Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton called for the prompt passage of a state Supreme Court campaign reform bill that would set aside added public finance money for use in justice elections at a Capitol event Thursday.
In the 2008 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the candidates spent almost $6 million — $4.8 million of which was spent by special interest groups, Lawton said. She added that because of bad press, the special interest groups only donated $500,000 in the 2009 elections.
The bill would raise the amount of money that voters could donate to public financing and would then put this extra money into a “democracy trust fund” set aside for judicial elections, said co-author of the bill Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh.
“Increased outside influence, negativity and distortion that have plagued our last few judicial races have created a perception that our justice system is no longer impartial,” Hintz said. “It’s hard to imagine a citizen going before a judge in Wisconsin in a case where opposition has made a significant investment in that judge’s campaign.”
Hintz added Wisconsin currently has a public financing option for any elected official to use instead of raising their own money. Citizens can contribute to the public election fund by checking a donation box on their tax returns.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske said all the special interest money has led to derisive and negative campaigns.
“I think this bill is a wonderful step in attempting to put some structure to campaigns and to put the races back in context of where they should be — the qualifications of the candidates,” Geske said.
Long-time Republican campaign operative and clean elections advocate Bill Kraus also spoke in favor of the bill at the event.
Kraus said the problem with private investing is that special interests groups have begun to finance the campaigns of judges they believe will hear cases that directly affect them.
“The money problem can be fixed with public financing. The Impartial Justice Bill will bring public financing fully to Supreme Court races,” Kraus said. “There is time, and we should go for it and go for it strongly.”
There is opposition to the bill, with some believing that with the current economic and budget problems the state is facing, no money will be left for financing campaigns, according to Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend.
“Our state is so broke that the idea that the taxpayers can handle the burden to pay for state Supreme Court candidates at this time is completely inappropriate,” Grothman said.
Hintz said the bill would not be passed until the money is available, but added they do not want to take any money away from existing programs or commitments.
Lawton said the bill has been proposed for 10 years in a row and has passed both Senate and Assembly committees. The next step for the bill is passage by the Joint Committee on Finance, and then it will go before the Assembly and Senate floors.
No justices were available for comment as of press time.
