Speakers fault ethics 'sinkhole' 10:31 AM
6/24/02
Dee J. Hall Wisconsin State Journal
indentEnacting campaign-finance reform and halting state-paid legal help in the ongoing caucus scandal were among the most cited ideas by the roughly 30 people who attended a listening session Monday for the Governor's Task Force on Ethics Reform in Government.
indentMany of the speakers at the meeting in the Capitol had harsh words for the lawmakers who occupy the dome and for the Ethics and Elections boards charged with policing them. Several speakers recommended that the two boards be funded by a mechanism outside of the Legislature and that their members be appointed by someone other than politicians and political parties.
indentOne speaker, Thomas Zaremba, described the current state of ethics among state officials as "a dark sinkhole."
indent"You have to get people to enforce the law. The laws are written, " said Zaremba, a Madison attorney. "The Ethics and Elections boards have been unwilling to do that. .
.
. The perception is that legislators are above the law."
indentSome also urged Gov. Scott McCallum to approve Attorney General Jim Doyle's request to sue to halt the state payment of legal fees for staffers and lawmakers caught up in the ongoing "John Doe" investigation into illegal campaigning and fund raising at the Legislature.
indentSeveral speakers said campaign-finance reform should be passed immediately to take effect for the upcoming fall elections.
indent"The supermajority of people want campaign-finance reform, and we still haven't gotten it," said Austin King, citing a 2000 state referendum that passed by 86 percent in the 57 counties in which it was on the ballot. "That's perhaps the best testament to the fact that we need it."
indentMo Hansen of Waterloo outlined several steps to make lawmakers more accountable to their constituents, including banning contributions from outside of their districts. Hansen is a former caucus staffer who blew the whistle on the four partisan agencies that were operating as secret campaign machines at a cost to taxpayers of $4 million a year.
indent"Our legislators currently spend too much time pushing for tax loopholes and special provisions for their money constituencies while ignoring their voting constituency," said Hansen, who is running as a Democrat for the Assembly.
indentMike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, was even more blunt. "Political corruption has taken root in Wisconsin, and it is poisoning the legislative process and trashing our state's once-proud reputation for clean, open and accountable government," he said.
indent"In just the past year or so, over a half-dozen lobbyists have come to us and described in explicit detail the shakedowns they've experience at the hands of legislative leaders," he added. "Call it what it is - extortion."
indentOne obviously nervous legislative staffer, Peter Eng, said the Legislature's "at will" employees often are forced to choose between keeping their jobs and working illegally on their bosses' campaigns. Eng emphasized that his own boss, Rep. Jean Hundertmark, R-Clintonville, never asked him to do so.
indent"A culture exists within the Legislature that fosters the abuse of power by elected officials," he said. "Unfortunately, those abuses are not confined to the legislative partisan caucuses or leadership offices that have been uncovered by the press in the past year. .
.
. It is disingenous for many backbenchers to deny that their personal campaigns have not benefited from labor performed by their legislative office staff at taxpayer expense."
