Litigation

Wisconsin Legislators Pursue Campaign Reform

By Lissette Villarruel

Three  legislators in Wisconsin, where Supreme Court elections have become more expensive and much nastier in recent years, are actively pushing campaign finance reform, an article in the Leader-Telegram reports.

In response to the disturbing rise of third-party influence on judicial elections, the Issue Ad Disclosure Bill would  make special interest advertising more transparent to the public, by requiring groups running campaign-season ads to reveal their contributors and the amount spent on their campaigns.

As one sponsor, State Representative Kristen Dexter, says in the article, the purpose of the bill is ??to protect the rights of voters to know who is trying to influence them and how much they are willing to spend to buy that influence.??

A second measure, the Impartial Justice Bill,   would publicly fund state Supreme Court campaigns in hopes of reducing  special interest campaign contributions.  A related Leader-Telegram editorial said that ?while [these two bills] may not drain the [political] swamp completely, hopefully they will make it a bit less treacherous.?

While some  Republicans are skeptical, the two parties seem to agree that disclosure from special interest groups should be required. In 2007, outside groups spent $4.8 million on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, compared with about $1.2 million by the official campaigns.

The other strategy, public financing for Supreme Court elections, is used in North Carolina and New Mexico.  In North Carolina, the percentage of special interest contributions to Supreme Court candidates fell dramatically, from 73% to 14%, when the system started in 2004. Thus, these two bills would seem to be a step in the right direction for Wisconsin.

For more information on Wisconsin campaign spending, you can read this Gavel Grab post.

Further suggestions of campaign reforms can be found in ?The New Politics of Judicial Elections: 2000? and ?The New Politics of Judicial Elections: 2002.? You can find more details concerning the North Carolina public finance system in this JAS press release.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).