The Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin • 5

Social Issues Gableman hires anti-abortion attorney to fight ethics charges serve on county boards and city councils across the state: 20 percent, according to Megan McGrorty, executive director of Emerge Wisconsin, which trains women to run for elected office. Women make up about 37 percent of school boards. Taken together, these are the lowest levels in 20 years, McGrorty says. "We're moving backwards in Wisconsin and that's what Emerge is trying to change." Democrat Penny Bernard Schaber, who won a nasty Assembly race with Republican Jo Egelhoff to assume the seat held for more than a decade by Republican Rep. Steve Weickert of Appleton, is a graduate of the Emerge program as is Mary Schuch-Krebs, who was elected Kenosha County clerk.

The program is currently recruiting women interested in running for office for its next six-month training program. "We're hoping to graduate 20 women out of the 2009 class," McGrorty says. Emerge Wisconsin is holding a fundraiser from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, at Cafe Montmartre to support its efforts.

Bemard-Schaber, Wisconsin Secretary of Health Services Karen Timberlake and state Rep. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, will make brief remarks. Seidel recently beat out Rep. Jason Fields of Milwaukee to become the new assistant majority leader in the state Assembly. She was the only woman to run for a leadership post.

All four Democrats running for Assembly speaker were men. Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, who has been in the Assembly since 1998, said at the time she felt "ashamed" that she wasn't running for a leadership position. But, she added, "I don't want to spend two years raising money. I like policy work." Berceau said identifying why other women don't run for leadership is a "ques- tion we need to address." Some have young babies, she said, but that's riot the whole story.

"I'd say it's numbers. We need more of us." Caruso said Seidel's visibility as a leader, however, will help encourage other women to pursue electoral office. "She can be seen as a role model and someone other women can look to." The Wisconsin experience is in stark contrast to New Hampshire where, for the first time, women will form the first female legislative majority in the country. When the state Senate convenes in January there, women will hold 13 of 24 seats, according to Women's eNews, a nonprofit independent news service devoted to wom-en's issues. Women also hold key leadership posts there.

Working for the New Hampshire legislature, however, is a lot different than working for the Wisconsin Assembly or Senate. For starters, the New Hampshire legislature has 424 members, is in session for six months and is practically pro bono work. Elected officials are paid $100 a year, plus gas mileage. Starting in January, Wisconsin lawmakers will receive $49,943 a year for what is generally considered to be a full-time job. Sources quoted in Women's eNews chalk up New Hampshire's female-heavy legislature (nearly 36 percent women) to its part-time status and low pay.

Said Donna Sytek, former speaker of the House and former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party: "Historically, a woman might just as easily have served in the state legislature asthePTA." jdavidoffmadison.com During the recent presidential campaign Bopp also served as an advisor to candidate Mitt Romney on "family arid life issues." In an October 2007 interview with Human Events.com, a conservative publication, Bopp said he was drawn to Romney because of the former Massachusetts governor's "strong support for marriage, which was seriously under assault in Massachusetts." Bopp said he was also backing Romney because of the candidate's support of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would restrict marriage to one man and one woman. Some things didnt change State Democrats pulled off a coup in November, taking over the state Assembly for the first time in 14 years. They now control both houses of the state Legislature as well as the governor's office. One thing that didn't change in the election, however, is the number of women serving in the Legislature.

According to Nicholl Caruso, Wisconsin state director for Progressive Majority, which works to elect progressives to local and state office, the Legislature that convenes in January will seat 29 women among .132 legislators. Broken down by house and party, there will be 16 Democratic women (out of 52 Dems) in the state Assembly and six Repub-' lican women (out of 46), with one inde- penderit lawmaker. In the' state Senate, four of 18 Democrats will be women and three of 15 Republicans will be women. The numbers are the same as in the current legislative session, Caruso says, with women making up about 22 percent of the Legislature. Roughly the same percentage of women By JUDITH DAVIDOFF The Capital Times If there was any question as to where newly elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman stands on abortion or, for that matter, on a host of other social issues, his choice of attorney should provide some clues.

Gableman, who is facing charges that he violated the Wisconsin Judicial Code of Conduct during his spring race against incumbent Justice Louis Butler, is being represented by prominent Republican attorney James Bopp Jr. who serves as counsel to the National Right to Life Committee and the James Madison Center for Free Speech. A lead partner in the Terre Haute, law firm of Bopp, Coleson Bostrom, Bopp has become a familiar figure in national conservative battles. He recently represented Wisconsin Right to Life, the state's leading anti-abortion group, in its. successful effort to rein in the scope of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which was intended to regulate the disclosure of political money, especially close to an election.

Opposing campaign finance laws has, in fact, become a specialty of Bppp's. According to his columnist bio, Bopp has "argued numerous campaign finance cases in defense of pro-life, pro-family, conservative and Republican Party groups, including four cases in the U.S. Supreme Court." 4 4 4 4 Keep the (33P off your holiday menu For a stress-free holiday, replace your old unreliable garbage disposal with a new In-Sink-Erator Badger 5 professionally installed in your home for only Hurry offer expires 12-31-08. UU Call for details, some restrictions apply. How Old is Your Baby? Up to 5 Months -FREE Stride Rite Crib Shoes Up to 15 Off Stride Rite First Walking Shoes I JUST PRESENT THIS COUPON! 10 608-238-3194 Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 11-6 lUC I I www.morganshoes.com DALE- Midvale Boulevard at University Avenue November 26-December 2, 2008 i a The Cap Times 5.