Election officials said there are still gray areas in what regulations for campaign finance will be in place for the upcoming recall elections during a meeting Tuesday morning.
Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy and Mike Wittenwyler, attorney at Godfrey & Kahn and a University of Wisconsin Law School professor, led the panel in discussing the complexities of the upcoming elections and taking questions from lobbyists.
Wittenwyler, who is often consulted by lobbyists to help them understand campaign election law, said he thinks of recall election funds as three separate pots.
The first pot is donations occurring during the recall petition gathering and review process, he said. Unlimited contributions can be given during this time to the groups collecting and reviewing signatures, but that period ends this Friday.
The second pot is the recall special election pot. The special election pot, starting Friday, will allow individuals to make donations of up to the $10,000 limit.
Wittenwyler added that individuals donating to this group will not have to worry about recent donations made to the third pot: the governor’s 2014 reelection fund.
In this particular set of circumstances, Wittenwyler said there was also a new hypothetical fourth pot, the recently formed defense fund by Gov. Scott Walker.
“This fund can only be formed under a unique circumstance,” Wittenwyler said. “In Wisconsin, in the event of being investigated or charged for campaign finance violations, you can create one. It also says if your agents are being investigated, you can create one.”
Under the GAB’s interpretations of the statute, Wittenwyler said if a contributor wanted to give money to the defense fund, he or she would have to donate to the 2014 reelection campaign and then, with the contributor’s permission, the donation could be transferred.
However, Kennedy said he disagreed with Wittenwyler’s characterization of the recall election pot and the 2014 reelection pot.
“The way I see this, any contributions you have made since Jan. 1, 2011 to incumbents is counting toward the next election, whether that is the recall election or 2014 reelection,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said after the recall, a lobbyist or contributor would then be able to donate to the office holders who end up running again.
Wittenwyler and Kennedy debated what the statutes imply and how much a contributor could give for several minutes before Kennedy said he would release a statement clarifying the GAB’s official position on the matter in the next two days.
Kennedy also addressed several other election issues, which he said are starting to be decided on in court. Voter ID has been enjoined for now and a federal court decision has been handed down on redistricting, pending complication in the 8th and 9th districts.
The signature review process for the recalls, according to Kennedy, is also finally wrapping up. He said the upcoming confirmation of the four senators is just a formality after decisions made last week, and the governor and lieutenant governor’s is close to finished.
“There will be recommendations [Friday] to certify the two recalls for the statewide offices,” Kennedy said. “We’ve finished the entire review except 4,000 signatures from the lieutenant governor, which should be done today.”
