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Jay Heck: Legislative leadership quietly smothers campaign reform

Jay Heck  —  6/03/2008 5:20 am

After Common Cause in Wisconsin called on the Legislature to act on the governor's special session on campaign finance reform, legislative allies and reporters called to tell us that Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker had both quietly adjourned the special session without mentioning campaign finance reform by name.

In both cases it was a voice vote, not a recorded vote.

Campaign finance reform was the one unfinished piece of business still pending for the Wisconsin Legislature -- however much the legislative leadership wished it would just go away. Instead of considering it, they smothered it with a pillow, quietly, instead of bludgeoning it with a hammer as is their usual fashion.

There was no excuse to put off consideration of Senate Bill 1, which was strongly supported by Common Cause in Wisconsin. This sweeping reform measure would force special interest groups running nasty phony issue ads to disclose the names of their donors. Currently they do not have to.

It would also provide 100 percent public financing to candidates for the state Supreme Court, would ban campaign fundraising during the state budget process, eliminate the legislative leadership special interest slush funds known as legislative campaign committees, restrict out of state money from pouring into Wisconsin and do much, much more.

Campaign finance reform legislation has been killed in a number of ways in the past. The usual method is to pass it in one legislative chamber with the full knowledge that it will not pass in the other. The way it was murdered this time was more insidious. And cowardly.

It is another black eye for Wisconsin's once proud reputation as a haven for and leader in honest, clean, accountable state government.

Brace yourselves for the most ugly and expensive state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin's history in 2009.

Thanks to Decker and Huebsch for not even making a half-hearted attempt to do anything to clean up the cesspool that we call Wisconsin politics. They could have at least gone through the charade of addressing the problem and then thrown up their hands and said the Senate and Assembly just couldn't agree. Again. But instead, their contempt for us was so great that they just quietly killed reform. And probably chuckled while they did it. They certainly made Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Wisconsin Right to Life and the Wisconsin Education Association Council laugh. And the rest of us cringe and shake our heads in disbelief and disgust. Again.

Now even Illinois laughs at us.

Jay Heck is director of Common Cause in Wisconsin

Jay Heck  —  6/03/2008 5:20 am