Wisconsin's oldest surviving newspaper Spring Green, Wisconsin

November 16, 2011

Speaker says: campaign nance, ethics and lobbying reforms suffer under Walker
by David Giffey The director of Wisconsins largest campaign nance, ethics and lobby reform group told a River Valley audience Sunday that 2011 legislation passed under Gov. Scott Walker meant, Were starting from scratch, about 1897, in terms of reform. But Republican Walker wasnt the only Wisconsin politician drawing criticism from Jay Heck, of Common Cause in Wisconsin (CCWI). He also faulted Walkers predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, for failing to support campaign nance reform, and, pre-Doyle Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson for opening the door to vast sums of outside money owing into Wisconsin and inuencing elections. Heck was the keynote speaker at a three-hour session sponsored by Grassroots Citizens of Wisconsin at historic Wyoming Valley School. The gathering included workshops designed to activate citizens for positive change at local, state and national levels. Hecks resume includes working for Republican GOP presidential candidate John Anderson in 1980, Democratic Gov. Tony Earl in the 1980s and extensive campaign and legislative experience in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The speaker criticized members of both major parties for allowing campaign contributions to overcome debate about issues. He also blasted new re-districting by Republicans who now control state government as resulting in officially noncompetitive Congressional districts in Wisconsin. Much of what [Walker] wanted to do came as a shock to all of usto roll back about 100 years of progressive tradition in Wisconsin, Heck said. The state blazed legislative trails during the Robert M. (Fighting Bob) LaFollette era of the early 20th century, Heck said, by passing the nations rst laws regarding workers compensation, child labor, the eight-hour workday and education reform. Wisconsin was considered by many to be the most productive legislature in the country, he said. It was considered a laboratory of democracy. Heck added that Wisconsin about 40 years ago was also the rst state to institute public nancing of campaigns and open meeting laws. The 1986

governors race between Earl and Thompson was the last election that was truly run on issues, said Heck. After defeating Earl, Thompsons tenure released outside cash ows taken advantage of by the teachers union and Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce. By the late 1990s, Heck said, outside money spent on so-called issue ads dwarfed sums raised by individual candidates. Legislative leaders decided the most important thing in Wisconsin politics was to win, to hold power, noted Heck. Because campaign nance reform failed, sums spent on legislative and Supreme Court races were many millions of dollars. Public campaign nancing frees candidates from being beholden to any individual or organization, Heck continued. An impartial justice law also was in place in which Supreme Court candidates could voluntarily limit spending to $400,000, all of it in public funds, Heck said. Parts of that law were blocked by a 2010 Supreme Court ruling and Walker this year proposed getting rid of the law, noted Heck. Wisconsin was the rst state to have public nancing and the rst to repeal it, Heck said. Heck praised State Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, for bringing campaign nance reform to the oor of the senate when he was Senate majority leader after 2004. Heck said the disclosure of campaign donors is needed to clean up campaigns. He also was critical of the new voter ID law, calling it the most restrictive in the nation. Im pretty convinced well see much less voter participation from college students, from Milwaukee, from the elderly, he said. Walkers law against collective bargaining this year was to break the political power of the unionsit was an attempt to establish a permanent, conservative Republican majority in Wisconsin, said the speaker. An alternative to power partisan politics is campaign nance reform, Heck said, which would let everybody spend the same amount and let ideas prevail. Without disclosure of donations, In Wisconsin we dont have any idea whos trying to inuence the vote, Heck concluded. After Hecks talk, participants joined groups to consider: resisting corporate inuence in politics, ending the war in Afghanistan and military spending versus social spending, sustainability, health care and the future of education. Information about CCWI is available on the commoncausewisconsin.org website.