Photo credit: Nicole Acosta
Danielle Shelton
It is always disappointing to see that very few judges are challenged for their re-election. It certainly isn’t because they have high name recognition since most people couldn’t name even two or three current Milwaukee County judges. There are a number of reasons for this, and unfortunately, most explanations are not particularly noble. Our courts would run much better if the voters held judges as accountable as they do with all other elected officials.
Many judges get on the bench from a gubernatorial appointment, and once on the bench, never ever face a contested election where they have to undergo the scrutiny of the voters. That is a sad fact about our judicial system. The current incumbent judge in this position, a conservative corporate attorney who was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Scott Walker to replace the very capable and progressive judge (now state Supreme Court Justice) Rebecca Dallet. Without Walker appointing him to the bench, would a conservative corporate lawyer with nothing that particularly distinguishes him ever be able to get elected judge in Milwaukee County?
The Tuesday, April 2, election is no different. There is just one contested judicial race in Milwaukee County, and that race pits the Walker appointee, Andrew Jones, against an Assistant State Public Defender, Danielle Shelton. It is difficult to evaluate a judge, since cases before the courts are all somewhat unique, so it comes down to understanding a person’s values to try to understand how they will function as a judge in interpreting the law. One of the best ways to understand a person’s values is to look at the career choices they have made.
Jones is an upstanding citizen who has been on the court for about seven months, which is not long enough to either distinguish himself or embarrass the court. He has been a conservative corporate attorney for the past 20 years, representing businesses in a variety of litigation and other legal matters. Our court system has a significant number of former corporate attorneys who understand the positions of the corporations and, unfortunately, often show sympathy for the corporations against average citizens.
Shelton has demonstrated her values in her career choices and has very broad experience. Early in her career, she worked in the private sector as a financial adviser for American Express. She also served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and for the past 15 years, Shelton has devoted her considerable legal skills and energy to helping individuals who are not the wealthy and powerful.
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Shelton first worked on behalf of senior citizens in a wide range of legal issues as an attorney for Legal Action. She then became a state Public Defender, positively impacting the lives of indigent defendants in criminal cases. Unfortunately, the Milwaukee County justice system has very few judges who have actually worked with poor people and understand their circumstances, and that is a very serious indictment of our entire justice system.
We need more judges who understand the lives of the average working people and poor people and who don’t lean toward always supporting the wealthy corporate interests. For this reason, we strongly endorse Danielle Shelton for Milwaukee County Judge.
The Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 40 race is one of several items on the ballot on Apr. 2. See all of our endorsements here.
