Press Release
July 12, 2010
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 BARRETT'S REDISTRICTING REFORM PROPOSAL IS WELCOME AND NEEDED
We commend Milwaukee Mayor
Tom Barrett for elevating the issue of state legislative and Congressional redistricting reform with the announcement of
his proposal today.
The current redistricting process in Wisconsin is a disgrace. It is controlled by partisan legislative and Congressional leaders without public participation or input -- completely out of public view, utilizing millions of taxpayer dollars to pay expensive lawyers to come up with partisan, uncompetitive districts.
Redistricting must occur in 2011 to reflect the population changes in Wisconsin that are currently being compiled in the Census this year. But it shouldn't be done the way it has been accomplished for the past thirty years. As recently as 1998, there were four competitive Congressional districts in Wisconsin. Today, only the Eighth Congressional District can be considered truly competitive. Likewise, the number of competitive State Assembly and State Senate districts has decreased over the years to the point where only about a tenth of the 132 legislative districts (99 Assembly and 33 State Senate) can be categorized as truly competitive.
The lack of competitive elections in Wisconsin robs voters of choices and reinforces legislative and Congressional partisanship, grid lock and intransigence.
The Barrett plan takes the final decision-making about state legislative and Congressional boundaries out of the hands of the very partisan legislative and Congressional leaders and puts it into the hands of the non-partisan Government Accountability Board -- which would ensure the process is transparent and is replete with public input and participation. It represents a significant improvement over the current, corrupt process and would bring Wisconsin into the company of states such as Iowa and California which have successfully and effectively reformed their redistricting processes.
We hope that the other candidates for Governor of Wisconsin this year will emulate Mayor Barrett by elevating redistricting reform as an issue and making proposals that enhance public participation, transparency and competitiveness. It will take the strong and active support of the next Governor of Wisconsin in order for reform to occur. Redistricting reform is a good government issue and not a partisan political issue. Every candidate for public office in Wisconsin, regardless of party label and ideology, should support reforming the current, corrupt redistricting process. Tom Barrett is the first gubernatorial candidate to do so this year, but we hope he will not be the last and only one to support this vital reform.
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
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Press Release
June 28, 2010
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 Common Cause in Wisconsin Reform Update for June 28, 2010- Congress Moves Ahead on Disclosure - When Will Wisconsin Legislature Do the Same?
- Redistricting in Wisconsin: The Next "Big Thing"
- CC/WI & Others Seek to "Re-intervene" in Court Case to Protect Wisconsin's Impartial Justice Law
______________________________________________________
1. Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the federal DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) legislation (
House Approves Legislation That Mandates the Disclosure of Political Spending) which is intended to address some of the problems caused by the U.S. Supreme Court's shocking, horrendous and misguided and bitterly divided 5-4 decision in the landmark case:
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission on January 21st. The Court's decision -- reversing over 100 years of settled law -- equated corporations and outside interest groups with real individuals, and in doing so, gave these entities the ability to influence the outcome of elections through unlimited, unregulated campaign spending.
Common Cause strongly supported the compromise reform measure which passed largely along party lines in the House - 219 to 206. Wisconsin's five Democratic House Members voted for the measure (
Tammy Baldwin of Madison,
Steve Kagen of Appleton,
Ron Kind of LaCrosse,
Gwen Moore of Milwaukee and
Dave Obey of Wausau), while our three Republican Congressmen voted no (
Tom Petri of Fond du Lac,
Paul Ryan of Janesville and
Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls). The measure now goes to the U.S. Senate and Wisconsin's
Russ Feingold and
Herb Kohl, both Democrats, who support the legislation. But an expected Republican filibuster may hold up or even block the DISCLOSE bill from consideration and an up or down vote -- in which it would certainly pass.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Legislature adjourned for the year on April 23rd without passing needed legislation (Senate Bill 43) to require outside special interest groups who make widely-disseminated communications intended to influence the outcome of an election, reveal who their donors are. That same day, Common Cause in Wisconsin called on Governor Jim Doyle to call the Legislature into Special Session or for Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan and State Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker to call the Legislature into Extraordinary Session to pass disclosure legislation so that it will be in place for the upcoming 2010 elections. But thus far, there has been nothing but deafening silence from Doyle, Sheridan and Decker on this matter -- which requires their leadership in order for it to be accomplished. But they continue to ignore our call and that means a flood of undisclosed corporate cash is likely to be utilized this year in statewide and legislative elections, including in the contests for Governor and Attorney General. Why Doyle, Sheridan and Decker -- who are all on record saying they support disclosure -- continue to take no action on this matter is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. If anyone knows why -- please enlighten the rest of us!
2. Whoever controls the Assembly and State Senate after this November's legislative elections will be in the driver's seat when Wisconsin's disgraceful redistricting process begins in early 2011. This issue is the "next big thing" for reformers and Wisconsin's current system is ripe for reform. Past redistricting by the Legislature has been a total mess. It is done completely out of the public eye, with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars used to pay outrageously high legal fees to well-heeled and politically-connected law firms to produce increasingly uncompetitive legislative and Congressional district plans that always end up in federal court. It's time for the public to find out about and demand reform of this charade: The coming redistricting battle.
On Sunday, Wisconsin's two largest newspapers editorialized about reforming the redistricting and primary election selection process. The Wisconsin State Journal specifically lauded California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's strong support for reform and cited Common Cause in Wisconsin's contention that Wisconsin needs a Governor who is really willing to be a leader on these issues. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also strongly endorsed redistricting and primary election reform.
Stay tuned for more on this increasingly important issue in the weeks ahead. For more about our work on this issue, go here.
3. CC/WI and other reform groups continue to work to defend Wisconsin's Impartial Justice Law. Last Thursday, our able attorneys filed a new Motion to Intervene in the case in order to help bolster the defense of the measure by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The defense of this new law -- the culmination of years of work by reformers -- is simply too important to leave anything to chance. That is why we have opted to do all we can to keep Impartial Justice from being destroyed by wealthy special interest groups and out-of-state anti-reform organizations and their lawyers who care little about Wisconsin's tradition of honest, incorruptible state government -- a tradition that includes a fair, impartial judiciary untainted by vast sums of special interest campaign cash. The cases are expected to be decided before the end of this year.
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
Stay informed - Follow CC/WI on Twitter!
Read More...
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