Reply #24: WI: Some say time is right for political reform in Wisconsin

[rumpel]

Published - Sunday, March 26, 2006
Some say time is right for political reform in Wisconsin

By JOAN KENT / La Crosse Tribune

With several Wisconsin legislators headed to jail, speakers at a Democracy Forum held in La Crosse on Saturday said the time is ripe for ethics and campaign finance reform in Wisconsin.

“The planets are lined up,” former Republican Assembly representative Dave Martin told about 30 people attending the forum at the Reinhart Center for Ethics, Science and Technology at Viterbo University. “We have the indictments of leaders of both parties on the way to prison. If we aren’t going to get election reform this year, it will be a long time before we get it in Wisconsin.”

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan political watchdog group, and the League of Women Voters sponsored the forum.

Two reform bills are before the Legislature, which will hold a mop-up meeting at the end of April, he said. But that session may be taken up with debate on the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, Martin warned, urging voters to request a special session to consider the reform legislation if it isn’t discussed at this session.

State politics is at a low point in its history, said Martin; former Assembly member and former La Crosse mayor John Medinger; and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign director Mike McCabe, noting the scandals in Madison and influence of lobbyists on state politics.

“We are at a point of crisis,” McCabe said. “This will prove to be a very dark moment.”

snip

Proposed legislation

Speakers at Saturday’s Democracy Forum urged people to push their legislators to bring two pending bills regarding ethics and campaign finance reform to the floor for debate. Assembly majority leader Rep. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Assembly speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, are key players in determining whether the bills get to the floor, said Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign director.

Senate Bill 1: Would combine the ethics and elections board into a more effective single body.

Assembly Bill 226: Would allow candidates in state elections to qualify for up to 35 percent public funding if they agree to meet spending limits of $4 million for gubernatorial candidates, $150,000 for Senate candidates and $75,000 for Assembly candidates. The bill would provide money for candidates to respond to last-minute attack ads.

Joan Kent can be reached at [phone] or [email protected].

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/03/26/news/z00change.txt