State Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, wants to leave the Legislature and become a judge.

That’s fine.

But the career politician, who plans to challenge a sitting Waukesha County Circuit Court judge in next spring’s election, might want to park his partisanship at the courthouse door.

Gundrum says he wants to be an ideologically driven jurist. “I think it would be good to have a person with a solid conservative view of the law,” the Republican stalwart says.

The incumbent judge who Gundrum wants to displace says he is “astounded” by Gundrum’s decision to pigeonhole himself as a judicial activist.

“I don’t know what kind of knowledge (Gundrum) has about criminal law,” says Judge Richard Congdon. “There’s nothing conservative or liberal about courtroom work. If somebody needs to go to prison, you send them to prison. If somebody needs to go to prison for a long time, you send them to prison for a long time.”

Judge Congdon is, of course, correct.

That Mark Gundrum does not seem to recognize this reality suggests that he may be a bit too much of a partisan politician to be a credible contender for a judgeship.

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