The Midwest Democracy Network and the Justice at Stake Campaign have released a new report that examines the influence that special interests--corporate interests, trial lawyers, ideological groups, and partisan political groups--having on elections for state judges in the Midwest. The report, titled "The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lakes, 2000-2008," examines recent judicial elections in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio. Some important findings include:

* Of the 22 states nationally that use contestable elections to choose members of their high courts, three of the most expensive can be found in the Midwest (Illinois, Ohio and Michigan).

* More than half of all television advertisements that have appeared in state Supreme Court races since 2000 have aired in one of these three states.

* The most expensive contested judicial election in American history took place in Illinois in 2004, when two candidates combined to raise over $9.3 million. (The winner called the fundraising 'obscene.')

With regard to Michigan the report found that:

* Independent groups are evolving into long-term surrogates for incumbents and challengers and are continuing to exist beyond the specific election around which they formed.

* Special interest groups are buying the majority of the television advertising in the Michigan Supreme Court elections (87% in 2006). There are no disclosure requirements for groups that run "issue" advertisements--including those that mention specific candidates by name.

* 86% of the cases heard by the Michigan Supreme Court in the 1990s involved a contributor to at least one of the justices.

The report recommends that Michigan adopt public financing of Supreme Court elections as a means of mitigating the influence of special interest groups, in addition to urging the state to adopt regulations that require more disclosure for groups running "issue" advertisements.