The Sad State of Campaign Finance Reform in Wisconsin

[sybylla]

I just received this e-mail from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign http://www.wisdc.org

The sad thing is that campaign finance reform in this state is being held up by Dems in spite of loads of campaign promises in 2002

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Is campaign finance reform needed? Let four of the state's largest daily newspapers count the ways. They all called for sweeping campaign finance reform this week. The interesting thing is the variety of reasons motivating them to call for action on reform legislation.

For the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, it was the fact that legislative incumbents have an 8-1 campaign fundraising advantage over their challengers as well as new reports showing special interests spent a record $37.8 million attempting to influence lawmakers in Madison. www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/aug04/249413.asp

The Capital Times also noticed the incumbent fundraising advantage but focused mostly on embarrassing partisan meltdowns during the fruitless special session of the Legislature on a proposed constitutional amendment known as the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights." www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=7930&ntpid=0

The siren that alerted the Appleton Post-Crescent was the conflicts of interest on the state's highest court because of the close political ties of several justices to legislators accused of political corruption who are appealing the charges to the Supreme Court. www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/opinion_17256779.shtml

For the Wisconsin State Journal, the triggering event was former state Senator Gary George's sentencing to four years in prison for taking kickbacks and misusing his legislative staff. www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2004:08:08:381831:OPINION

What a horribly sad commentary on Wisconsin's political culture that four newspapers could find inspiration in the very same week for pro-reform editorials from such very different events or circumstances.

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