Special interests pump unprecedented sums into Assembly contests
December 17, 2008
Madison - Special interests led by labor and conservative ideological groups spent an estimated $7.1 million on mostly negative advertising, mailings and telephone calls to harass voters and smear candidates in the 2008 legislative races, including more than $1 million on a single Assembly race, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
November 11, 2008
In approving new rules requiring special interest groups to fully disclose their electioneering activities and abide by existing state campaign contribution limits, the state Government Accountability Board today struck an important blow for the public’s right to know and helped put the “r” back in free speech.
November 11, 2008
In approving new rules requiring special interest groups to fully disclose their electioneering activities and abide by existing state campaign contribution limits, the state Government Accountability Board today struck an important blow for the public’s right to know and helped put the “r” back in free speech.
November 6, 2008
Madison - More than half of the members of the new Legislature have either voted for or publicly committed to support two important campaign reforms.
October 28, 2008
Madison - Wisconsin contributors have donated a record $3.27 million to unregulated special interest groups that spend much of their money on negative broadcast advertising, mailings and other electioneering activities to muffle what the candidates in federal and state races have to say on issues that really matter to voters, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
September 26, 2008
Madison - Legislative candidates on the November ballot had $5.52 million in their campaign accounts at the end of August, but nearly $3 of every $4 was held by incumbents who also are likely to benefit from more contributions and negative, outside electioneering activity by powerful business, labor and other special interests in the coming weeks, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
September 19, 2008
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Civic groups in five Great Lakes states are calling on more than 700 judicial candidates to follow new campaign conduct guidelines that help them steer clear of special interest pressures and political agendas.
September 18, 2008
Madison - Legislators collectively accepted $2 of every $3 in large individual contributions in 2007 from special interests who lived outside their districts and could not vote for them, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
September 16, 2008
Madison - An Assembly Republican leader accepted $7,500 in campaign contributions from executives of the nation’s leading maker of smokeless tobacco products shortly after the company successfully sought to change the way the state taxes one of its most popular products among children, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has found.
September 3, 2008
Madison - Executives of a Florida utility with large stakes in nuclear and wind power contributed nearly $24,000 to Democratic Governor Jim Doyle a little more than a month before Doyle announced he was willing to consider new nuclear plants as a future energy option, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has found.
Presented: August 28, 2008
Posted: September 2, 2008
TO: Government Accountability Board
FROM: Mike McCabe, Executive Director Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
SUBJECT: August 28 meeting regarding regulation of political communications under GAB 1.28
August 28, 2008
Madison - Unregulated political hit groups responsible for many of the negative ads and outside electioneering activities in federal and state elections received a record $2.2 million from Wisconsin donors during the last 18 months including more than $1 million in the first six months of 2008, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
August 20, 2008
Madison - Special interest groups that spent an estimated $7.7 million on "issue advocacy" in the last two Supreme Court elections focused their advocacy on an issue - crime and public safety - that not only has little to do with the work of the Supreme Court but next to nothing to do with the groups’ own policy agendas, a new Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
Posted: August 14, 2008
Updated: September 2, 2008
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The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today released the responses of state legislative hopefuls to six questions on democracy reform issues the three groups posed to all candidates.
August 13, 2008
Madison - Legislative candidates and fundraising committees raised a record $3.39 million and had nearly $6 million in their campaign accounts in the first half of 2008 – an election year where slim majorities have party control up for grabs in the Assembly and Senate, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
July 22, 2008
Madison - The 2008 Wisconsin Supreme Court race cost $5.96 million, including a record $4.8 million by outside special interest groups that secretly raised and spent most of that money on negative ads about the candidates, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
July 15, 2008
Madison – Most wealthy special interests contribute more to the political party that controls the Assembly and Senate, flip-flopping between Democrats and Republicans to get what they want, according to a report today by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
July 10, 2008
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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, George Mason University, and the Joyce Foundation are pleased to announce the release of A Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting, authored by Brennan Center counsel Justin Levitt.
July 10, 2008
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The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign are calling on candidates for the Wisconsin Legislature (Assembly and Senate) to state their positions on issues that are central to honest, accountable government. The groups are mailing a questionnaire today to all candidates certified by the Government Accountability Board, with a response deadline of Friday, July 18, 2008.
Posted: July 9, 2008
Updated: September 25, 2008
Statistics for the 2008 campaign for the Wisconsin State Legislature.
June 19, 2008
Most Wisconsin residents believe their state is on the wrong track and have little trust in state officials to serve their interests on issues they care about, and a supermajority supports reforms aimed at making state government more honest, accountable and responsive, a new public opinion survey shows.
May 29, 2008
Madison - Wisconsin business, unions and individuals have contributed a record $1.5 million in the first 15 months of the 2007-08 election cycle to unregulated groups most of which raise and spend unlimited amounts on negative advertising, mailings and other outside activities in state and national elections, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
May 8, 2008
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The Midwest Democracy Network and the Justice at Stake Campaign released the following statement to accompany their new report, The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lake States, 2000-2008:
May 7, 2008
Madison - School voucher supporters contributed $1 of every $5 in large individual campaign contributions state policymakers accepted from special interests outside Wisconsin in 2007, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.
April 29, 2008
Madison - Well over half of members of the current Wisconsin Legislature are either actively or passively cultivating political corruption and helping special interests control state government by resisting reforms that would put ordinary citizens in the driver’s seat and restore the state’s reputation for clean and open government, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.