Voters turned off by negative advertising and runaway campaign spending in the 1998 election are in for a much larger dose in 2000, due to a staggering increase in legislative fundraising, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported today. And with the election nine months away, much more will be raised. Legislative candidates and legislative campaign committees have held or scheduled at least 21 fundraisers so far this year. These LCCs receive money directly from special interests and provide hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contributions, loans and services to the candidates of their choosing with little accountability to the state or the political parties. One look at the fundraising figures and you know why legislative leaders are blocking reform.
Money flows to power.
Those in charge of the legislature aren't interested in turning off the spigot because they benefit big time. Jensen is a magnet for special interest contributions because he controls the fate of legislative proposals in the Assembly and he is a possible Republican candidate for governor in 2002. Challengers see the cash that incumbents have on hand and realize it will be next to impossible to dig themselves out of the hole. So voters are left with fewer choices on the ballot. A comparison of Republican and Democratic fundraising and war chests shows that the two parties were almost equally matched in the Senate.