Time is right for reform, lawmakers say after demise of caucuses
5:47 PM 12/19/01
Phil Brinkman State government reporter
Saying the current clamor for reform presents a "golden opportunity" to clean up state government, Assembly Democrats said Tuesday they would push for a series of changes, including increased public financing of state campaigns.
But fundamental differences with Republicans over how to pay for those reforms still threaten to stall any action on the issue.
Standing in front of a bust of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, the former Progressive governor, Assembly Minority Leader Spencer Black, D-Madison, said Assembly Democrats would make changing election law a top priority in the January legislative session.
He and other Democrats said recent disclosures of illicit campaign activity by partisan caucus staff, and the subsequent investigations and decision to abolish the caucus offices, provided "a golden opportunity, indeed ... an obligation" to implement changes. "We've just saved millions of dollars by eliminating the caucuses," Black said. "What would be fairer than using the money ... to fund clean elections and clean government?"
Specifically, the Democrats called for passage of a bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, that would dramatically increase public financing for candidates in exchange for agreeing to abide by campaign spending limits.
The bill, Senate Bill 104, has been stalled in the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee since October.
Other planks of the Democrats' plan, which resurrects many past proposals, include:
-Backing a plan by Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, to prohibit legislators from promising to vote one way on a bill in exchange for a campaign contribution. Current law already prohibits legislators from accepting anything of value to influence their actions, but the change would make vote trading explicitly illegal.
-Requiring candidates whose advertisements mention their opponents to appear in those ads saying something like, "I sponsored this ad."
-Requiring sponsors of phony "issue ads" to report who paid for the ads if they mention a candidate by name and run within 60 days of an election.
-Allowing the state Supreme Court to appoint all members of the state Elections Board, which enforces state elections laws. Currently, seven of the board's eight members are appointed by political parties and partisan officials.
Of all the measures, expanding public financing of elections is one of the most contentious. Few candidates take advantage of the current system because the voluntary spending limits fall far short of what campaigns truly cost.
Ellis' bill would increase the limits and provide public money for 45 percent of those limits.
The measure, estimated to cost $4.1 million a year, would be paid for by increasing the voluntary check-off for campaign financing on state tax forms from $1 to $5. Checking the form does not increase one's taxes.
But Assembly Republicans favor a plan, still being crafted by Rep. Marc Duff, R-New Berlin, that requires taxpayers who check the box to pay an extra $5. But the money can be designated to go to a particular party, and the taxpayer receives a $5 tax credit.
Duff said his plan would cost about $5.4 million over four years. Although both methods cost taxpayer money, Duff said many Republicans object to expanding the current system because it allows someone who doesn't pay any taxes but files a tax form to direct where money is going. Duff's plan extends a credit only to those who pay taxes.