Circuit court seats filled in La Crosse County.

• Date: 16 April 2007

Byline: Jack Zemlicka

If the La Crosse County judiciary was a Polaroid picture, it would have finally come into focus after April 3 as the general election provided surprising clarity to a trio of circuit court races. Months of anticipation and campaigning in circuit court races resulted in the election of a long-time district attorney and a public defender, along with the defeat of a sitting judge. Branch 3 Occupancy of the bench did not provide any guarantees in the April 3 race for Branch 3 as one-year incumbent Judge Roger W. LeGrand was unseated by Assis-tant District Attorney Todd W. Bjerke. Bjerke garnered 9,681 votes to Le-Grand's 9,229. "I was surprised," said LeGrand, who had been appointed in February 2006. "I still believe I established a good record as a judge and thought that would have led the community to elect me, but I guess that wasn't the case." Prior to his appointment, LeGrand had served as family court commissioner for 16 years and throughout his campaign, stressed his extensive judicial experience which proved to be a successful tactic for several other incumbents around the state. Bjerke took a different approach in promoting his 19 years as a state prosecutor in La Crosse along with more than two decades of military service. Bjerke served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. (JAG) and is a...