UPDATED: Saturday, February 11, 2012 --- 6:45p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A resolution to remove Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman from office appears to be going nowhere.
The resolution was sponsored by state Rep. Kelda Helen Roys. The Madison Democrat says her resolution garnered just four co-sponsors.
At least three complaints have been filed against Gableman with the Government Accountability Board. The complaints stem from free legal services he received from a prominent Wisconsin law firm.
Gableman has declined to recuse himself from three cases in which one of the parties was represented by the same firm.
Roys tells the Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/w72BSo ) Gableman violated the judicial code of conduct.
Her resolution will likely languish since it's up to GOP Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald to send it to a committee. A Fitzgerald spokesman calls Roys' petition a "political stunt."
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman says he won't step aside in an attempt to reopen last year's decision that allowed Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law to take effect.
Gableman said Friday he won't recuse himself in three cases.
Attorneys in the cases had asked Gableman to remove himself because other parties in the cases were represented by a law firm that defended Gableman against an ethics allegation without billing him.
One of the other cases involves the siting of a large heifer facility in Rock County. The other is over whether to use old or new legislative maps for likely recall elections of state senators.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/yjPaBT) reports the full court will now have to decide whether to force Gableman from the cases.
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
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Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2012 --- 9:55 a.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Democratic state lawmaker is calling for the ouster of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman because he presided over cases involving a law firm that had represented him without charging legal fees.
State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys on Wednesday circulated a resolution calling for a vote to remove Gableman. It would require two-thirds approval in both the Senate and Assembly, which are controlled by Republicans.
Gableman has been in the spotlight since the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that he accepted free legal services from prominent Wisconsin law firm Michael, Best & Friedrich but still presided over cases in which they were representing clients.
A spokesman for Gableman's attorney Viet Dinh did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
