Summer fundraising went well despite hot races for statewide offices

September 28, 2010

Madison – Legislative candidates raised a record $1.9 million in July and August and held $5.34 million in their campaign accounts going into the primary elections where the biggest spender won two of every three races, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.

Legislative Council Special Committee on Judicial Discipline and Recusal

September 16, 2010

August 24, 2010

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund today released the responses of statewide candidates and legislative hopefuls to six questions on democracy reform issues the three groups posed to all candidates.

Wealthy special interests give 527 groups more than $1.3 million in six months

August 17, 2010

Madison – Wisconsin contributors gave a record $1.34 million in the first half of 2010 to special interest groups that secretly raise and spend unlimited amounts to smear state and federal candidates with negative advertising and mailings at election time, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

Legislative Council Special Committee

August 5, 2010

Thank you for extending an invitation to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to provide a citizen perspective on judicial discipline. Over the years, the Democracy Campaign has filed numerous complaints with the state Government Accountability Board and its predecessor agencies – the Elections Board and Ethics Board – against both major political parties in Wisconsin as well as elected officials and candidates from both parties. Those complaints have dealt with violations of various campaign finance laws and the state ethics code, and many resulted in fines or other penalties.

Incumbents enjoy $4 to $1 cash advantage; fundraising doubled from 2002

August 3, 2010

Madison – Legislative candidates and their fundraising committees accepted about $3.5 million in campaign contributions in the first half of 2010 – a record in a general election year and more than double what they raised just eight years ago, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

August 2, 2010

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed in federal court by the Wisconsin Club for Growth and One Wisconsin Now seeking to stop implementation of new rules approved by the state Government Accountability Board and reviewed by the Legislature closing the “issue ad” loophole special interest groups have long exploited to avoid disclosing to the public their electioneering activities:

July 22, 2010

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign are calling on candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and state legislature (Assembly and Senate) to state their positions on issues that are central to honest, accountable government.

Posted: July 14, 2010
Updated: July 23, 2010

Statistics concerning candidates running for the Wisconsin State Legislature in fall 2010.

Lawmakers collectively accepted $2 of every $3 from donors who can’t vote for them

June 16, 2010

Madison – Legislators rely more on far-off, wealthy special interests to fund their election campaigns than on the people who can vote for them, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis that found legislators accepted $2 of every $3 from contributors outside their districts in 2009.

Statewide candidates and officeholders got most from top donors in 2009

May 26, 2010

Madison - Seventy individuals and couples gave $874,161 or 13 percent of the total large individual contributions in 2009 and they invested much of it in the governor and statewide candidates in the upcoming 2010 general election, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

May 10, 2010

Madison - The cost of tougher penalties and treatment programs in a new drunken driving law effective in July is not paid for because the legislature refused to increase liquor or beer taxes opposed by the alcohol industry – one of the largest special interest contributors to legislative campaigns, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

Four individuals topped the $10,000 limit in the past

April 28, 2010

Madison - Eleven contributors to candidates for statewide office and the legislature exceeded the annual $10,000 limit on individual contributions in 2009, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.

Key legislators who abandoned bill got nearly $704,000 from like-minded special interests

March 31, 2010

Madison - Seventeen legislators who once supported removing the governor’s authority to appoint Department of Natural Resources secretaries but recently supported the governor’s veto of a bill to do that received $703,743 since 2005 from special interests who oppose the change, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.

Regulation proposals stymied by industry contributions, lobbying

March 25, 2010

Madison - Payday lenders contributed nearly $75,000 to state policymakers and candidates in 2009 – a record in a non-election year – including $65,440 to legislators to quash proposals to regulate the industry, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.

March 23, 2010

The state Government Accountability Board today struck a long overdue and decisive blow for the public’s right to know and for accountability in election advertising with its unanimous approval of new rules closing the “issue ad” loophole special interest groups have long exploited to avoid disclosure of election-related activity and operate outside Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws.

Individuals, unions, businesses give groups $1.5 million in non-election year

March 8, 2010

Madison - Wisconsin contributors doled out a record $1.53 million in 2009 to special interest groups that often pollute state and federal elections with negative advertising, mailings and other outside electioneering activities, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.

Campaign contributions and $669,000 worth of lobbying idle legislation

March 1, 2010

Madison - An Assembly fundraising committee used to tap powerful special interests for campaign cash accepted nearly $14,000 in the last half of 2009 from payday lenders and some of their lobbyists as legislation stalled to limit the industry’s high lending rates, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review of campaign finance reports filed by the four leadership-controlled campaign committees shows.

Legislators raise less than $3 million for the first time in six years

February 17, 2010

Madison - Legislators accepted $2.91 million in campaign contributions in 2009, the lowest since 2003 and a dip due to an Assembly fundraising ban during the first six months of the year when the legislature considered the 2009-11 state budget, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

Posted: February 4, 2010
Updated: February 12, 2010

The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Now it's our turn.

January 21, 2010

Madison – The narrowest of majorities on the U.S. Supreme Court legislated from the bench today, effectively enacting a radical vision of the First Amendment and a bastardized version of democracy that has never been approved by elected representatives of the American people and strays far from the ideals spelled out so elegantly by the nation’s founders.

Open Memo to Senate on “Issue Ad” Bill

January 15, 2010

Free legal services violated rule barring gifts to state officials

December 21, 2011

Madison – Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman violated a state ethics code that prohibits state officials from receiving gifts when he got two years of free representation from a law firm, a complaint filed Wednesday by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says.