June 4, 2002
Madison - Wisconsin’s governor, 72 state legislators and a state regulatory agency were given "Nero Awards" today by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign for failing to respond effectively to growing political corruption in the state.
May 22, 2002
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Wisconsin Citizen Action applauded the emergency rule adopted today by the State Elections Board requiring candidates to file their campaign finance reports electronically to give citizens quicker access to information about donations candidates receive.
May 16, 2002
Madison - A top Assembly Republican’s criticism of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign for expressing concerns about the most recent campaign reform proposal offered to the budget conference committee is a symptom of legislative leaders’ closemindedness and unwillingness to seriously work for much-needed reforms to Wisconsin’s broken campaign finance system, WDC’s executive director said today.
May 15, 2002
TO: Budget Conferees
FROM: Mike McCabe, Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
DATE: May 15, 2002
RE: Latest Campaign Finance Reform Proposal in Budget Repair Bill
May 13, 2002
Madison - Four dozen state officeholders and candidates violated state law by not adequately revealing the special interests behind hundreds of large individual campaign contributions worth more than $192,000 in the last six months of 2001, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
May 7, 2002
Memos to the legislature decrying state funds used pay legal costs involved in caucus cover-up.
May 2, 2002
Madison - Since the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign announced last month that it has joined the national Free Air Time Coalition, 16 more state-level advocacy groups have joined the grassroots campaign to build support for proposals to require that television and radio stations provide free air time before all elections for candidate ads, debates and issue discussion.
April 30, 2002
Madison - Nineteen well-heeled contributors to campaigns for state offices violated campaign finance laws in the last half of 2001 by exceeding the annual $10,000 limit on contributions, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
April 22, 2002
Madison - Despite a $1.1 billion budget deficit, state lawmakers crafting a budget repair bill are refusing to reconsider nearly $500 million worth of special interest tax breaks and pork barrel spending tucked in the original budget and have added at least $49 million in new breaks and windfalls sought by their most generous campaign donors, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported today.
April 18, 2002
Madison - The presence of high-powered lobbyists in Governor Scott McCallum’s newly formed circle of advisers and the McCallum campaign’s response to ethical concerns expressed by departing fundraiser Dana Grigoroff are evidence that the administration lacks a commitment to standards of ethical conduct that used to be taken for granted in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said today.
April 17, 2002
TO: Budget Conferees
FROM: Mike McCabe, Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
DATE: April 16, 2002
RE: Campaign Finance Reform in Budget Repair Bill
We are heartened by indications that the conference committee will be dealing with campaign finance reform after both houses passed comprehensive campaign finance reform bills on a bipartisan basis.
April 5, 2002
Madison - Governor Scott McCallum’s admonition to Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala to "roll up their sleeves" and work out a campaign reform package rings hollow because of the governor’s insistence that no taxpayer dollars be used in the reforms, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said today.
April 1, 2002
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign announced today it has joined the national Free Air Time Coalition and will take part in a nationwide grassroots campaign to build support for proposals to require that television and radio stations provide free air time before all elections for candidate ads, debates and issue discussion.
March 21, 2002
Madison - In a letter to Governor Scott McCallum, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today renewed its request that the governor call the legislature into special session to finish work on the first meaningful reforms in Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws in a generation.
March 13, 2002
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today called for an extended session of the legislature to finish work on campaign finance reform legislation and urged legislative leaders and Governor Scott McCallum to agree to the final negotiations needed to reach bipartisan agreement yielding the first meaningful reforms in Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws in a generation.
March 13, 2002
March 5, 2002
Madison - Candidates for statewide office who boast they have broad statewide support because small campaign donors make the greatest number of contributions to their campaigns are misleading voters about the true origin of most of their support, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
February 25, 2002
Madison - The post-September 11 economy has produced layoffs, reduced charitable contributions and falling tax collections but it certainly has not stopped powerful special interests - many of which are pleading for tax breaks and stimulus plans - from investing heavily in candidates for governor, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
February 19, 2002
Madison - Legislators used the state budget to lure large special interest contributions and enter the 2002 election year with a formidable $4.3 million in their campaign war chests - 124 percent more than at the same time four years ago, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
February 7, 2002
Madison - With Congress set to resume debate on major campaign reform legislation that takes aim at political TV ads, a new Wisconsin Democracy Campaign study shows local stations in the three largest Wisconsin television markets systematically gouged political candidates in the final month of the 2000 campaign, charging 68 percent - or nearly $1 million - more than the lowest candidate rate listed on the stations’ own advertising rate cards.
February 5, 2002
Madison - A final vote in the state Senate on major campaign finance reform legislation was obstructed again today by Governor Scott McCallum’s continued refusal to work with Senate leaders to clear the way for the bipartisan measure to be approved and sent to the Assembly, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said.
February 1, 2002
(Letter to governor asking him to back Senate Bill 104.)
January 7, 2002
Madison - If the leading campaign finance reform measure under consideration in the state legislature had been in effect in the last election, legislative candidates would have raised $6 million less from special interest donors and campaign spending would have been reduced by nearly $2 million, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported today.