[media-credit name=’YANA PASKOVA/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Joined by campaign-finance experts from across the country, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton participated in a session discussing public funding and policy at the Fluno Center Saturday.

The session was the final part of a conference on campaign finance reform organized by University of Wisconsin political science professor and Wisconsin Campaign Finance Project director Kenneth Mayer.

Following scores of statewide and national scandals, academics analyzed the role of campaign finance laws in political corruption.

"For a democracy, do we have to hit rock bottom like an alcoholic to decide [we need reform]?" Lawton said.

According to Lawton, 100 percent public financing of campaigns would help address money's overwhelming effect on the election system.

Lawton, along with other panel members, expressed concern about the growing lack of socioeconomic diversity among candidates running for office.

"We can talk about who runs and who wins and doesn't win, but we really have to talk about who does not run," Lawton said.

The high costs of campaigning is especially apparent when one thinks about the "$15,000 of campaign debt for a job that pays $24,000 a year," state Rep. Meg Burton, D-Ariz., said, referring to the cost of running for the Arizona State Legislature.

Lawton additionally spoke about the importance of working to combat corruption within the state of Wisconsin to address the public's undermined trust.

"[T]he public gets disgusted by the volleys and the grenades that are being thrown back and forth and pull out," Lawton said, adding the public tends to withdraw rather than become more involved.

Although Wisconsin's recent political humiliation has been characterized by many as an embarrassment to its reputation as a generally clean election state, Lawton said corruption is not a new occurrence.

"This isn't entirely new … but it keeps adding up," Lawton said. "[N]ow it's adding up so much that it's enough to have an impact on people's faith on how a democracy works and … how it works for them."

However, Lawton said corruption is not limited to the state of Wisconsin and expressed hope the state can once again become the clean election leader it was.

Although public financing is a good start, other panelists mentioned the need for additional comprehensive measures of reform.

According to Cecilia Martinez of the Reform Institute, there is no one reform that gets to the heart of all the problems, adding other key issues include placing a ban on soft money and dealing with 527 organization loopholes.

A bipartisan effort and public education, experts added, are keys to creating comprehensive campaign finance reform that works.

Addressing corruption is important to restoring the public's faith, Lawton said.

She said a "swift and transparent" investigation into the state Department of Administration's contract award to Adelman Travel is necessary and added the state government must be accountable to the people.

"There is no such thing as a little bit of corruption," Lawton said. "You can't be a little bit pregnant, and you can't be a little bit corrupt."