Waukesha County Circuit Judge Linda Van De Water in trouble again....

[midnight]

This judge is supported by Scott Walker too....

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Linda Van De Water is no stranger to controversy.

As a prosecutor, she botched a case against a man charged with beating a tavern owner to death. She then got in trouble for repeatedly bringing her dog to work during her first term as judge. She was also deemed "offensive and discourteous" by a prosecutor during a suspected drunken driving incident in Oconomowoc.

But Van De Water may be in her biggest trouble yet.

Sources say Racine County District Attorney Mike Nieskes is weighing whether to charge the second-term judge - and former GOP nominee for state attorney general - with a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct for a Jan. 16 incident involving her ex-boyfriend.

Reached this week, Nieskes declined to discuss the case.

"I'm not going to make a comment about any case that I haven't filed and whether there's an investigation or not," Nieskes said. "I don't think that's appropriate."

Insiders have said Racine County's chief prosecutor was expected to charge Van De Water with a Class B misdemeanor earlier this week. But he apparently delayed doing so because the judge recently hired the firm Kohn & Smith.

The penalty for a Class B misdemeanor can be a fine up to $1,000, a jail term for up to 90 days or both; for a repeat offender, the judge may hike the prison term up to two years.

Van De Water did not return numerous calls this week. She lost her bid to become an appellate judge last year.

Steven Kohn, one of the area's top criminal defense lawyers, refused to discuss the details of the case.

"It is unfortunate that Linda's personal life has spilled over into the public eye," said Kohn, who is handling the matter with his partner Jonathan Smith. "At this point, there are no charges pending; nothing has been filed."

Kohn continued, "As is always the case, there's more than one side to a story. Other than that, it is best that whatever issues there are be addressed from other than your column."

Sources say the allegations involve a string of instances in which Van De Water either followed or confronted her former boyfriend, a heart surgeon from Kenosha, at various locations.

He did not return calls this week.

The situation boiled over on Jan. 16, sources said, when Van De Water created a scene after showing up at a Caledonia house where the judge's ex-boyfriend was with another woman. One source said she got on his car as he tried to drive away.

Neither the surgeon nor the judge assisted with the investigation, but sources indicated that there were multiple witnesses to the incident.

Caledonia Police Chief E. Toby Schey referred questions about the case to Nieskes.

James Alexander, executive director of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, said state law prohibits those with felonies from serving on the bench.

But he stopped short of saying that his agency, which polices judges in the state, would automatically look into the case of a jurist charged with a misdemeanor.

"It would be of interest to us," Alexander said. He did say a misdemeanor conviction would "probably" prompt a review by his commission.

It's been some time since a Wisconsin judge has been charged criminally. The last may have been then-Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Frank Crivello, who was accused in 1996 of a Class A misdemeanor for assaulting his wife during a drinking bout. The case was dismissed under a deferred prosecution agreement. He was later reprimanded by the state Supreme Court.

Van De Water's colleague, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee Dreyfus Jr., was suspended 15 days in 1994 for filing false certificates about his caseload and lying to a judge and an investigator. He did not face criminal charges.http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/118962504.html