December 14, 2006
Madison - At a Capitol press conference this morning, Governor Jim Doyle and top legislative leaders from both parties and both houses of the Legislature announced an agreement in principle on ethics enforcement reform legislation that will be acted upon in a special session of the Legislature in early January.
November 21, 2006
In the month leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, local television news viewers got considerably more information about campaigns from paid political advertisements than from actual news coverage, a new University of Wisconsin analysis shows. Local newscasts in seven Midwest markets aired nearly four and a-half minutes of paid political ads during the typical 30-minute broadcast while dedicating an average of one minute and 43 seconds to election news coverage.
November 15, 2006
Madison - A clear majority of Wisconsin’s newly elected state Legislature supports a bill to replace the state elections and ethics boards with a tougher and more politically independent enforcement agency to investigate and punish violations of state campaign finance and ethics laws, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
October 24, 2006
Madison - One of the unregulated groups running negative advertisements in Wisconsin’s race for governor received nearly $705,000 in a two-month period from three Washington-based unions and a group representing Democratic governors, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has found.
October 17, 2006
Madison - The Catholic Diocese of Madison violated state campaign finance laws by distributing fliers telling people to vote for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions without publicly disclosing its electioneering activity, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
October 12, 2006
In the month following the traditional Labor Day kickoff of the 2006 election campaign season, television stations in nine Midwest markets devoted an average of 36 seconds to election coverage during the typical 30-minute local news broadcast, a University of Wisconsin analysis shows.
September 27, 2006
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission arguing Congressman Mark Green violated federal campaign finance law when he transferred $1,285,974 from his federal campaign account to a state campaign account to run for governor.
September 18, 2006
Madison - Legislative candidates had a record $5.1 million in their campaign accounts with incumbents holding a $6 to $1 cash advantage over their challengers a little more than two months before the November 7 general election, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.
September 14, 2006
Concern among Wisconsin residents about corruption in state government and the influence of money in state politics runs even higher than concern about bread-and-butter issues such as the economy and education, according to a new landmark public opinion survey conducted by Belden, Russonello & Stewart, an independent research firm in Washington, D.C.
September 14, 2006
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Wisconsin residents strongly support reforms that address government corruption and revitalize democracy, and clearly believe such reforms will make a big difference. In response, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin are putting forward the following reform agenda.
Posted: September 11, 2006
September 1, 2006
(WDC testimony before Wisconsin State Elections Board advocating that gubernatorial candidate Green be denied the use of PAC funds collected as a member of U.S. Congress.)
August 30, 2006
The state Elections Board did the right thing today. By determining that a substantial portion of the campaign money from special interest political action committees that Congressman Mark Green has accumulated to help finance his campaign for governor does not comply with state campaign finance laws, the Board acted in the public interest and struck a blow for longstanding protections in state law guarding against special interest ownership of our government.
August 22, 2006
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The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign were pleased to see that We The People/Wisconsin has scheduled two gubernatorial debates. However, the events will fall short of their goal to bring complete and unbiased information to the public if they do not include all three candidates for Governor.
August 22, 2006
Madison – Republican candidate for governor Mark Green is using nearly $468,000 in contributions from political action committees that could not make donations to Wisconsin candidates, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review has found.
August 22, 2006
TO: Members of the State Elections Board
FROM: Mike McCabe, Executive Director
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
SUBJECT: Enforcement of State Laws Governing Political Action Committee (PAC) Contributions
I am writing to provide additional information supporting our July 24, 2006 memo urging the board to enforce the state law limiting the amount of money candidates for state office may accept from special interest political action committees (PACs).
August 21, 2006
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The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Common Cause in Wisconsin have agreed to reopen the ethics questionnaire the three groups sent to candidates for state office and accept responses through November 1.
August 10, 2006
Madison - A proposal to reduce incidents of drinking water being polluted by manure was rejected by legislators because a small group of large agribusiness interests, who complained the rules were too strict, have spent nearly $916,000 on legislative elections since 2000, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says.
August 7, 2006
Madison - Legislative candidates raised twice as much in the first half of 2006 as they did during a comparable period in the first six months of 1998 and had more than double the money in their campaign accounts, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
Posted: August 1, 2006
Updated: October 23, 2006
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Candidate responses follow the questions below. Only candidates on the November ballot are now listed.
August 1, 2006
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The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today released the responses from candidates for state office to six questions on campaign finance, ethics and other reforms.
July 31, 2006
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today asked Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager to review a recent state Elections Board directive to local election officials to ignore a state voter privacy law and urged the attorney general to issue a clarifying opinion about the status of the law and whether the Elections Board is at liberty to instruct election officials throughout Wisconsin to disregard it.
July 27, 2006
Madison - Democratic Governor Jim Doyle and Republican challenger Mark Green accepted the majority of their campaign contributions between January and June 2006 from wealthy donors who gave them $1,000 or more, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign preliminary analysis shows.
Posted: July 24, 2006
TO: Members of the State Elections Board
FROM: Mike McCabe, Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
SUBJECT: Enforcement of State Limit on Political Action Committee (PAC) Contributions
On behalf of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, I am writing to urge you to take prompt action to enforce the state law limiting the amount of money candidates for state office may accept from special interest political action committees (PACs).
July 20, 2006
Madison - Wisconsin contributions topped $1.11 million in the first 18 months of the 2006 election cycle to groups that can collect and spend unlimited amounts of money on negative ads to manipulate voters and elections, a preliminary review by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign shows.