Valarie Hill retains spot on Milwaukee Municipal Court bench
Municipal Judge Valarie Hill decisively captured re-election Tuesday night, topping first-time candidate William Crowley, a young lawyer who had beaten out two other challengers in a February primary.
Hill, who won nearly half the vote in the four-way primary, took 60% on Tuesday night, in a turnout of more than 31,000.
Hill said earlier Tuesday that she would be at church when results were known that evening, and unable to comment. "No matter the outcome, I would like to thank the citizens of Milwaukee for allowing me to serve," she said in an email.
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Born and raised in Ohio, Hill, 53, attended Ohio State University and then law school at the University of Akron. She came to Milwaukee to become an assistant public defender. After seven years in that office, she was appointed a Circuit Court commissioner in 1998 and elected to the municipal bench in 2004. She lives on the north side.
All three primary challengers accused Hill of a corrosive, disrespectful courtroom manner, and of failing to let the people who appeared in her Branch 1 court know that if they were indigent, they could seek sanctions other than fines for their municipal violations.
Hill said her opponents had rarely, if ever, been in her courtroom, and that her personality has always been direct and honest. She said she didn't employ the community service option as often as other branches because it could be difficult to arrange enough hours at doable times and places for many violators, and that she relied more on having poor residents do extended job searches.
Hill also said it was her idea for the court to offer "Warrant Withdrawal Wednesdays" last November, three successive Wednesdays when anyone with an outstanding Municipal Court arrest warrant could appear without risk of arrest, and either pay off their fines, start community service or arrange a payment plan.
Crowley, 30, is a staff attorney at Disability Rights Wisconsin and has used a wheelchair since a car accident that killed his mother and stepfather when he was a child.
Originally from the Chicago area, Crowley is a graduate of Carthage College and Marquette University Law School in 2011. At Disability Rights Wisconsin he helps people obtain or preserve assistance from state programs and before administrative courts.
Crowley tried to make up for his relative lack of experience by stressing that his advocacy has always been for the "disadvantaged and marginalized," a perspective he would bring to a court where many who appear there have similar challenges and rarely have lawyers.
Municipal Court hears those ticketed for ordinance violations, such as disorderly conduct, shoplifting, building and zoning problems, and first-offense drunken driving. Judges serve four-year terms and get paid $133,289 annually.
