By Kim McDarison
Among state office seats to be filled in April, constituents in Jefferson and Walworth counties will find candidates running for Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judges in Districts 2 and 4, and two circuit court judges in Walworth County.
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission website, there are no circuit court judges serving in Jefferson County whose seats are due for election this spring.
Constituents in Jefferson County will find the name of Court of Appeals District 4 Judge Brian Blanchard who is an incumbent running unopposed. Blanchard is a resident of Madison.
Constituents in Walworth County will find a race in Court of Appeals District 2 between judges Lori Kornblum, who is the incumbent, and Maria S. Lazar. Kornblum is a resident of Mequon. Lazar lives in Brookfield.
In Walworth County, constitutes will find the names of two circuit court judges running for open seats. They are incumbent Judge Daniel Johnson, Elkhorn, who is running unopposed in Walworth County Circuit Court Branch 2, and incumbent Judge David M. Reddy, Williams Bay, who is running unopposed in Walworth County Circuit Branch 4.
A full list of Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges and County Circuit Court Judges who are running for election in April — 62 in all — is here: https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections/files/2022-01/Candidates%20Tracking%20By%20Office%20as%20of%201.7.2022_SEI%20Updates.pdf.
The judiciary system
According to the Wisconsin Court System website, there are 253 circuit judges in Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Milwaukee is the largest jurisdiction with 47 judges. Among smaller counties, some 26 have only one judge and the state’s smallest counties share a judge.
Circuit courts are divided into branches with at least one branch in every county, with the exception of six counties, which are paired and share judges. The Wisconsin circuit courts are the state’s trial courts and handle all civil and criminal matters. Judges are elected to six-year terms.
Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals system is made up of 16 judges who serve within four districts. Judges are elected to six-year terms. The districts are headquartered in Milwaukee (District 1), Waukesha (District 2), Wausau (District 3) and Madison (District 4). The system is the state’s intermediate appellate court.
The system is structured such that a chief judge is appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court who then handles administrative duties and participates in deciding cases. A chief judge’s term is three years.
Each of the four district within the Court of Appeals is managed by a presiding judge who is appointed by the chief judge. Presiding judges serve two-year terms.
Wisconsin’s four districts within the Court of Appeals are as follows:
District 1: Milwaukee.
District 2: Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha and Winnebago.
District 3: Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Brown, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas, Washburn and Wausau.
District 4: Adams, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Madison, Marquette, Monroe, Potage, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Vernon, Waupaca, Waushara and Wood.
A map of each of the four districts is here: https://www.wicourts.gov/courts/appeals/index.htm.
Circuit Court branches and judges within Jefferson County are as follows:
Branch 1: William Gruber
Branch 2: William Hue
Branch 3: Robert Dehring
Branch 4: Bennett Brantmeier
Circuit Court branches and judges within Walworth County are as follows:
Branch 1: Philip Koss
Branch 2: Daniel Johnson
Branch 3: Kristine Drettwan
Branch 4: David Reddy
About the candidates
Brian Blanchard
According to biographical information found on Ballotpedia, Blanchard began his tenure as a Court of Appeals District 4 judge in August of 2010. He holds a bachelor’s degree earned at the University of Michigan in 1980 and a law degree earned at Northwestern University School of Law in 1989.
Professionally, between 1990 and 1997, Blanchard worked in Chicago as an assistant U.S. attorney, after which time he joined a Madison law firm. He was elected Dane County District Attorney in 2000 and was reelected to the position three times. He has also worked as a reporter for the Miami Herald and a law clerk to a United States Appeals Court judge. His full Ballotpedia profile is here: https://ballotpedia.org/Brian_Blanchard.
Lori Kornblum
According to biographical information found on Ballotpedia, Kornblum began her tenure as a Court of Appeals District 2 judge January of this year. She was appointed to the position by Gov. Tony Evers in November of last year after her predecessor, Judge Paul Reilly, resigned. Her full Ballotpedia profile is here: https://ballotpedia.org/Lori_Kornblum.
Maria S. Lazar
According to information found on Ballotpedia, Lazar is a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge. She was elected to that position in 2015. Lazar holds an undergraduate degree from Mount Mary College and a law degree from Georgetown Law School.
Professionally, she served, between 2010 and 2015, as an assistant attorney general with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and previously worked in private practice. Her full Ballotpedia profile is here: https://ballotpedia.org/Maria_S._Lazar.
Daniel Johnson
According to information found on Ballotpedia, Johnson was elected to his seat on the Walworth County Circuit Court in 2016. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University in Illinois, earned in 2000, and holds a law degree from Marquette University Law School, earned in 2003.
Johnson worked as an associate attorney with Hahn Law Office between 2004 and 2010 and is a partner at Braden Olson Draper LLP. His full Ballotpedia profile is here: https://ballotpedia.org/Daniel_Johnson_(Wisconsin).
David Reddy
According to information found on Ballotpedia, Reddy was elected to his seat on the Walworth County Circuit Count in 2010, and reelected in 2016. Reddy holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School which he earned in 1987. His resume also includes time spent as a family court commissioner in Walworth County between 2006 and 2010, and he was an attorney in private practice between 1992 and 2006. Reddy also served in the Waukesha County District Attorney’s office between 1987 and 1992. His full Ballotpedia profile is here: https://ballotpedia.org/David_Reddy.
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