Bert Brandenburg, executive director of Justice At Stake, writes in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about Wisconsin's judicial elections becoming special interest battlegrounds, citing alarming statistics about declining judicial indepedence and advocating a move to public financing of judicial campaigns to reverse this trend. He cites several studies documenting the influence of campaign contributions on judicial elections, and court decisions:  Already, a nationwide poll for Justice at Stake shows that more than three in four Americans have come to believe that campaign contributions affect decisions in court - and 26% of state judges agree. Last fall, The New York Times looked at the correlation between campaign contributions and decisions later handed down by the Ohio Supreme Court. One of the most startling discoveries: One sitting judge who was up for re-election accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the political action committees of three companies that were defendants in cases before him. After he won the election, he joined the majority on the court that offered these companies significant victories. Ultimately, public financing of judicial elections is the answer to this erosion of judicial impartiality, as North Carolina has discovered with its successful and popular public financing program. Brandenburg recommends that Wisconsin take steps to adopt North Carolina's system before special interest money takes over.