Press Release
April 23, 2010
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE STILL NEEDS TO REFORM PHONY ISSUE ADS
The Wisconsin Legislature ended its 2009-2010 regular legislative session early this morning -- not with a bang, but with a whimper regarding campaign finance reform.
It failed to pass legislation to require the disclosure of the amount of money and the donors to outside special interest groups who run those nasty campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy which increasingly dominate our statewide and legislative elections in this state.
In January, the Wisconsin State Senate overwhelmingly passed
Senate Bill 43, bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation requiring disclosure of the donors and regulation of the money utilized by outside special interest groups and individuals that run widely-disseminated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy during the period of 60 days or less prior to an election. The Assembly needed to modify the measure somewhat in the wake of the January 21st United States Supreme Court decision in :
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
But it never got done.
Even as late as this morning, after the State Senate adjourned for the session, the Assembly could have brought Senate Bill 43 to the floor and passed it (and those parts of the legislation rendered unconstitutional by the
Citizens United decision would have been excised from the law). But the leadership declined to do so. And so disclosure of phony issue ads didn't get considered or passed.
Governor Jim Doyle, who has been a consistent vocal supporter of requiring the disclosure of phony issue ads, should call the Legislature back into Special Session to finish the job and pass a modified version of Senate Bill 43. Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee), a long-time leader on this matter, has draft legislation ready to be considered. It could be accomplished by both legislative chambers in less than an hour.
Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) and State Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Schofield) also have it within their power to call the Legislature into Extraordinary Session to pass a modified version of Senate Bill 43.
Doyle, Sheridan and Decker need to show leadership on the issue of issue ads. Will any of them step up to do so?
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
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Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
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Press Release
April 22, 2010
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE MUST PASS CAMPAIGN FINANCE DISCLOSURE REFORM
ON LAST DAY OF SESSION - TODAY - THURSDAY, APRIL 22ND!
Today is the last day of the 2009-2010 legislative session of the Wisconsin Legislature. This is likely the last opportunity to pass and enact into law a long-needed measure to require outside groups who are attempting to influence Wisconsin elections to make public the amount of money they are spending and who they are. The State Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to do this in January but it needs to be modified and passed in the Assembly and the State Senate again to be in place for the upcoming 2010 elections. And it must be done Today - Thursday!
On January 19, 2010, the Wisconsin State Senate debated and then overwhelmingly passed
Senate Bill 43, bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation requiring disclosure of the donors and regulation of the money utilized by outside special interest groups and individuals that run widely-disseminated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy during the period of 60 days or less prior to an election.
The huge, bipartisan pro-reform vote was 26 in favor and only 7 opposed. Eight Republicans joined all eighteen Democrats to pass this sweeping reform measure. This electioneering disclosure and regulation legislation mirrors rules approved by the state Government Accountability Board in November 2008. An identical Assembly version of the legislation,
Assembly Bill 63 was passed in the Assembly Committee on Campaign Reform and Elections in June of 2009 on a bipartisan 6 to 1 vote. The Assembly would have considered and passed the measure soon after the Senate action -- and Governor
Jim Doyle, who has repeatedly said he supported this measure, would have signed it into law.
Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) was the first state reform organization to recognize the critical importance of this reform and we first proposed a version of this measure back in 1997 -- and have been a leader in the effort to get it enacted into law ever since.
But then, on January 21st, a hugely destructive volcano erupted in the nation when the United States Supreme Court issued one of the worst decisions in American legal history -- in a critical, landmark case: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In this bitterly divided 5 to 4 decision, the hypocritically activist majority needlessly and recklessly opened the floodgates to allow corporations and unions to spend vast sums of general treasury money to buy federal and state elections. In one misguided stroke, a one-vote majority reversed more than 100 years of settled law under which federal and state governments could prohibit corporations and unions from spending their general treasury funds to directly influence federal and state elections -- in order to deter corruption and the appearance of corruption by corporations and unions. Chief Justice John Roberts and the disingenuous majority on the court equated corporations with real, individual people and in doing so they have given these new “corporate persons” the ability to influence and even control the outcome of elections through unlimited, unregulated campaign spending.
Roberts and company defied the century-old wisdom and logic of pro-reform champions like President Teddy Roosevelt and Wisconsin’s “Fighting Bob” La Follette who long ago recognized the inherent danger and inequality in allowing corporations to have the same rights as citizens in elections. They had led the way toward the enactment into law of legal, solidly-grounded and reasoned reforms in the early 1900’s to safeguard the nation and this state from total corporate hegemony and domination.
Now, those safeguards have been swept away.
But while we can no longer prohibit corporations and unions from spending on campaigns from their general treasuries – we can and must require the disclosure of the donors funding outside election-oriented expenditures. By providing citizens with knowledge of who may be behind all of the increased outside spending in our elections, they will at least have some idea who is influencing and even buying our elections. This is information citizens are currently missing in Wisconsin when groups run campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy. Under current law, these groups are not required to disclose their donors.
CC/WI has been working with reform leaders in both the State Senate and the Assembly to adjust Senate Bill 43 to bring it into compliance with the horrendous U.S. Supreme Court decision - Citizens United. Now they must act.
The Wisconsin Legislature needs to consider and pass revised Senate Bill 43 today!. Enactment into law of this major campaign finance reform measure would close the single largest loophole in Wisconsin's loophole-ridden campaign finance laws. And it is absolutely necessary to counter the numerous cancerous and anonymous campaign communications that have undermined legislative, gubernatorial and other statewide elections and, more recently and alarmingly, Wisconsin State Supreme Court elections.
State legislators need to hear from the citizens of Wisconsin ASAP about this issue.
Please contact both your State Senator and your State Representative and tell them to demand that the revised campaign disclosure legislation SB 43 be considered and passed on Thursday so that it will be in effect for the upcoming 2010 elections.
To contact your legislators go here.
If you are not sure who your State Senator and State Representative are, go here
Your voice is crucial and will have a big impact on whether or not this important reform is accomplished!
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
Stay informed - Follow CC/WI on Twitter!
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Press Release
April 8, 2010
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM PUBLIC FORUM
TO TACKLE TIMELY POLITICAL REFORM ISSUES
Monday Evening, April 12th at UW-Stevens Point
6:30 - 8:00 PM
Dreyfus University Center, 2nd Floor (Laird North - Rm 230)
University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point
1015 Reserve Street, Stevens Point, WI
Campaign finance and political reform has been a major focus in the Wisconsin Legislature and in the media over the last six months -- and with good reason.
On December 1st, the most significant, substantive campaign finance reform in Wisconsin in 30 years
became law when the Governor signed the “Impartial Justice” Bill after the Wisconsin Legislature passed it in November. This new law will provide full public financing to qualifying candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court who voluntarily agree to abide by a spending limit of $400,000.
Not surprisingly, within weeks of its enactment, opponents of campaign finance reform launched counterattacks in the form of two separate
lawsuits against the “Impartial Justice” Law.
While these attempts to preserve the corrupt status quo are troubling, momentum remains on the side of continued, meaningful campaign finance reform in Wisconsin. On January 19th, the State Senate passed a bill that would require the disclosure of the donors and regulation of the money utilized by outside special interest groups running widely-disseminated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy 60 days or less prior to an election. Senate Bill 43 (SB43) was passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan 26 to 7 margin.
An identical Assembly version of this legislation -- Assembly Bill 63 (AB63) -- passed 6 to 1 in the Assembly Committee on Campaign Reform and Elections in June of 2009, and was well on the way to passage in a full Assembly vote. Further, Governor Jim Doyle indicated that, once passed, he would sign SB43/AB63 into law.
But then, on January 21st -- just two days after SB43 passed in the State Senate -- the U.S. Supreme Court issued a shocking, bitterly divided 5-4 decision in the landmark case: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The Court's decision -- reversing over 100 years of settled law -- equated corporations and outside interest groups with real individuals, and in doing so, gave these entities the ability to directly influence the outcome of elections through unlimited, unregulated campaign spending.
How will the Citizens United decision affect Wisconsin? What is the future of the now revised versions of SB43/AB63? Can the "Impartial Justice" Law withstand the lawsuits filed against it? And what other political reforms (including redistricting reform) are needed in Wisconsin?
These important and timely issues will be the focus of discussion in Stevens Point this coming Monday during a "Reform Forum" organized by CC/WI entitled:
What Ever Happened to Good Government in Wisconsin?
**And How Should We Fix It?**
Panelists will include:
State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point)
State Representative Louis Molepske (D-Stevens Point)
Republican Strategist and CC/WI Co-Chair Bill Kraus
Executive Director Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin
UW-Stevens Point Political Science Professor Dennis Riley will serve as Moderator.
Please join us at this free public forum for what we anticipate will be a lively discussion.
Full details can be found here.
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
Stay informed - Follow CC/WI on Twitter!
Read More...
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