WI adopts public financing for Supreme Court elections

[Ysabel]

December 1, 2009

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

The Impartial Justice bill is officially the Impartial Justice law. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed the bill this morning. The governor's signing statement is here.

With today's action, Wisconsin becomes the first and only state to enact public financing legislation this year and joins North Carolina and New Mexico as the only states to ever create public financing systems for judicial elections.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign thanks Governor Doyle and all the legislators who acted to make this long-sought reform a reality. WDC also thanks the many other groups that worked for the bill's passage, most especially Common Cause in Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. And we owe a great debt of gratitude to the countless citizens who took the time to contact their representatives and the governor to urge them to take this important step toward cleaning up state Supreme Court elections.

This historic breakthrough for campaign finance reform was a decade in the making, as the Impartial Justice bill was first proposed in 1999. It is the most significant campaign reform in Wisconsin since 1977.

http://www.libertytreefdr.org/news/wi_public_financing_supreme_court

- this is good news...

[TheMightyFavog]

1. Take it one step further

End the election of State Supreme Court Justices, have them appointed by the Governor.

[LiberalFighter]

2. I wish that elections for this position were effective.

But, most people don't know who these people are that run. And if they have any competition the voters don't know them either.

So why waste time having elections for this position?

At the same time I wouldn't want vacancies in these offices left entirely in the hands of the Governor. Rather the Governor to approve 1 person from a list provided by the legislative body. AND the legislative body determine the eligibility of any candidate. If they have conflicts of interest they would be disqualified.

[midnight]

3. Thank you Gov. Doyle....

[undeterred]

4. Group sues over public financing of court candidates

Madison — Wisconsin Right to Life sued the state Friday in federal court over a new law that provides public financing for candidates running for state Supreme Court.

The group - which wants to spend money in the 2011 race - filed its lawsuit because it believes the new law tramples free speech. Under the law, candidates would get at least $300,000 in public money and additional sums if groups such as Wisconsin Right to Life spent money against them or for their opponents.

"Third parties are chilled from speaking in support of a candidate because doing so will likely result in providing additional funds to that candidate's opponent," Wisconsin Right to Life attorney James Bopp Jr. said in a statement.

Democrats who control the Legislature - helped by some Republicans - passed the bill last month, and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed it Dec. 1, saying it would improve the increasingly sharp tone of Supreme Court races. He said then he believes the law would be found constitutional if there were a lawsuit.

"This isn't about the First Amendment. This (lawsuit) is about trying to drown out the voices of candidates and citizens," said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, which has pushed for the law for a decade.

The law gives candidates for the Supreme Court $100,000 for the primary and $300,000 for the general election if they agree to spending limits. That is expected to dramatically curb the cost of races, which have run as high as $6 million in recent years.

Candidates will get additional money if an opponent who doesn't take public financing outspends them or if groups run certain types of ads against them - up to $300,000 more in the primary and $900,000 more in the general election.

Wisconsin Right to Life would not spend money during the 2011 campaign if it knew doing so would result in candidates they don't like receiving dollar-for-dollar matching funds from the state, the suit filed in the federal court in Madison says.

more at http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/79675192.html