Governor Reverses 2003 Opposition to Fund Raising Events During Budget Period
by Jay Heck
"It's a new day in Wisconsin. We are going to change the way we do business in Madison. It means changing how we do the business of government itself -- from public financing of elections to a more transparent and accountable budget process." - Gov. Jim Doyle in election night victory speech, November 5, 2002
(MADISON) - There is an enormous difference between Jim Doyle, the candidate for Governor in 2002, and Jim Doyle, the Governor. As a candidate, no one spoke more forcefully or more often about the need to restore integrity to Wisconsin's state government through campaign finance reform. As governor, no one has put more distance between his campaign rhetoric and his actual performance on this issue. From support for public financing to pushing for disclosure and regulation of corporate donors and phony issue ads, Doyle has expended not one ounce of political capital nor demonstrated a single iota of leadership in any facet of campaign finance reform whatsoever. None. And now, he has even reversed his position on doing something he said two years ago he opposed--holding campaign fund raising events while the state budget is being written.
In May of 2003, Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) called on legislators and statewide elected officials to cease all campaign fund raising while the state budget was being written after Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) collected thousands of dollars at a fund raising event hosted by the Wisconsin Road Builders in Janesville just three days after Republican leaders proposed a plan to fully fund state highway projects in the 2003-2004 state budget. The very day of the Gard fund raising event, May 19, 2003, Doyle told reporters he supported the CC/WI ban on budget period campaign fund raising saying, "I don't think the appearance of it is very good." Doyle still managed to raise nearly $600,000 in campaign funds during the 2003 budget period, but not through any fund raising events. Instead he pulled in campaign cash through direct solicitation and in the mail, a distinction without any difference in our view.
But in 2005, despite the fact that he thought holding fund raising events during the budget period didn't look good two years earlier, Doyle now apparently now thinks it's just fine to have fund raising events and has had a least three that we know of since he introduced the state budget to the Legislature last February 8th. The latest, held just last Thursday evening in Milwaukee, was billed as "An Evening With Governor Jim Doyle" and it would have cost you a cool $100 if that's how you wanted to spend such an evening. Doyle held a similar campaign cash shakedown in Milwaukee for the same price last February 24th and then another in Madison on St. Patrick's Day just a day after Doyle helped defeat a comprehensive campaign finance reform measure, Senate Bill 46, that would have banned campaign fund raising while the state budget is being written.
So what has changed between 2003, when Doyle said holding fund raising events during the budget didn't look "very good" and so he didn't have any, and 2005 when he has held three such events and will likely hold several more before the budget work is completed? You'll have to ask the Governor but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that his campaign's stated goal is to raise between $10-12 million for the Doyle reelection campaign effort in 2006 and pulling in that campaign cash is more important than any promise to Wisconsin citizens about restoring integrity to state government. Reportedly, a major Doyle objection to Senate Bill 46, the Ellis-Risser campaign finance reform measure that lost last month, was the prohibition on campaign fund raising during consideration of the state budget. Doyle has discovered that this period is terrific for shaking down campaign cash to fill his reelection coffers.
Of course, Doyle's stated public reason for opposing Senate Bill 46 was the it wasn't "good enough" because it wasn't fully funded with general purpose revenue for public financing grants. Did Doyle propose any such funding in his budget proposal earlier this year? No. And Doyle knows, of course, that had he proposed fully-funded grants that the Republican-controlled Assembly would have killed it. So Doyle can say he is for campaign finance reform (but not compromise reform that actually has a chance of being considered and passed), but of course he is not. His actions have spoken much louder than his words. But Doyle's hypocrisy on public financing and on full disclosure of corporate donors is the subject for another day.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for your invitation to spend another "Evening With Governor Jim Doyle" at $100 or more a head and while the state budget is still being considered. We certainly will.
Of course Jim Doyle isn't the only state politician to engage in obvious conflict of interest campaign fund raising while the state budget is being written. In January, CC/WI called on all state legislators and statewide elected officials to refrain from all campaign fund raising during the budget writing season. Ten (out of 132) legislators did publicly proclaim their intention not to raise any campaign cash while the budget is in play in 2005: Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison), Rep. Frank Boyle (D- Superior), Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Allouez), Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah), Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), Rep. Peggy Krusick (D-Milwaukee), Rep. John Lehman (D-Racine), Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison)and Rep. Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids). But for most (and for all statewide elected officials) it's business as usual: raise that campaign cash whether it's budget time or not. Here's the listing of fund raising events that have been held or are scheduled to occur since the state budget was introduced on February 8th:
While prohibiting these fund raising events was a provision of Senate Bill 46, which was defeated in the State Senate on March 16th, it is also contained in the Assembly counterpart to Senate Bill 46–Assembly Bill 226 which was introduced, ironically, on March 16th. Bipartisan "stand alone" legislation to prohibit campaign fund raising during budget consideration – Assembly Bill 66 – which is strongly supported by CC/WI, has also been introduced. This issue is not going away anytime soon as much as Jim Doyle and a great many legislators would like it to.
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