Despite bipartisan pleas to Gov. Scott McCallum not to use his line-item veto power on a bill that would overhaul the state campaign finance system, the governor said Friday that he would not give such a pledge.
The state Senate passed SB 104 through its amendable stages last week, but a final vote was pushed back until later this week in hopes that the governor would sign a statement which would obligate him either to veto or pass the whole bill.
The bill's authors, Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, have both written letters to McCallum in hopes of persuading the governor to sign the pledge.
\I am not asking you to do anything different than you have said you would do in your public statements,"" Ellis said in his letter. ""If the Senate and Assembly can produce a comprehensive campaign finance bill, I would respectfully ask that you simply renew that pledge and not alter, through your considerable veto power, [the bill].""
McCallum said he does not want his veto power restricted by the Legislature.
