A Dane County judge heard arguments this week on the legality of a $200 million raid state leaders made on a special fund that's supposed to cover large medical malpractice awards.

Doctors pay into the fund to hold down their insurance rates. So the Wisconsin Medical Society, which represents about 60 percent of doctors, sued the state last year after the governor and Legislature raiding the fund to patch a state budget hole.

The state raid was just the latest in a series of poor financial moves that voters should remember when voting for legislative candidates this fall.

Voters should favor those candidates willing to scrutinize spending and resist expensive new programs. The accounting tricks and money raids need to stop. And the longer Wisconsin waits to get its financial house in order, the harder and more painful it will be to fix.

Judge Michael Nowakowski should decide the Medical Society lawsuit based on applicable law -- not public opinion.

Having said that, the raid was clearly unfair to Wisconsin doctors, even if it turns out to be technically legal. The Patients' Compensation Fund has fallen into the red for the first time since the mid-1990s. And the Medical Society is contemplating a 25 percent fee hike -- along with additional future hikes -- if they lose in court.

And what's to stop state leaders from raiding the same fund again next year? At some point, Wisconsin's medical community is going to lose talented people if the raids continue. And health care in Wisconsin is going to cost even more.

The troubling court case follows a separate state Supreme Court decision last month that will force the state to pay back as much as $265 million in sales taxes improperly collected on computer software. And the lack of this revenue stream is likely to leave the current state budget $28 million short.

Then there's a federal court fight over $100 million in gambling payments that the Ho-Chunk Nation says it doesn't owe but the state is counting on.

Meantime, state tax collections are slowing because of the economy. And wouldn't you know it -- state officials say they won't have detailed figures on just how bad things are until after the fall election.

All the bad budget news -- with more on the way -- should convince voters that fiscal responsibility is an incredibly important issue as they consider legislative candidates in the Nov. 4 election.