For the price of $32.3 million, Wisconsin elected a governor last year, according to a campaign spending analysis released Tuesday by a government watchdog group. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, seven candidates and special interest groups spent 38 percent more in 2006 than the previous four-year election cycle, breaking the $23.5 million record. The candidates for governor and lieutenant governor spent $19.8 million, more than half of which was dedicated to Democratic Gov. Doyle's re-election campaign. His Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mark Green, spent $7.6 million, according to the report. The largest increase involved outside interest-group spending — sometimes called issue ads — which more than tripled from $2.9 million in 2002 to $9.39 million in 2006. Some lawmakers have called for legislation to regulate issue ads, which do not explicitly advocate for or against a particular candidate and, under state law, are therefore not required to disclose spending activities. Doyle urged the Legislature to reform campaign finance and "end the phony issue ads" in his State of the State Address Jan. 30. "They should disclose their donors, abide by contribution limits and be forbidden from taking corporate contributions that would otherwise be illegal," Doyle said. Former Green campaign manager Mark Graul criticized Doyle's statement because he refused Green's request during the election to set a $5 million ceiling on campaign spending and to stop negative advertising. "It's unfortunate the governor didn't run for re-election on his records," Graul said. "He relied solely on these nasty attack ads." Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Jessica Erickson said Doyle was re-elected on his messages and support of the people. Regarding Doyle's reported $10.5 million in campaign spending, Erickson said, "The governor had the resources to get his message across, and that's what's important." To Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an important lesson from the gubernatorial race is identifying a "degeneration of the political process." "It shows how rapidly the campaign arms race is out of control," McCabe said. "On so many levels, it's destructive." McCabe said large campaign spending can hurt the election process in three ways: First, it removes people from the political pool who cannot raise millions of dollars; second, it fuels mudslinging or smear campaigning; and third, it hurts the reputation of politicians because voters become skeptical of whom lawmakers are really representing — the voter or the campaign contributor? "This campaign sends a horrible message to young people," McCabe added. "The truth is you better have money or you can't participate." State Sens. Jon Erpenbach, D-Madison, and Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, denounced issue advertising eight days before the Nov. 7 general election and said they would re-introduce campaign-finance legislation early this year. Under the proposed bill, groups whose advertising identifies a specific candidate or electoral office within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election would be treated the same as regulated independent campaign ads. The Ellis-Erpenbach bill would also provide matching grants to candidates who abide by spending limits if their opponents exceed those limits or if they are the targets of outside spending that exceeds a threshold of 10 percent of the spending. Two Madison Democrats have also pledged to re-introduce campaign-finance legislation that would limit campaign spending by candidates and outside interest groups. State Rep. Mark Pocan and state Sen. Fred Risser plan to introduce a bill in the next month that would limit candidates from collecting more than $5 from any person and would discourage interest groups' contributions. "I definitely don't think it's a partisan issue," Pocan said. "It's hard to get people to look at a system that worked for them." McCabe said the likelihood of campaign-finance reform legislation has greatly improved since the Nov. 7 election because there seems to be a sense of openness. Currently, no campaign finance reform bill has been introduced to the state Legislature.