On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the Wisconsin state Assembly leaders passed a rule banning Assembly members from raising campaign funds until the state budget deliberations are complete. In essence, the rule seeks to remove any impropriety regarding funding during the lengthy budget hearings so state lawmakers' focus remains on expediently passing the budget rather than catering to special interests or focusing on upcoming election battles. Although this sends a strong, bipartisan signal of genuine reform worthy of commendation, let's evaluate what exactly this accomplished before we hail this the great campaign finance reform of our generation, as has Assembly Majority Leader Thomas Nelson, D-Kaukauna.
The Assembly Organization Committee - a bipartisan group of the top five Democrats and top three Republicans in the state Assembly - voted 8-0 in favor of passing this rule, which prevents individuals but not legislative campaign committees from raising campaign money. According to Nelson, 99 campaign committees will be shut down for the duration of the budget cycle, but the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and its Republican counterpart - which raised more than $279,000 and more than $216,000 respectively during 2007, a year that included eight months of budget deliberations - will still be free to fund. '
Furthermore, because this is merely an Assembly policy rule rather than legislation, it carries no legal ramifications and applies only to the one branch of the lawmaking process, leaving out the state Senate and Gov. Jim Doyle. Critics have denigrated the rule as it poses no criminal or civil threat of enforcement, though backers like Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, point out that punishment for breaking the rule can include removal of leadership, chairmanship or committee positions in the Assembly as well as loss of staff and public reprimand. Additionally, it covers one third of the lawmaking process, and Doyle and the Senate have shown no signs of following suit. In fact, according to Jay Heck, executive director of the non-partisan reform advocacy group Common Cause Wisconsin, Doyle has come out against the Assembly's measure, despite running on a strong campaign finance reform platform in 2002 and backing similar legislature in 2003.
""I think it's completely unfair to have one side have to play by one set of rules and one side by the other,"" Doyle said of the campaign fundraising ban.
Although it lacks in power and scope, the Assembly's fundraising ban is a powerful first step, especially since it puts pressure on Doyle and the Senate to quickly fall in line. Ideally, Wisconsin lawmakers will pass Senate Bill 23, a measure with bipartisan support that would ban all fundraising - the governor, Senate and legislative campaign committees included. The rule passed by the Assembly is a watered-down, expedited children's version of Senate Bill 23, but given the severity of our economy and $5.4 billion state deficit, it's a welcome breath of bipartisan fresh air. '""
With the state's dire interests in mind, Doyle and the Senate should cooperate and pass Senate Bill 23 with the same expediency they displayed to usher in the unemployment compensation bill, which took three days to write into law from beginning to end.
