Chapter 11 of the state statutes, governing campaign financing, clearly needs a rewrite. Court rulings have blown huge holes in the law, which dates to 1974. One lawyer called the result “a confusing mess.” But there is vast disagreement over what changes should be made.
Tag: Common Cause in Wisconsin
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Lawton takes aim at campaign cash
For Barbara Lawton, the intersection of money and politics is not just distasteful; it’s downright dangerous.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Beat was busy in 2013
In some newsrooms, reporters and editors fondly welcome odd-numbered years.
That’s because these are election-lite: No races for president, governor, attorney general or the state Legislature. No glut of partisan candidates trying to open new orifices in each other’s anatomies. Hooray.
But in covering a beat like money and politics, there is no break in the action. A glance back through a year’s worth of weekly columns confirms it.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Public wants action on redistricting
Recently the Wisconsin State Journal asked Dennis Dresang, political science professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about state Republicans’ push to bar local governments from regulating everything from the sale of large sugary drinks to the use of explosives by sand mining companies. Negative reaction to these curbs on local control, mused the veteran political observer, might hurt Gov. Scott Walker at the polls. But he doubted the GOP would lose seats in the Legislature, given how voter boundaries have been redrawn to the party’s advantage.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
GOP pressed on redistricting
Wisconsin’s last redistricting, after the 2010 Census, was done in secret and cost taxpayers more than $2 million. Ruling Republicans strategically carved districts to maximize their electoral prospects, much as Democrats would had done had they been able.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Pull back veil on budget tweakers
Doesn’t the public have a right to know who came up with these ideas? This would let voters hold their elected officials accountable at the ballot box and look for potential conflicts.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Lobby outlays drop in 2011-12
Newly released numbers show that lobbying in Wisconsin during the tumultuous 2011-12 legislative session totaled $62.9 million — not exactly chump change, but lower than the session before.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Spending subdued in high court race
This column’s prediction a few weeks back that “all signs point to another jaw-dropping spend-fest” seems not to be coming true. The spending is merely substantial, not overwhelming.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Are former lawmakers cashing in?
Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin decries the “revolving door” between lawmaking and lobbying: “It feeds a public perception that legislators, at least some of them, are legislators so they can cash in on the contacts they make.”
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Groups eye redistricting reforms
The Republicans were able to keep a 5-3 lead in the U.S. House of Representatives, reclaim control of the state Senate by a margin of 18 to 15 seats, and secure a commanding 60-39 advantage in the state Assembly, despite getting fewer votes.
Posted inMoney & Politics
Cash from Wisconsin rocked Pennsylvania governor’s race
At a campaign stop near Philadelphia early in his 2010 bid for governor, Republican Tom Corbett announced, “We’ve got to raise money,” calling this his campaign’s “No. 1” priority. That same July day, a $1.5 million contribution arrived — from Wisconsin. Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, calls this well-traveled donation a prime example of “an elaborate money-laundering scheme” used by the RGA with success in a number of races for governor in 2010 — one that is legal.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Congressional candidate cash on rise, too
Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin says the huge and perhaps record-breaking sums now flowing into Wisconsin’s congressional races owe to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United.