Justice Annette Ziegler
MADISON -- Just when new Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler looked off the hook on judicial misconduct charges, three Court of Appeals judges have placed her squarely back on it. The three-judge Judicial Conduct Panel probing misconduct charges against Ziegler wants more information from the judge and the Wisconsin Judicial Commission (WJC). It's especially interested in 45 cases she presided over involving West Bend Savings Bank. Ziegler's husband was a West Bend Bank director and both had loans and did property business with the bank at the time Ziegler heard these cases, complainants alleged. Ziegler and the WJC appeared to resolve outstanding conduct issues against the new Justice when they agreed that she should face only public reprimand over earlier non-recusal charges, LNL reported earlier this month. But those charges did not include the West Bend Bank cases the Judicial Conduct Panel now wants to check. Yesterday's revelation indicates a widening probe of Justice Ziegler's non-recusals on the lower-court, Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal reported this morning. The Panel said Wednesday it isn't bound by the joint Ziegler-WJC resolution of charges against her.