Walker's judges: Brad D. Schimel

"Walker's judges" is an effort to present information about former Gov. Scott Walker's appointees to the bench. Since the election of Gov. Tony Evers, WJI has focused on "Evers' judges." However, from time to time WJI posts "Walker's judges" columns for those who still serve on the bench.
 
Brad Schimel was Wisconsin's attorney general when he was appointed by Walker to the Waukesha County Circuit Court in November 2018, just days after Schimel lost reelection on November 6, 2018. 
 
Usually, the information for "Walker's judges" and "Evers' judges" columns comes from the person's written application to the governor, but in Schimel's case there appears to be no such application.

​Name: Brad D. Schimel
 
Appointed to: Waukesha County Circuit Court
 
Appointment date: Nov. 20, 2018, to term ending July 31, 2018 (elected to a six-year term in April 2019)
 
Education:
Law School – University of Wisconsin–Madison
Undergraduate – University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

The Waukesha County Circuit Court website contains the following biography for Schimel:

"Brad Schimel grew up in the Town of Vernon and graduated Mukwonago High School. He attended UW Waukesha for 2 years and then finished his Bachelor Degree at UW Milwaukee. He began his career in the Waukesha County Courthouse as an intern in the DA's Office in 1989, and after graduating UW Law School in 1990, was hired as an Assistant DA. He served as an Assistant DA until he was elected Waukesha County District Attorney in 2006 and was twice reelected as DA. He left the courthouse in 2015 after being elected Wisconsin Attorney General. Brad and his family stayed here in Waukesha County, and he returned to the courthouse as a Circuit Court Judge presiding over Br. 6 in January, 2019."

Schimel's appointment was unusual in that he likely did not apply for the job in writing. As reported in late 2018, and confirmed by the results of a recent open records request by Wisconsin Justice Initiative seeking copies of Schimel's application and the applications of all finalists for the position, no written application from Schimel appears to exist.

A press release from Sept. 13, 2018, set an application deadline of Oct. 5, 2018, for the position. Applicants were to submit a cover letter, resume, completed judicial application form, and two writing samples.

In a letter dated Dec. 21, 2018, to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Patrick Marley in response to an open records request made earlier that month, Nicholas J. Korger, assistant legal counsel in Walker's office, stated that "(t)here were 14 applicants for the Waukesha County judicial vacancy and a group of 6 'final candidates' . . . . The group of final candidates consisted of the following applicants: Paul Dedinsky, David Maas, Jack Melvin, Brad Schimel, Sara Scullen, and Katherine Spitz."

Documents included with the letter to Marley, and recently received by WJI in response to its more recent open records request, total more than 1,000 pages. They include applications from the other five finalists, but not from Schimel.

In fact, included in the records are four recommendations that Schimel wrote for other individuals seeking the job: Mass, Melvin, Matthew Fernholz, and Sarah Ponath. The four recommendations were made in separate emails to Walker's judicial appointment inbox all dated Oct. 4, 2018, within 30 minutes of each other.

---