Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's press releases and special reports cover issues central to our mission, including campaign fundraising, political corruption and more.
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August 20, 2007
Madison - Democratic Governor Jim Doyle accepted $1.8 million of his $9.26 million in large individual campaign contributions his first four years in office from donors outside the state, including nearly half of it in 2006 alone from donors who had never given to anyone in Wisconsin before, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
August 15, 2007
Over the past 12 years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has repeatedly failed to redefine broadcasters’ public interest obligations in light of the nation’s ongoing transition to digital television, a coalition of 28 groups said in a filing at the FCC today. The groups echoed the warnings of FCC Commissioner Michael Copps that this "record of inaction" may "go down . . . as the Commission’s major failing in its efforts to move the digital transition forward."
August 13, 2007
Madison - Wisconsin legislators and Democratic Governor Jim Doyle raised $2.05 million in campaign contributions during the first six months of 2007 by tapping special interests at extravagant golf outings and other fundraisers while spending and policy decisions were being made for the proposed 2007-09 state budget, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.
July 30, 2007
Madison - Special interests that oppose a universal health care plan in the Senate Democrats’ proposed state budget contributed $18.08 million to current legislators and the governor from 1999 through 2006 – over seven times more than the $2.5 million in contributions from supporters of the plan, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
July 23, 2007
Madison - Spending by outside special interests and the candidates in the 2007 Wisconsin Supreme Court race topped $5.8 million, more than four times the previous record spent in a high court race, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
July 23, 2007
Madison - Why are Republican legislators and Democratic Governor Jim Doyle so reluctant to even discuss major changes to make health care more affordable and accessible when their constituents have cited it as one of their top priorities?
June 26, 2007
Madison - Twenty-seven wealthy contributors violated the annual $10,000 limit on campaign contributions to state political candidates and committees in 2006, including a State Capitol lobbyist, a long time state and national Republican Party bigwig and business owners and executives from a wide array of powerful special interests, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
June 25, 2007
Madison - Today’s ruling by a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court chipped away at both the letter and spirit of the McCain-Feingold law and favored the corrupt status quo in national politics.
June 12, 2007
Madison - An alliance of Midwest civic and political reform groups is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose stronger public interest obligations on local television broadcasters as part of the new regulatory framework that will govern the pending transition from analog to digital broadcasting.
May 29, 2007
Madison - Business interests have made $12 in campaign contributions
May 17, 2007
A new national analysis of 2006 judicial elections draws many disturbing parallels to Wisconsin’s recent $6 million race for the Supreme Court, concluding that more state judicial contests are being infected by the spread of big money campaigns that are dominated by special interest groups.
May 7, 2007
Madison - More than 40 citizens picketed in front of the Supreme Court chambers today for fair and impartial courts – and judges who are accountable to the law, not beholden to special interests.
April 10, 2007
Thank you for holding this hearing today. We just endured the ugliest Supreme Court race our state has ever seen. Not to mention the most partisan and most expensive by far. A cash-soaked, special interest-contaminated smearfest that came on the heels of a $32 million race for governor and a contest for attorney general where over $8 million was spent - five times more than ever before for that office - mostly on ads filled with half-truths and outright lies about who’s softest on sex crimes. We’ve seen what the current campaign finance system gets us. You need look no further than what we just experienced these past several weeks to see the need for reform.
March 19, 2007
Madison - The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign today asked the Wisconsin Judicial Commission to investigate whether state Supreme Court candidate Annette Ziegler violated the Judicial Code of Conduct by handling cases in which she or her husband had a significant financial or business relationship with one of the parties.
March 13, 2007
Madison - Much of the big-money support behind Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Linda Clifford and Annette Ziegler comes from diehard supporters of Republican and Democratic candidates in spite of the race’s time-honored non-partisan façade, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
March 6, 2007
Oshkosh - Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton will kick off the Thursday, March 29, public forum on Women, Money and Politics: Who’s Winning? Campus and community members will gather for a discussion with prominent public leaders and advocates for political reform to connect quality of life issues with the need for Clean Election reforms for Wisconsin . The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Reeve Memorial Union Ballroom , 748 Algoma Blvd
March 5, 2007
Madison - State Supreme Court Candidate Annette Ziegler violated state campaign finance law by accepting more than $10,000 from an individual contributor in an election cycle, according to records reviewed by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
February 21, 2007
Madison - Special interest groups spent $19 million on mostly negative broadcast advertising, mailings and other electioneering activities in the 2006 races for statewide office and the legislature – three times more than what they spent in 2002 and 11 times more than in the 1998 elections, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
February 20, 2007
New York – Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law released a new report finding that Wisconsin’s campaign finance system is broken and badly in need of reform.
February 8, 2007
Madison - Candidates and outside special interests spent $8.32 million in the 2006 attorney general race – five times more than the $1.65 million spent during the last race in 2002, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
February 6, 2007
Madison - Candidates and special interests spent $32.3 million on the 2006 governor’s race where surges of vicious and deceptive advertising again hijacked a meaningful discussion of the issues that concern voters, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.
Posted: January 30, 2007
Updated: February 28, 2007
The ethics enforcement reform bill approved by both houses of the Legislature today creating a new politically independent Government Accountability Board is a significant improvement over the outdated and ineffective system of enforcement of ethical standards that the new oversight and enforcement agency will replace.
January 16, 2007
(Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Testimony on January 2007 Special Session Assembly Bill 1)
January 11, 2007
We applaud the effort that has been made by the governor and legislative leaders to negotiate a bipartisan agreement on much-needed ethics enforcement reform legislation.
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.