Last week the Wisconsin state Senate voted in favor of a plan that offers public financing for Supreme Court candidates and puts in place stricter contribution limits. In the wake of last year's $6 million state Supreme Court race between Annette Ziegler and Linda Clifford, this common sense plan would go a long way toward restoring confidence in our state's judiciary.
In essence, the bill, SB 171, would offer qualified Supreme Court candidates $400,000 to run their campaigns. Moreover, candidates could receive additional funding to respond to third-party ads. This is a dramatic improvement over the current system.
For instance, last year Ziegler and Clifford could have received approximately $50,000 of public financing by agreeing to a spending limit of $215,000. The current system of public financing is woefully underfunded - it's not surprising that Supreme Court candidates have repeatedly declined public funding.
Opponents of the bill rail against tax increases and argue that contributions do not constitute undue influence - in their view, contributors simply donate to judges with similar ideologies. On the tax front, even if both candidates in a given race received the maximum amount of funding because of extensive interest group spending, the plan would cost each Wisconsin resident less than $1 per race.
Firm evidence contradicts the opposing argument as well. The widespread public perception of corruption generated by large campaign contributions is harmful by itself.
Further, an extensive examination of the Ohio Supreme Court by the New York Times found that justices rarely recuse themselves from cases when they have received contributions from parties involved and voted in favor of parties that contributed 70 percent of the time. A study by a professor at Tulane Law School reached similar conclusions and also found that larger contributions had larger effects on judicial decisions.
The state Senate already passed this bill by a large margin. In an unusual move, seven sitting state Supreme Court justices sent Gov. Jim Doyle and state legislators a letter supporting public financing last year. Moreover, the bill is supported by a majority of Wisconsinites - 65 percent of residents supported public financing of Supreme Court races in a January 2008 poll.
With the session winding down, the state assembly should take up this bill and send it to the governor's desk. There is no excuse for conservatives in the lower house to hold up this bill any longer.
