Wisconsin Gov. Doyle needs to call special session for disclosure reform

Common Cause in Wisconsin Executive Director Jay Heck wrote in a Cap Times editorial for Gov. Jim Doyle to call a special session to reform a senate disclosure bill being challenged by two organizations.

Conservative group Wisconsin Club for Growth and liberal One Wisconsin Now filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block a state administrative rule that requires those organizations to disclose how they obtained their funds if they engage in advocacy for or against a candidate up for election. According to Heck, the rule went into effect on Aug. 1 by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board after no state legislators attempted to block it.

Senate Bill 43 requires disclosure of the donors and regulation of the money spent by special interest groups and individuals running campaign communications masking themselves as issue advocacy 60 days or less prior to an election. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Assembly needed to modify the measure but never did.

Heck goes on to explain the seriousness of the lawsuit and need for reform:

“Yes,  the suit should be dismissed by the federal court because it is unconstitutional,” wrote Heck. “But the Wisconsin Legislature should enact into law disclosure legislation to further solidify and safeguard electioneering disclosure from future legal assault by anti-reform guardians of the corrupt status quo.”

It is unlikely Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, and state Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Schofield, will call the legislature back into session, so the decision may fall directly onto Doyle’s shoulders. Because he is not running for re-election, he would avoid any immediate political backlash and could cement his reform legacy before leaving office.