Herrings are Red, Voters are Blue

from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

June 2, 2004

WISC-TV in Madison is the latest to weigh in with an editorial condemning the state Elections Board for delaying a decision until September on a rule requiring full disclosure of special interest campaign ads.

The Elections Board appeared poised to adopt the new rule at its May meeting until two Democratic appointees switched sides and refused to vote for final approval. State Democratic Party chair Linda Honold and party executive director Kim Warkentin have been sending around a letter defending the flip flop.

One excuse for delay Honold and Warkentin offer is that because campaigns already are up and running, adopting a rule a few months before the 2004 election would change the rules in the middle of the game. This concern is a red herring. The administrative rulemaking process is a lengthy one, and there is no chance the rule would have taken effect in time to have an impact on 2004 races. The rule's chief backers offered to explicitly spell out that the effective date would be after the 2004 elections (even though they made it clear it was not necessary because the legislative oversight process would never conclude in time for the rule to take effect that soon). But the two Democratic appointees with cold feet - Carl Holborn and Martha Love - showed no interest in taking them up on their offer.

Honold and Warkentin also argue that there are serious constitutional concerns about the proposed rule. This is another smokescreen. The U.S. Supreme Court gave its blessing last December to the approach embodied in the proposed state rule. The Wisconsin Supreme Court invited the Elections Board to adopt such a rule in a 1999 ruling. The Brennan Center for Justice, a recognized national authority on campaign finance law that helped write the national McCain-Feingold campaign reform law and defended it in court all the way to the Supreme Court, said this week in a legal memo that the proposed rule clearly is constitutional. And on three different occasions, the Legislature's own attorneys have issued memos saying the Elections Board has the authority to regulate special interest campaign ads and that such regulation is clearly constitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the McCain-Feingold law.

The Democracy Campaign stands by its assessment that the only thing preventing this reform is a lack of political will. Anyone who is "100 percent committed to campaign finance reform" - as state Democratic Party leaders claim to be - should be outraged by the Elections Board's inaction.

The Elections Board plans to revisit the proposed disclosure rule at its September 1 meeting. In the meantime, please take a few minutes to contact the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to let its leaders know how you feel about the party backing away from campaign reform at a critical moment of truth. And contact Governor Jim Doyle and urge him to lead his party by calling on the party's appointees on the Elections Board to support full disclosure of special interest campaign ads and the unlimited and anonymous soft money donations that pay for them.

Please spread the word by sending this message to people you know. To support the Democracy Campaign's work, go here.

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
210 North Bassett Street, Suite 215
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-255-4260
Web Site: www.wisdc.org