News Clips

Heck said 30 years ago, paid junkets were almost unheard of. And he says state ethics rules that prohibit lawmakers from accepting “anything of value” need to be tightened up.

"Special interests are paying for it and everybody thinks that has an influence on what legislators are thinking and doing — because you're getting a free trip," said Jay Heck, director of the government watchdog group Common Cause in Wisconsin. "Of course you're going to be affected when you get a free trip ... That's just human nature."

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel planned to keep secret a $4,100 trip last year that was funded by a Christian legal organization accused of being a hate group, according to newly released records.