Ordinary citizens are shabbily treated by the current campaign finance system because a small number of wealthy special interests and outside spending groups pour money into the system to influence the candidates and get the results they want. One in 333 voters gave $100 or more to candidates, but their contributions totaled $4.6 million or 68% of the $6.7 million in individual campaign contributions. 

Meanwhile, 89% of the population contributes nothing to political campaigns. One in 50 made contributions of under $100 and only one in 11 gave $1 through the State Election Campaign Fund check-off on state income tax forms. Altogether their contributions totaled about $2.1 million, or 32% of the individual contributions made to candidates.

Legislative incumbents raised funds at such a furious pace in 1999-2000 that challengers were mathematically eliminated before their campaigns even began. Incumbent campaign funds totaled $3.2 million going into the last six months of the election year, versus $223,203 for challengers - a 14-1 advantage!

Business, banking, insurance, real estate and health interests were among the top special interests that made large individual and political action committee contributions to the GOP and Democratic candidates.

These special interests have developed cozy relationships with legislators to support their legislative agendas.

Groups that make independent expenditures and so called "issue ads" exaggerate and deceive in order to sway voters and benefit a candidate. They often hide their identities and politics behind patriotic-sounding names and poor regulations so voters can't evaluate the motives and validity of their message.

The millions of dollars spent by these groups on mass mailings and negative radio and television advertising hurt elections by muffling candidates' messages and interfering with meaningful exchange on the issues.

For instance, Project Vote Informed, fined $5,500 for violating campaign finance laws, used advertising to portray one candidate as a wife beater and another as responsible for the drug death of a teenager.

The result is candidates become pawns beholden to special interest agendas rather than advocates for their constituents.

Groups led by the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) spent more than $2.5 million in 2000 on independent expenditures. That's 134% higher than what special interests spent in 1998 and 229% higher than what was spent in 1996.

There were five legislative races in which groups made more than $100,000 in independent expenditures, including two hotly contested Senate races in the 10th and 32nd Districts where these groups actually outspent both candidates combined. As a result, the issues laid out by the special interests got discussed rather than those that mattered to voters.

In addition to independent expenditures, special interests, led by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), spent money on issue advertising to influence voters. These groups refuse to disclose the amount they spend on issue ads, and current campaign finance laws don't require them to, but it's likely WMC and the others spent as much - or possibly more - than those who made independent expenditures.