Candidates on Reform: 18th SD and 54th AD

Last June a survey released by the Midwest Democracy Network found that a majority of Wisconsin residents (58 percent) trust state government to do what is right “only some of the time” or “almost never.” As summarized by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the survey also found that "nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of state residents said they are more interested in a candidate who believes it may not be possible to improve education, create jobs and cut taxes without first reducing the role of money in politics and the influence of lobbyists than a candidate who focuses solely on the issues. Just over a third of respondents (34 percent) said they would prefer the candidate who just focuses on improving education, creating jobs and cutting taxes."

Given those numbers, it's distressing to find out that nearly two-thirds of state legislative candidates did not complete a reform survey sponsored by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Common Cause in Wisconsin, and the League of Women Voters. Candidate responses (or lack thereof) can be found here.

Locally, neither candidate for the 18th district state senate seat (Democrat Jessica King and Republican Randy Hopper) filled out the survey. That's unfortunate, especially since King's camp is working hard to paint a picture of Hopper as part of the corrupt status quo. King's failure to answer the questions makes that effort much less credible.

District 54 assembly candidates Gordon Hintz (D-Incumbent) and Republican challenger Mark Reiff both answered the questions. There is a significant difference between the candidates--most notably, Gordon is a sponsor of legislation that would allow full public financing of Supreme Court elections, while Reiff disappointingly gives us Republican Party talking points: "the public should never be forced to support the campaign of any candidate or platform they disagree with, for any reason. Attacks on free speech by those trumpeting an illusory equality of access must be ended."

One major weakness of the survey is that it did not ask candidates where they stand on the issue of eliminating the closed partisan caucuses. As long as the legislature is allowed to go into closed session to "review bills" and "devise strategy," all other legislative reform measures will be almost meaningless. Gordon Hintz supports the closed partisan caucuses; if Reiff wants to be taken seriously as a reform candidate I'd urge him to give serious consideration to taking a stand against them.