Wisconsin has best chance at campaign finance reform in 30 years

MADISON—Speaking at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s annual member meeting, Executive Director Mike McCabe expressed cautious optimism for the passage of two pieces of campaign finance reform legislation.

The Impartial Justice bill, SB 40 and AB 65, would establish a public financing system for the state’s supreme court justice elections.

Meanwhile, the Special Interest Electioneering Disclosure bill, SB 43 and AB 63, would solidify in statute a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board rule regulating political issue advertisements.

“We’ve got a heck of a fight in front of us. I won’t be celebrating until there is dry ink on signed legislation,” McCabe said. “But we are at a point where we can hit pay dirt.”

A public hearing on both bills, which the Democracy Campaign strongly supports, is scheduled for May 27. 

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, talks with members at their annual meeting on May 19 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

According to McCabe, there have not been significant reforms to Wisconsin’s campaign finance system in three decades.

Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley said it was to her “delight to hear we might be on the precipice” of the passing legislation. She said the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Dec. 2007 sent a letter to the legislature “asking for meaningful campaign finance reform” to create public financing for supreme court races.

In his recent Big Money Blog post, “In Search of a Third Way on Elections,” McCabe wrote about the debate simmering on ditching state supreme court elections all together and proposes “instant runoff voting,” where voters rank candidates in order of preference, as an alternative to the current election format. 

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign sold a special coffee blend—called “Ruckus Roast”—to raise funds at its annual member meeting.

In attendance at the member meeting were other representatives of Midwest Democracy Network partner organizations, including Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and Bruce Speight, public interest advocate for WISPIRG.

For more information on fair and impartial courts, visit the Democracy Campaign’s Judicial Independence Project.

—Leah Rush