Special Interests Lubricated Political Machinery as State Budget Took Shape

$1.9 million flowed in during budget process on heels of record giving in 2002

August 5, 2003

Madison - Special interests scrambled to get what they could from the state budget by contributing $1.28 million to legislators’ campaigns and leadership committees in the first half of 2003 after doling out a record amount of contributions in election year 2002, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

In addition to legislative fundraising, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle accepted more than $560,000 in campaign contributions while his proposed budget was in play and before he used his veto authority to finalize policy and spending changes that left several major special interest contributors virtually unscathed despite the state’s $3.2 billion deficit.

Contributions during the six-month period to legislators and state constitutional officers totaled $1,868,198.

The contributions accepted by legislators while they considered the 2003-05 budget are 46 percent higher than the $875,715 accepted by legislators in the first half of 1999 - the most recent six-month period following a race for governor and other statewide offices.

The contributions were about 20 percent less than the $1.6 million legislators accepted during the first six months of 2001 when legislators considered the last two-year budget.

The dip in legislative fundraising from two years ago is probably due to a combination of factors. It is likely even the pocketbooks of wealthy special interests were fatigued after 2002 when they spent $25 million on contributions and campaign ads for candidates for statewide office and the Legislature.

Other factors include a state budget that left a little less room for special interest pork due to the deficit and the indictments of four former legislative leaders and one current leader on campaign finance and ethics law violations. Many of those charges allege pay-to-play activity when the Legislature considered the 2001-03 state budget.

However, the newest batch of legislative leaders continued to use a fundraising playbook similar to their predecessors by accepting large amounts of special interest money while they were crafting the present state budget.

Three of the top five Senate fundraisers (see Table 1) - Republicans Theodore Kanavas, Robert Welch and Alberta Darling - are members of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. The two top Senate fundraisers - Democrats Julie Lassa and Jeffrey Plale - drew special interest contributions because they were involved in special elections to win their seats.

In the Assembly, three of the top five fundraisers are Republican and Democratic legislative leaders who control the fate of the budget and other proposals in that house including Assembly Speaker John Gard, Majority Leader Steven Foti and Minority Leader James Kreuser.

Darling who is co-chair of the Finance Committee, Gard, Kanavas, Foti and Kreuser scheduled fundraisers between February and June when the budget was in their hands. Gard scheduled at least two fundraisers in April and in May - one in Minneapolis and the other at the home of a Janesville road builder within days of Gard’s announcement of a Republican budget proposal that called for $800 million more in spending for short- and long-term road building than Doyle’s proposal.

The four legislative campaign committees, which are controlled by legislative leaders and are used to help elect members in the four caucuses, accepted a total of $392,224 during the first six months of 2003 (see Table 2), which is 73 percent more than the $226,990 accepted in the first half of 2001.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has proposed a ban on campaign fundraising during the state budget process.

"Lawmakers should not be shaking down special interests for campaign donations, especially when they are in the process of making budget decisions that affect those interest groups. The practice creates a blatant conflict of interest for the lawmakers and a gravy train for wealthy donors," WDC executive director Mike McCabe said.

The list of those in each house with the top campaign balances as of June 30 is dominated by Republicans (see Table 3), including Senator Michael Ellis of Neenah who had a $204,097 cash balance. In the Assembly, former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen held $156,032 despite spending $102,500 of his contributions to defend himself on felony misconduct charges in the legislative caucus scandal.

For acomplete list of the amount raised and cash on hand for all legislators see Table 4 below.