To the Editor-

I am writing in support of Trish Baker for Judge in Portage County. I have known Trish for many years and know her to be a person of integrity and experience in our community.

She has worked in many varied roles in the judicial system. She has been an Assistant District Attorney in Marathon and Waushara Counties handling numerous types of criminal cases, specializing in violent crimes such as child sexual assaults, violent domestic abuse, and homicide. She has also been a private defense attorney defending criminal defendants, as well as an advocate for those with special needs and children as a guardian ad litem.

In 2011 she was appointed as the Portage Clerk of Court for Portage County. Portage County had procrastinated for years getting onto the Circuit County Access Program (CCAP) system. Portage County was the last and only judicial county in the state not on CCAP. She was able to maneuver through the local political landscape of the county and court and was successful in bringing Portage County courts into the modern age and was duly elected to her current position in 2014.

Besides her current position, she is very active in our community and her profession. She is the Vice President of the Portage County Bar Association, Park Ridge Village Trustee, member of the Judicial and Public Safety Steering Committee for Wisconsin Counties Association, and in addition to all of this elected to the Stevens Point School Board in 2014.

Trish’s family also has a history of serving our nation; her sons Joseph graduated from USMA West Point in 2014, Craig is in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, and Nate plans on joining the Navy after college with a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

In summary, Trish Baker has the experience integrity and understanding having worked on both sides of the court system as a prosecutor, and defense attorney as well as the clerk of court and will understand the ramifications of her decisions and administration of those decisions to make sure they are carried out properly and as intended.

Thank You
Shaun Morrow