorney, as former Family Court Commissioner Timothy J. Burns had a robust criminal caseload, prior to his retirement, despite actually presiding over cases each week, unlike Kelly.
Kelly was largely ineffectual providing domestic violence group counseling: nearly one-third of his program’s graduates have committed crimes after completing his counseling. What’s more, the Department of Corrections terminated their agreement for counseling with him long before he was discharged during my tenure. When I informed Kelly that he would not be the exclusive provider for Domestic Violence treatment through my office, he reacted by going to another treatment provider who I had approved to provide counseling and berated them, despite his proclaimed academic prowess in counseling for a very similar counseling subject, i.e. anger management.
Several years ago, there was a Facebook group relating to concerns of sexism at the Green County Justice Center. As District Attorney, I was concerned there may be complaints related to my office. I met with the organizer of that group and she said the concerns were about principally about Kelly, among others. In April 2020, Kelly emailed a group of women, including my staff and the Judge’s office, in which he told them to “Stop acting like a ladies club.” Needless to say, I cannot support Kelly for Judge.
Faun Phillipson is a pleasant person but I cannot recall her ever handling a case in Green County Circuit Court, nor does she have any State court hearings scheduled through at least October 2020. That fact alone should be disqualifying. I find it disturbing that her familial relationship to local attorney Rod Kittlesen is part of her campaign; Rod is not on the ballot, Faun is, and she lacks the experience in our Court to preside over it.
The only candidate that I would hire to represent me is DanielR. Bartholf, and I hope everyone will agree with me and vote for him on February 16 and April 6 to represent all of us as Circuit Court Judge of Branch 1.
— Craig Nolen is the Green County District Attorney.
