Wis. voters pass advisory death penalty referendum
A majority of Wisconsin voters favor reinstating the death penalty, according to results from an advisory referendum on Tuesday's ballot.
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A majority of Wisconsin voters favor reinstating the death penalty, according to results from an advisory referendum on Tuesday's ballot.
With the Sept. 12 primary less than two weeks away, the state attorney general's race has seen unprecedented nastiness and negative tactics. Bursting campaign coffers and regular personal attacks, two hallmarks of the race, may both be indications of a changing political climate in Wisconsin, according to campaign experts. ""Generally the higher the amount of money that's spent on any campaign, the more negative it is, because so much of that money finds its way into negative advertisement,"" said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, the state's largest non-partisan citizen reform group. The candidates' campaign finances are public record and are documented by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-profit organization dedicated to campaign finance reform. As of June 30, Democratic primary candidate Kathleen Falk raised $642,903, Democrat and incumbent Peg Lautenschlager collected $645,526, and Republican primary candidates Paul Bucher and J.B. Van Hollen netted $368,708 and $677, 777 respectively, according to the campaign's website. Swelling war chests, unlike any in past attorney general elections, have led to ""earlier and nastier"" emergence of ads. Republican candidates Paul Bucher and J.B. Van Hollen have unveiled radio ads that criticize Lautenschlager's handling of a DNA testing backlog at the Department of Justice's crime lab. Heck said the race to become the state's top cop has become more about political ideology than law enforcement and this change points to a shift in state politics. Bill Kraus, who has worked on several statewide campaigns in the past, including that of former Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus in the early '80s, said this mix of copious cash and abandoned political ideals has changed the face of the typical campaign consultant. Today's political strategists specialize in no-holds-barred attack politics and feel no obligation to focus on the issues. ""What money does is it turns politics into marketing—it becomes less person-to-person—more media,"" he said. ""It creates an industry of campaign management people—pollsters, researchers, hired guns—and they run the campaigns very cold-bloodedly."" Heck said because there are no ideological differences between Falk and Lautenschlager, the primary race has included a series of personal jabs. He said Bucher and Falk have supported a law criminalizing first-time DUI offenses because Lautenschlager was convicted of a DUI in 2004. During a live debate on WTMJ-AM radio Aug. 10, the Republican primary candidates stooped to name-calling. Van Hollen reportedly told Bucher, ""you suck,"" during a commercial break, to which Bucher replied, ""I don't suck."" Both Kraus and Heck agreed this level of sparring was unprecedented but had become characteristic of the Attorney General's race. Kraus said, ""Suddenly it isn't adequate to be adversaries, you've got to be enemies and I think that's just a horrifying development because what it does is it cuts out any hope of compromise."" Falk and Bucher have publicly endorsed a law that would criminalize first-time drunk driving offenses.
While students prepare to celebrate the end of the year, the UW-Madison Carillon Memorial Bell Tower will play host to a more somber event. The tower's 56 bronze bells will play a concert Thursday in honor of the UW-Madison students who passed away during the 2005-'06 academic year.
University health officials confirmed the first case of mumps in University Housing Friday, with the infection of a 19-year-old female in Witte. The case marks the second confirmed case of the disease on the UW-Madison campus.
Members of the Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary ruled Sunday that one of the newly elected Student Council representatives breached election policy in last week's elections.
A lack of errors was not the only thing that differentiated the Associated Students of Madison's third candidate election attempt from their two previous tries.
A UW-Madison faculty-appeals committee heard testimony Monday regarding the case of Paul Barrows, the former UW-Madison vice chancellor demoted by the University for alleged improper conduct last year. Barrows took a sick leave in November 2004 after it was discovered he was having a relationship with a graduate student.
A UW-Madison freshman charged in a hate crime in December saw reduced charges Tuesday after a Dane County assistant district attorney dismissed a count of criminal damage to property.
Glitch caused by multiple entries, not voting numbers, says DoIT
Record turnout overloads system, candidates furious
Issues of shared governance between the student government and the administration could hinder a referendum that aims to ensure a living wage for UW-Madison employees and goes to a student vote Tuesday.
Former UW-Madison fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon regained the designation of registered student organization Wednesday after members of the Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary overturned a prior ruling by the Committee on Student Organizations.
The Wisconsin Union and UW-Madison Police defended the security of Bernie's Place daycare center, 206 Bernard Ct., detailing some of their precautionary measures Monday.
A Wisconsin Union-sponsored daycare may have known child sex offenders living less than two blocks away from the center and failed to tell parents.
Frigid winter weather froze the remnants of the Feb. 16 snowfall, much to the chagrin of students walking to class Monday.
A day-long snowstorm resulted in the cancellation of all UW-Madison evening classes Thursday, as five to seven inches of snow buried the campus.
Two UW-Madison freshmen charged with a hate crime appeared in Dane County Court today, where their lawyers pushed back their felony status conference appearances until March 13.
A tenured UW-Madison physiology professor convicted of child sex crimes was dismissed from the university after the UW System Board of Regents unanimously voted to remove him Friday.
A radio station contest that had a rule excluding same-sex couples removed the restriction Thursday after the UW-Madison Campus Women's Center threatened to protest the event.
A move to establish a referendum to renovate Memorial Union and rebuild Union South seems to have cemented student support, Wisconsin Union student representatives said Monday.