Like other elections, judicial campaigns in Wisconsin are being invaded by big-spending interest groups that critics fear will undermine the impartiality of the judiciary. Changing the system would take time and a constitutional amendment. Hubler and Chvala have introduced or plan to introduce resolutions that would start that process. To amend the constitution, this legislature and the next one seated in January 2001 would have to approve the same resolution and voters would have to endorse it in a referendum. History does not favor the proposals.
Voters usually disfavor giving up their voting privileges even for relatively minor offices.
Chvala admitted it won't be easy. Chvala offered a list that he considers to be breaches of the principals on which the elected Supreme Court are founded. Political party influences have intruded in what are supposed to be nonpartisan races, he said. Campaigns for the court have been marred by negative TV ads, big money donations, independent campaigns by interest groups backing one candidate against another and anonymous mailings to voters, he said. An alternative reform already before the Legislature would single out Supreme Court candidates for taxpayer funding.