It has been almost eight weeks since the Wisconsin Legislature adjourned for the year to begin to stockpile campaign cash for the election season-- which is well underway and earlier than ever before. One of the monumental shortcomings of the 2009-2010 legislative session was the failure to pass and enact into law an effective disclosure measure in the wake of the horrendous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission handed down on January 21st by a narrow majority of a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court which overturned 100 years of settled law and opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate and union general treasury money to be used to directly influence the outcome of federal -- and by extension -- state elections. The Citizens United decision allows -- and indeed invites much better disclosure of the money influencing elections but the Wisconsin legislative leadership in the closing days of the session this past April failed to come to an agreement on needed legislation (Senate Bill 43) to require outside special interest groups who make widely-disseminated communications intended to influence the outcome of an election, reveal who their donors are.

Campaign finance and political reform was a major focus in the Wisconsin Legislature and in the media during 2009-2010 and while some significant progress was achieved -- further action is needed this year.
 
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. Within weeks of its enactment, opponents of campaign finance reform launched counterattacks in the form of two separate lawsuits against the “Impartial Justice” Law.
 
But momentum remained 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.

On December 1, 2009 Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed into law the "Impartial Justice Act." The Act provides full public financing to qualified candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court who agree to abide by a spending limit of $400,000 (for the primary and general elections). This is the most sweeping and significant campaign finance reform in Wisconsin since public financing was first established in 1977. Wisconsin joins North Carolina and New Mexico as the only states to have enacted into law full public financing for state supreme court elections.  This was a tremendous victory for political reform and will provide much needed improvement in how we elect supreme court justices in Wisconsin after the demoralizing and disgraceful $6 million 2007 and 2008 contests.
 

But within weeks of the enactment into law of the Impartial Justice measure, anti-reform organizations and individuals in Wisconsin, together with their Indiana and Virginia-based lawyers, sued in federal court in Madison to have the Impartial Justice law struck down as unconstitutional.

On April 23rd, the Wisconsin Legislature adjourned for the year without passing needed legislation (Senate Bill 43) to require outside special interest groups who make widely-disseminated communications intended to influence the outcome of an election, reveal who their donors are.

That same day, Common Cause in Wisconsin called on Governor Jim Doyle to call the Legislature into Special Session or for Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan and State Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker to call the Legislature into Extraordinary Session to pass disclosure legislation so that it will be in place for the upcoming 2010 elections: Special or Extraordinary State Legislative Session Needed for Campaign Finance Disclosure Reform.

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.

July 8, 2009: For the first time in 32 years, the biennial state budget has been enacted into law before the June 30th statutory deadline. Obviously, that is a good thing. But the process of constructing and deciding the 2009-2011 budget was as secretive as any budget process in memory. Most of the key decisions and changes were made out of the public eye, often in closed partisan caucus meetings that excluded both the media and other observers. Only authorized staff were present while legislators made key policy decisions.

And, while the Assembly Democratic leadership imposed a rule prohibiting all members of the Assembly from engaging in campaign fundraising while the Assembly was considering the budget, the prohibition did not include the leadership legislative campaign committees -- which in previous years have raised the lion's share of the campaign money during the budget period. The State Senate and Governor, meanwhile, raised campaign funds without hesitation during the entire budget process.

June 22, 2009: What was State Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) thinking? Or why was he not thinking when he inserted his outrageous amendment in the State Senate budget passed last Wednesday evening that would hamstring the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's ability to mount and/or continue an investigation into government corruption -- particularly if the wrongdoing is happening in the Wisconsin Legislature?

Russ Decker and his staff were around when the Legislative Caucus Scandal occurred. Decker knew that the Government Accountability Board (GAB) was devised by Senator Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) with assistance from Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) in the months immediately following the criminal chargings for felony misconduct in public office for illegal campaign fund raising of then-State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala (D-Madison), State Senator Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee), Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti (R-Oconomowoc), and Assistant Majority Leader Bonnie Ladwing (R-Mount Pleasant) in Wisconsin's biggest and darkest political scandal in modern history. Decker even voted for final passage of legislation to establish the Government Accountability Board and its key component -- independent "sum sufficient" funding for investigations not subject to control by the Legislature.

June 19, 2009: Tune in as CC/WI Director Jay Heck will discuss the state budget process on Wisconsin Public Television's public affairs program, Here and Now, which airs Friday evening - June 19th at 7:30 PM and which will be rebroadcast at 10:00 AM on Sunday - June 21st.

Heck will also discuss the more promising prospects for real campaign finance reform in Wisconsin on Up Front, the public affairs/news television program hosted by Mike Gousha which airs Sunday morning, June 21st at 9:00 AM on Channel 12 in Milwaukee, Channel 27 in Madison, Channel 9 in Wausau and at 5:30 AM on Channel 5 in Green Bay.

June 18, 2009: The Wisconsin State Senate last night passed its version of the $62.5 billion state budget. Contained in that document is an extremely troubling provision that could hamper the ability of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) to mount and sustain an investigation into government corruption and other wrongdoing - the very type of corruption that produced the biggest political scandal in Wisconsin's modern history - the Legislative Caucus Scandal of 2002.

The provision in the Senate budget strips away the "sum sufficient" funding -- which means basically all that is necessary -- for investigations into wrongdoing. Instead the GAB would be required to go to the Legislature to beg for funding to mount or continue an investigation -- which might be of members of the Legislature!

June 16, 2009: Major campaign finance reform legislation strongly supported by Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) passed today in the the Assembly Elections and Campaign Reform Committee and is now ready for scheduling and consideration by the full Wisconsin Assembly -- most likely when it next holds a floor session in September.

June 9, 2009: The Wisconsin State Assembly is demonstrating commendable initiative and responsiveness in considering and moving forward major campaign finance reform legislation strongly supported by CC/WI. On May 27th, the Assembly Elections and Campaign Reform Committee held a public hearing on the measures and will vote next Tuesday, June16th, on the measures. The Chair of the Committee, Rep. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) has been a strong and responsive supporter of campaign finance reform.

The first measure to be voted on is ASSEMBLY BILL 63, introduced by Rep. Kristen Dexter (D-Eau Claire), that would require the disclosure of donors and regulation of money used in currently undisclosed, unregulated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy, better known as "phony issue ads." These measures would apply only to widely disseminated communications that run 60 days or less prior to an election. This legislation, first proposed and devised by CC/WI in 1997, would close the single largest loophole in Wisconsin's currently loophole-ridden campaign finance laws.

June 2, 2009: Last week's teleconferenced, joint legislative committee public hearing on major campaign finance reform legislation -- held simultaneously in Eau Claire and in Madison -- was historic, setting the stage for movement toward passage and enactment into law the first significant reform of Wisconsin's currently ineffective and loop hole-ridden campaign finance law in more than 30 years.

There is some possibility that yet another joint public hearing may be held on one or both of the reform measures under consideration.

May 28, 2009: Major, bipartisan campaign finance reform got off to a great start yesterday when both the State Assembly and State Senate Committees that have jurisdiction over campaign finance reform legislation held a rare joint public hearing on two major campaign finance reform measures. These measures are strongly supported by Common Cause Wisconsin (CC/WI) and a number of other organizations -- as well as by many citizens not belonging to any organizations. Further, for the first time ever, the Legislature conducted a hearing simultaneously in two Wisconsin cities -- Eau Claire and Madison -- via teleconferencing, which seemed to work without any glitches.

CC/WI provided testimony at the hearing in support of a measure to require the disclosure of the donors and regulation of the money used to fund currently undisclosed, unregulated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy (better know as "phony issue ads"). We also testified in support of a measure to provide full public financing to qualified candidates for the State Supreme Court who voluntarily agree to abide by spending limits totaling $400,000.

May 23, 2009: State Capitol cynics, political insiders and defenders for the corrupt status quo like to claim (falsely) that real citizens don't really care about clean, honest government and political reform. They say that if citizens really cared, why do they tolerate special interest group domination of our elections and public policy-making and the scandals and corruption that seem to have become the norm rather than the exception in our once pristine state politics?

This upcoming Wednesday, you will have an opportunity to prove the cynics and insiders wrong by weighing in on the side of substantive and meaningful campaign finance reform at public hearings being held simultaneously in Madison and in Eau Claire. CC/WI has learned this is the first state legislative hearing that will ever have been conducted by teleconference from two different locations.

May 12, 2009: At the Common Cause Wisconsin (CC/WI) - organized campaign finance reform forum in Eau Claire on April 20th, State Rep. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire), the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, told the more than 100 attendees that his committee would hold a public hearing on ASSEMBLY BILL 65, the so-called "Impartial Justice" legislation. This measure would provide 100 percent public financing to qualifying candidates for the State Supreme Court who agreed to abide by a voluntary spending limit of $400,000. State Senator Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls), who also spoke at the Eau Claire event, is the primary Senate author and sponsor of the legislation.

Rep. Smith, who decided to schedule the public hearing on May 27th prior to the Eau Claire Forum -- and used that event to announce it -- has also added ASSEMBLY BILL 63, legislation that would require the disclosure and regulation of widely disseminated campaign communications masquerading as issue advocacy. It would apply only to communications that run 60 days or less prior to an election. Rep. Kristen Dexter (D-Eau Claire) was also a partipant at the April 20th Eau Claire reform forum and provided concrete examples of these phony issue ads. She is the chief Assembly sponsor AB 63.