In the wake of a report showing 93 percent of ads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race came from third-party groups, state officials are rethinking the rules for campaign finance.
The new Government Accountability Board voted not to reaffirm the rules on advertising in political campaigns. This came after the report from the Brennan Center for Justice showed the often negative and sometimes inaccurate issue ads from outside groups vastly outnumbered spots from the campaigns themselves.
The election this Tuesday will decide whether incumbent Justice Louis Butler or Burnett County Circuit Court Judge Michael Gableman will hold the seat on Wisconsin’s highest court.
GAB Member Judge William Eich said that the board is charged with reviewing all the rules of the former elections and ethics boards.
“It wasn’t put on because of the Supreme Court race,” Eich said. “We’re charged to review all the rules of the former ethics board.”
The report showed third parties spent $2.01 million on television ads compared to the $148,000 spent by the candidates in the current Supreme Court race, leading some to think the old rules are ineffective.
The GAB will not be able to make changes in time to affect the current Supreme Court race, according to Eich.
“It’s a process like all government processes, and sometimes that can be a bit tedious,” Eich said. “This is just the beginning of that process.”
Mike McCabe, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the current law is based on a magic words test, meaning advertisements from third parties cannot use language like “vote for” or “vote against” in them.
“The Supreme Court says the magic words are functionally meaningless,” McCabe said. “That’s what the GAB can fix. They can come up with a functionally meaningful definition.”
The third-party ads in the current Supreme Court race have taken the focus away from the message of the candidates, according to McCabe.
“The candidates are being defined by the special interests and there’s not much they can do to counter those messages,” McCabe said.
Candidates have to follow certain rules on donations and spending, according to McCabe. The third-party groups do not have to follow any of those rules. The GAB could change the rules so third-party groups have to register and follow a different set of rules.
“They would have to register with the board and file regular reports with the board disclosing their activities,” McCabe said. “The public deserves to know who is trying to decide these elections.”
Both Supreme Court candidates have spoken out against the third-party advertisements.
Darrin Schmitz, spokesperson for the Gableman campaign, said Gableman wishes the outside ads were not part of the race.
“The very first ad was an attack ad against Gableman,” Schmitz said. “The campaign can only focus on what we can control. Too much time is spent defending ourselves against misleading ads that are being put out.”
But in the 11th hour of the campaign, the ugly ads keep coming, Butler said in a statement.
“Our judicial system is under attack,” Butler said in the statement. “Never before have we seen what we’ve seen happen in this race. Ever. And enough is enough.”
Calls to the largest third-party spenders, the Greater Wisconsin Committee and the Wisconsin Club for Growth, were not returned as of press time Thursday.
