Wisconsin campaign questionnaire results

Three watchdog organizations – the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the League of Women Voters and Common Cause – have again come together this pre-election season to survey all our legislative candidates about where they stand with respect to Wisconsin clean government reform.

It seems to me that after this state’s caucus scandals and more recently the buying off of our State Supreme Court candidates via sham issue ads any respectable candidate running for public office in Wisconsin would want to put their best foot forward and if not actually support clean government, then at the very least, complete and return a non-partisan survey form.

But not in Wisconsin! Would you believe that nearly two-thirds of our state legislative candidates declined even to take a public stand on clean government reform issues. In fact to date only seven of the 25 senate candidates (28%) have even returned the questionnaire. Of the 243 candidates for state assembly, only 95 or 39% replied to the survey.

Do Wisconsin voters need any stronger evidence about what to expect when our new legislature reconvenes this January? As a former program evaluator, I am struck by the 33 percent return rate and how closely this figure compares with Wisconsin’s voter satisfaction index. Based on the above survey return rate is it any surprise that nearly 8 out of 10 Wisconsin citizens indicate that they are dissatisfied with their legislators and do not believe that they any longer represent their best interests.

Having worked with state legislators on campaign finance reform in recent years my best guess is that at least 75 percent of our legislators’ first allegiance is with the special interests that fund their election campaigns. I think this helps explain the low return rate and is a strong harbinger of what the citizens of Wisconsin can expect again during the next legislative session --- more deadlock and little if any clean government reform.

If you wish to find out how much your legislative candidate is invested in clean government reform in Wisconsin check the League of Women Voters’ web site.