
As part of the unprecedented scandal investigation of newest Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler, the investigating judicial panel asked Ziegler to answer several questions about her numerous conflicts of interest. This month, a hearing is scheduled to sift through whatever Ziegler chooses to provide the panel. Because of her continuing refusal to come clean, included below are the five pertinent information requests made by the panel. For the first time in one place, below is the panel's requests with links to the documents and information sought as part of the continuing scandal.
• All 45 cases that Ziegler presided over involving West Bend Savings Bank after her husband joined the bank's board of directors and why the Judicial Commission didn't pursue misconduct charges in all of the cases.
• Loans that Ziegler and her husband received from the bank and whether they were obtained without special favor.
• Details of the financial relationship between J.J. Ziegler's real-estate company and property leased by the company to West Bend Savings.
• J.J. Ziegler's income as director of West Bend Savings and whether that and the other ties were disclosed on the judge's statement of economic interests.
• Any statements Ziegler made about conflicts of interest while running as a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Newly elected Justice Annette Ziegler has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting Justice on Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court to find herself in the middle of an ethics investigation. She is also likely to be the first Justice to force her own collogues on the high court to discipline her for her ethical lapses. She is accused of violating SCR Chapter 60, Code of Conduct pursuant to Section 757.81(4)(a) of the WI Statutes.
Justice Annette Ziegler has already been the subject of a State Ethics Board investigationand admitted to wrongdoing as a result. Her conflicts scandal then moved to the