Outside special interest groups spent at least 50% more than the previous record high in the midterm election in Wisconsin this year, pouring more than $93 million into races for governor and other state offices.
Tag: wisconsin democracy campaign
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Records advocates plan traveling show
Among the many remarkable things about the defeat of the proposed overhaul of the Wisconsin Public Records Law over the July 4 weekend last summer was the way the media, open government groups, advocacy organizations on the left and right, and the public coalesced to point out how ill-conceived the idea was.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Bill would make it harder to follow the money
It might be about to get tougher—a lot tougher—to follow the money in Wisconsin politics.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Goals clash as Wisconsin prepares to rewrite campaign finance law
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.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Mike McCabe’s blistering manifesto
A manifesto for a populist change aimed at a national audience, it focuses largely on Wisconsin, portrayed as a fetid swamp of corruption, where lobbyists and campaign donors provide the soundtrack to which policymakers dance.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
State overlooks past, hires Accenture
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has drawn flak lately over his refusal to grant pardons. But, it turns out, his administration does believe in second chances.
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
Talk is cheap in John Doe probe
A lot of folks — perhaps too many — are spouting off about the John Doe probe launched by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office into the campaign of Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and more than two dozen conservative groups, among others.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Walker’s book is bluntly revealing
Gov. Scott Walker’s new book, “Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge,” has been faulted for what it omits. Attention is also due to what it delivers: a vast portal into the mindset of Wisconsin’s most controversial politician.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Don’t shield donor employer info
Grothman’s bill would raise the threshold for when donors to state and local campaigns must disclose their occupations and eliminate the requirement that the donor’s principal place of employment be disclosed.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Cash is key to Burke’s bid
Burke’s slick three-minute video announcing her candidacy never mentions Walker, her school board position, or the fact that she’s running as a Democrat.
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.