A few weeks back, this column noted that virtually all the lobbying muscle regarding the redrawing of voter boundaries was brought to bear against the bills that sailed through. That undercuts the popular notion that outside special interests drive the political process, since here the push came entirely from an inside special interest — the GOP-controlled state Legislature itself.
But that’s not the only example of how lawmakers serve other masters besides money and might.
Take the state’s voter identification law. Nearly three dozen lobby groups registered in opposition to these new voting requirements, which two Dane County judges have in recent days struck down as unconstitutional. Only one group, the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry, registered in favor.
For 2011, about 1,000 hours of lobbying was reported by the bill’s opponents, led by the United Council of UW Students, with 395 hours. No hours were reported spent by the Fox Cities group, the lone supporter.
The state lobbying community’s message to the Legislature was loud and clear: “We don’t want voter ID.” The Legislature’s response: “We don’t care.” The new law easily passed last May on party line votes.
A more astonishing example of how lobby clout doesn’t always decide legislative outcomes is the state Assembly’s mining bill, which recently failed to pass the state Senate. There’s talk of last-minute efforts or even a special session to revive the bill. But for now, it appears dead.
That’s surprising, given that 28 state lobby groups staked out positions in favor of this bill, and only 13 were opposed.
Through the end of 2011, opponents did lobby longer than proponents, 1,157 to 779 hours. Most of this effort came from a single group, the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, which invested 1,061 hours. That was 30 percent of its 2011 lobbying effort, on which it spent $130,151.
The bill’s supporters included such heavy hitters as Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the powerful business lobby group, which logged 386 hours last year backing the bill.
Gogebic Taconite, the subsidiary of a national mining company that hoped to open a $1.5 billion iron mine in northern Wisconsin, reported spending 161 hours on this bill. Overall, in 2011, the company spent $202,103 on 1,006 hours of lobbying — all regarding mining in Wisconsin.
After the Senate failed to pass the mining bill on March 6, Gogebic announced that it was dropping its plans for a Wisconsin mine.
Ananalysis by MapLight, a nonpartisan group that tracks lobby clout in terms of campaign contributions, found that, between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2011, backers of the Assembly mining bill gave a total of $244,886 to current members of the state Legislature. This compares to $21,905 from groups opposed, a margin of 11 to one.
The bill’s failure is even more extraordinary considering the breadth of its support base. Backers included not just the Wisconsin Mining Association (“Every day there is no iron mining in Wisconsin is a day of lost economic opportunity,” the group declared in a statement), but also the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.
In 2012, five labor unions, including the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council and Wisconsin State Council of Carpenters, signed on as supporters of the Assembly bill; their expenditures of time and money won’t be tallied until mid-year.
In fact, the mining bill did have majority support. It passed the Assembly 59-36, and came within one vote — that of Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center — of passing the Senate, 16-17. Schultz refused to go along with a bill he felt did not offer sufficient opportunities for public input or protections for the environment.
People often talk as though the American political system is a giant vending machine: Interest groups put money in, get policy out. But it’s much more complicated than that. The system is run by human beings, who obey all sorts of masters — including, at times, their sense of what’s right.
The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Good article. It gives hope that “little people” can sometimes win even when out-numbered and out-spent.
Unfortunately, mine opponents were only lucky this time to have a Republican tie-breaker on their side. That’s unusual.
A key problem with many environmental battles is that they can never be permanently “won” for all time. Victories are often temporary, until the next battle, and then the next battle, and so on.
As long as valuable resources exist (ie: minerals, forests, groundwater, lakes, rivers, wetlands, clean air, fish, game, wildlife habitat, scenic views, etc.) … someone will push for their “right” to profit from depleting or destroying those resources, or using them in a way that ruins important values for others.
One generation of residents may succeed, after years of struggle, in “saving” their lake or scenic view, but the following generations will probably face new or different threats, and need to keep repeating the struggle.
And while some environmental battles might be won by successive groups of concerned citizens several times over many decades, just one LOST battle on an issue can be permanent.
When vital habitat is destroyed, an endangered species disappears forever. When old growth trees are cut, none of us will live long enough to enjoy replacements. Once a huge mine is played out, that landscape and groundwater can never be the same. Once a scenic view is lost, it’s unlikely to ever be restored.
Lose just ONCE and there’s no going back. There’s no second chance.
Wisconsin Republicans have shown us how transient our progress can be. Many Wisconsin citizens, from many walks of life, worked HARD for DECADES to convince state lawmakers and agencies to carefully craft regulations to protect important wildlife habitat found in Wisconsin’s best and last remaining wetlands. Despite all that work, in just a few short months, Republicans cancelled all our decades of accumulated little “victories” and gutted Wisconsin’s protections. Now, many rare and beautiful wetlands will be destroyed forever, along with their wildlife.
As Wisconsin’s population grows and resources get scarcer, the number and pace of permanent losses like this will grow. These days, it seems that everyone is torn in 20 directions, trying to respond to multiple crises and negative proposals. It’s overwhelming. Many bad changes like this are slipping through and getting approved, with everlasting impacts.
As future generations get sucked deeper into their high-tech, video-game worlds, fewer will experience enough of the natural world to know what they’re missing. Who will fight the good fight then?