John J. Brennan (Franklin Municipal Court, Wisconsin, candidate 2024)
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John J. Brennan ran for election to the Franklin Municipal Court in Wisconsin. He was on the ballot in the general election on April 2, 2024.
Brennan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
John J. Brennan provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on March 26, 2024:
- Birth date: October 2, 1962
- Birth place: Toledo, Ohio
- High school: St. John's Jesuit High School, Toledo, OH
- Bachelor's: Miami University, Oxford, OH
- J.D.: The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, 1988
- Gender: Male
- Profession: Attorney
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
General election for Franklin Municipal Court
John J. Brennan and Georgia L. Konstantakis ran in the general election for Franklin Municipal Court on April 2, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| John J. Brennan (Nonpartisan)  | |
| Georgia L. Konstantakis (Nonpartisan) | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Franklin Municipal Court
John J. Brennan, Ted Kafkas, and Georgia L. Konstantakis ran in the primary for Franklin Municipal Court on February 20, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| John J. Brennan (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Ted Kafkas (Nonpartisan) | |
| Georgia L. Konstantakis (Nonpartisan) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Brennan in this election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John J. Brennan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Brennan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I was born in Toledo, OH, the third of four sons to John and Barbara Brennan. My dad was a City firefighter and my mom a public school teacher. After graduation from Ohio State's Moritz Law School in 1988, I accepted my sought-after job of union-side labor lawyer with what is now known as The Previant Law Firm in Milwaukee, reached senior partnership, and have made Wisconsin my home. I retired from Previant in 2021 after 33+ years. I remain licensed in good standing with an exceptional record, having represented unions and their members, union-management sponsored apprenticeship and training schools and other benefit funds. In retirement, I hope to eventually teach or tutor high school level history and have volunteered in other capacities. Most importantly, I hope to serve the Franklin community as its Municipal Judge.
I am married to Laura, have a grown daughter Katie in Omaha and twin boys, Liam and Michael, who are currently sophomores at Franklin High School. Laura and I have volunteered in coaching and serving on various youth sports leagues and, although my powerlifting days have been sidelined by injuries, I still enjoy weightlifting, related exercise and golf.
- Law enforcement. The position of Municipal Judge largely deals with traffic code enforcement, although varied other matters come before the Court which I will address as a separate point. As to the traffic code, I expect adults to behave as adults and respect speed limits. I have seen far too much excessive speed in residential areas and school zones and will be stern with violations and penalties in that regard. If the traffic stop reveals drug possession or other intoxicants, and the violations fall within the Court's jurisdiction, I will enforce the law as written with due consideration of the specific facts of each case.
- Fairness. When a defendant takes the time to appear in Court to contest the citation, it is usually because the defendant wants the Court to fairly consider his version of events. I intend to give all litigants a full and fair hearing and leave the Court satisfied that they have been heard, that full consideration has been given to their position and that the Court has satisfactorily explained the law and given a reasonable basis for its decision. In some cases, those explanations are given in a sidebar discussion with the City Attorney with the Court's approval. In any event, it is my aim to ensure that all litigants believe their case to have been fairly resolved given the violation and underlying facts.
- Integrity and Compassion. As to the first, I pride myself on an honest and forthright character. In all cases, and to the extent allowed by privacy concerns, all Court activity will be fully transparent to interested parties. I will NEVER exercise my authority where a conflict of interest of any kind exists. I have no active law practice, so that won't be a problem unless I am personally familiar with the defendant. In those cases or any other which may arise which presents a clear conflict, I will recuse myself and the case will be transferred to another municipality.
A very important facet of the Court's jurisdiction is the disposition of juvenile offenses. Unfortunately, the City of Franklin is not immune from the problems facing today's youth. As a father of two young men of high school age, this is also of personal concern. The problems facing our juveniles include exposure to many troubling choices. Those youth choosing poorly may have simply made a youthful misstep but who the facts reflect are otherwise good kids. They will be dealt with depending on the facts. Others are clearly on the wrong path because of their associations, or because of parental apathy. These require a stern hand and a coordinated direction to health care services where appropriate. Compassion is also a key.
My parents who worked so hard to give my brothers and me a great foundation in all facets of life.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. A classic novel set in Depression-era America. It demonstrates the grit required by one family and others in kindred circumstances in their existential fight to maintain the family unit in the face of incredible adversity. It requires its reader to consider the role of love and unity and to find compassion and fairness while encountering prejudice, greed and hostility. It requires its reader to ask what is right? what is fair? what is justice?
Honesty, integrity and transparency are the overarching principles the public has the right to expect and demand from their public officers. Moreover, the public has the duty to remove officials who do not demonstrate these qualities. These basic qualities are ingrained and are part of my essence. In addition, common sense, compassion and consistency are important for a judicial officer to possess and demonstrate. I have addressed these above. Finally, a public official should be familiar with the ever-changing community that surrounds him or her. They must always continue to educate themselves.
Excellent judgment in tandem with those essential qualities identified above and throughout the answers previously provided.
Coverage of the Vietnam War from the time I was 6 or7.
As a caddy beginning when I was 11 through age 17 when I was honored to be able to caddy in the 1979 United States Open.
The responsibility to our young people as outlined above. In addition to punishment appropriate to any given case, we have the responsibility to ensure that our youth have the ability to avail themselves to mental health or family services to grow into responsible good citizens.
Absolutely. Refer to my answers throughout.
Not by a Bar Association. I do not believe that is a function of a bar association, except when called upon to rate a judge "qualified" or "not qualified".
As an attorney for more than 33 years, I have never been disciplined for any matter and in fact was only subject to one grievance in all those years. That grievance was filed by an unrepresented adversary and was promptly dismissed.
To serve the public. Although I remain an attorney licensed and in good standing, I am retired from the active practice of law and continue all obligations of continuing legal education. Free of the obligations of a practice, I intend to devote as much time as necessary to serve in this capacity and to continually search for means for the Court to improve.
Government should be maximally transparent to its citizens.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Franklin Municipal Court |
Footnotes
- ↑ [Email with Wisconsin Elections Commission Election office, "Candidate list," February 08, 2024]
