Letter to the editor

Our absentee ballots are arriving, so it is time to do a little research on the races being decided, and to acquaint ourselves with candidates who are probably not familiar “household names.”  We are all learning how very important these smaller, close-to-home races are, with very real consequences in our daily lives. One race, in Sauk County, is particularly important: Circuit Court Judge. In an ideal world, we’d all wish that politics would play no part in choosing  someone to fairly decide legal cases. But sadly, in Wisconsin, at this point in time, with this particular post; it is grimly critical that everyone be aware that one of the candidates is a Walker appointee, with firm connections to others in that tightly-knit group.  Back in 2018, he ran and lost in spite of (or because of) endorsements by major  Wisconsin “conservatives”  Gableman, Bradley, Prosser, and Hagedorn. National endorsements included anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ groups, plus the NRA.  The other person running, BLAKE DUREN, has no such “baggage” weighing him down. Read their interviews in this paper, compare their assets, and be very aware of Screnock’s undeniable history when making your choice. Another judgeship is up for grabs, for Iowa County voters. Luckily, it seems to be free of such powerful political ties. We can be thankful that there are still some races with good, solid candidates, willing to serve in public office. We could only wish and hope that the clean, fair election process would extend beyond that race to the seats now occupied by Marklein and Novak, who seem to be so firmly locked in by gerrymandering and dark money that nobody even bothers to challenge their seats. We have a lot to do yet, to cure such severe damage to our public rights. Let’s make sure we bring as many voters to this election as we can.    Peggy Peckham Arena