Spring Break
Area legislators discuss improving politics
Panel debates campaign finance reform, issue ads' negative effects
Breann Schossow
Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Campus News
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That is no longer the case, said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin. But that hasn't hindered his hope.
"In the 13 years since I've been director of Common Cause, I've never been more optimistic about the opportunity to change that," he said.
On Monday evening, area legislators joined Heck and others to discuss cleaning up politics and campaign finance reform in Hibbard Humanities Hall.
Panelists joining Heck included Sen. Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Valley), Rep. Kristin Dexter (D-Eau Claire), and Rep. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) and Tom Giffey, editorial editor of The Leader-Telegram.
Titled "What ever happened to good government in Wisconsin? How we can fix it and why it matters during a recession," the panel covered a variety of topics including issue ads, the need for disclosure in campaign finance and current legislation.
Dexter opened with a presentation of issue advertisements her opponent and their supporters ran during her first election in the fall of 2008.
She said that to be fair to her opponent, similar issue ads were sent against her opponent, adding that Heck defined issue advertisements as campaign ads pretending to be issue advocacy. These types of advertisements are featured in current legislation that she is authoring.
The purpose of the bill, the Issue Ad Regulation, is to shed light on the people who are funding those kinds of ads and to force disclosure, Dexter said.
Specifics of the bill include disclosure of people and regulations for advertisements released within 60 days of the election.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Adam
posted 4/23/09 @ 7:59 AM CST
One thing that I think would be a grea improvement on how the Spectator reports news is if this story were to be mentioned before the actual event. I think student participation would significantly increase if this newspaper reported before, rather than after the event. (Continued…)
Sandra Miller
posted 4/23/09 @ 10:09 AM CST
Campaign finance reform in Wisconsin will only happen when more people understand what's at stake, when they become motivated to get involved.
When they actually push for change. (Continued…)
Paula
posted 4/23/09 @ 10:40 AM CST
One of the first things the legislators can do to "clean" things up is take ALL policy items out of the State Budget. There is no ability to debate each of these policy changes on their own merit when it's part of a huge budget bill. (Continued…)
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