Wisconsin Assembly set to vote on three-pronged campaign finance bill
By Brittany Jones and Matthew Tragesser | Oct. 19, 2015With a goal to significantly modify the state campaign finance laws, Republicans have introduced a three-part bill to the Wisconsin State Legislature on which the Assembly is scheduled to vote Tuesday. Despite receiving much criticism from Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, have laid out a comprehensive plan that would enable political action committees to spend an unlimited amount of money on campaigns and allow donors to give unlimited amounts of money to campaign committees. While the bill mainly focuses on tweaking state campaign finance laws, the piece of legislation also exonerates politicians from John Doe corruption investigations, according to a Common Cause press release. Some have claimed that the John Doe investigations, which look at extortion, corruption and other violations, have been detrimentally unnecessary for politicians. “The Wisconsin John Doe shows how campaign-finance laws have become a liberal weapon to silence political opponents.
