Pedro Colón
Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Democratic state Rep. Pedro Colón of Milwaukee as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. Colón has served as the 8th Assembly District representative for six years. He announced in May that he would not run for re-election. Colón has been an attorney in private practice since 1994.
He will serve as a judge starting Monday, according to a news release from Doyle’s office.
“Pedro Colón is a dedicated public servant that will serve the people of Milwaukee County well on the bench,” said Doyle, a fellow Democrat who is not running for re-election. “I know he will work really hard to uphold fairness and justice in Milwaukee.”
Doyle made the appointment a day after JoCasta Zamarripa won a three-way Democratic primary to replace Colón. She will face independent Ramona Rivas in the Nov. 2 general election.
Colón graduated from University of Wisconsin- Madison’s law school in 1994 and received his undergraduate degree from Marquette University in 1991.
Colón, the only Latino elected to the Legislature, was one of eight candidates interviewed for the judgeship. He applied for the job of deputy director of legal services at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in May. He resigned from the MMSD governing commission and announced that he would not seek re-election to the Assembly at that time.
Colón has to resign his legislative seat to take the judgeship. His departure creates a vacancy on the Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee, which plays a key role in writing the state budget.
The committee is slated to meet Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) would appoint a replacement for that meeting.