By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Mark Nielsen in Branch 4 and Eugene Gasiorkiewicz in Branch 2 won seats on the Racine County Circuit Court Tuesday night.
Gasiorkiewicz was running unopposed, but Nielsen was running against Joseph Siefert for the seat left open by John Jude – who announced his retirement last fall.
Nielsen won the race against Siefert handily, with 20,872 votes to Siefert’s 9,383.
Nielsen had garnered the most support from area lawyer and judges, but Siefert did not return a request from Southern Lakes Newspapers for more information.
Instead, the following comment was left on the myracinecounty.com website explaining his position.
“Although my opponent has chosen to solicit and publish endorsements, the few select people endorsing him do not control the majority of voters,” some claiming to be Siefert claimed. “As a candidate for judge, I have refused to solicit endorsements.I believe that endorsements are akin to a legal bribe and prevent a future judge from being unbiased and fair to all parties.
“I am committed to fairness and equal representation for all, and my opponent’s use of endorsements goes against this principle.”
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Nielsen has won the election but instead of being grateful for his victory and moving on, he now behaves like a “sore winner” by attempting to paint me in a bad light and stating false facts. In reality, I have nothing in my history as colorful as Nielsen. During the campaign I could have brought up Nielsen’s drunk driving conviction or his other indiscretions, but in order to run a clean race, I chose not to. It is sad the Nielsen—after the election is over—chooses to make comments that can only be characterized as outright lies and then accuses me of not knowing the rules of ethics. I stand by my experience and dedication to Racine County, and I maintain my position that using the endorsement of sitting judges to elect another judge is improper. Nielsen’s actions as a Judge Elect are shameful and I can only suggest that instead of pointing the finger at me, he read the rules of ethics himself.