For the first time, candidates for the Supreme Court seat up for election in April can qualify for public grants to avoid having to solicit donations from special-interest groups with current or future cases pending before the court. The Impartial Justice Act will give candidates who agree to abide by strict fund-raising limits up to $100,000 for the primary election, and up to $300,000 for the April general election. If third-party groups directly spend money for or against them, a candidate can also get supplemental grants equal to those amounts – another new provision. Kevin Kennedy, director of the Government Accountability Board; Board Attorney Michael Haas and Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, discussed the new public financing law in a Newsmakers show taped in the WisconsinEye studio on Dec. 20.