Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic candidate for governor, announced his proposed anti-corruption policies advocating for increased accountability and transparency in the legislature in a press conference Sept. 14.
Crowley listed four main points in his policy plan, including banning elected officials from trading stocks and engaging in prediction markets. Anyone in office with current investments would be forced to put them into a mutual or index fund or transfer them to a blind trust. The policy also says energy companies would no longer be able to hire former industry regulators for two years after the regulator would exit office.
“Elected officials, whether they be governors, legislators or regulators, are there to serve the public. They're there to use their offices to help people,” Crowley said.
He condemned corruption in public office, calling for greater “transparency and accountability” in Wisconsin state government.
“Working families are paying a steep price for the corruption we’ve seen in Washington from Donald Trump and MAGA Congressman Tom Tiffany that puts corporate interests above working families in Wisconsin,” Crowley said in a statement to The Daily Cardinal. “It’s the same self-serving politics that allowed Robin Vos and Michael Gableman to use their legislative power to rip off taxpayers and try to hide it. ”
Former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Micheal Gableman came under fire in 2021 for high expenses and salaries of his staff during a taxpayer funded review of the 2020 election. Gableman and members of his staff made a false claim that President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has also received backlash for operating as a landlord, while also sponsoring bills in the Legislature that could benefit his personal business. The City of Whitewater has fined Vos and his companies $11,866 for several different kinds of minor breeches.
“Wisconsinites see politicians across the state and in Washington doing better than them. They’re doing fine, and in many cases, they’re thriving. And how can that be when diesel right here in the state of Wisconsin is nearly $6 a gallon?” Crowley said during the press conference.
Current gas prices in Wisconsin sit at average $4.41 per gallon.
Crowley also emphasized the importance of undoing the loophole in Wisconsin's open records law.
Public employees in Wisconsin must retain records, but the law exempts state legislators. If records are requested legislators must comply with the law and share them, but if these records have been destroyed or deleted, they have nothing to send.
“I will require that legislative documents and correspondence cannot be deleted before they are requested, ensuring that journalists, the courts, the most important, youth, the public, can see how their elected officials are or are not serving,” Crowley said at the event.
The proposal would require legislative approval, and there have already been attempts to pass bipartisan bills that combat stock trading and prediction markets. Washington D.C. and Madison alike are tackling negotiations and potential legislation surrounding politicians using insider information for profit.
“The ability for elected officials to profit off of their office with zero consequences is legalized corruption,” Crowley said. “You may not always agree with me. But as governor, I will always do what I think is best to the great state of the states. And that starts by making sure that everyone who serves in this building right behind me, and in our state government, is held to the highest standards of transparency.”
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